The STEEMIT COUPLE: representing Steemit in Florence, Italy (part 2) – eating cow stomach, rubbing a piglet’s nose for good fortune and breathtaking panoramic views

In our last travel post, I said that I used some of the proceedings from my first ‘hits’ at Steemit to surprise my girlfriend with a trip to Italy. We shared with you our first night in Florence. Although, the first night by itself was already immensely beautiful, the second day was even more amazing.

We ate a famous local cow stomach dish, walked uphill to the Piazza Michelangelo for breathtaking panoramic views of Florence, and rubbed a piglet’s nose for some good fortune.

First, however, let us tell you more about the hostel we have booked.

Plus Florence Hostel

The hostel we stayed in is a short 9-minutes walk from Florence Santa Maria Novella (Florence’s Central Station). It is conveniently located as a home base from where we can visit the main attractions in Florence.

The hostel has been rated as one of Florence’s greatest, and offers many extra conveniences that are usually not provided by other hostels. There are indoors and outdoors swimming pools, a sauna, a small gym, and a restaurant. In addition, a live band performs next to the pool on Thursday nights. The staff speaks English and all are very helpful and friendly.

One downside is that breakfast is not included.

Our Sightseeing Adventure

But first… brunch
We were looking forward to visit the Piazzale Michelangelo from were we would have a magnificent panoramic view of Florence. The Piazzale Michelangelo is a square, located on a hill, that takes around 45 minutes to reach by foot from our hostel. We knew it would be a tiring walk up the hill so on our way to the Piazzale, we visited a small restaurant near the Piazzale Degli Uffizi.

The food we were served was excellent. For €9,99, we got ourselves a good two-course meal.

Piazzale Degli Uffizi
After the brunch, we walked to the nearby Piazzale Degli Uffizi to look at the beautiful statues of Florence’s most renown artists and inventors. From the square, one can also enter the Galleria degli Uffizi, which may be the world’s most famous museum. It harbours such treasures as Botticelli’s ‘Birth of Venus’, Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Annunciation’, and Raphael’s ‘Madonna of the Goldfinch’.

We took some pictures with statues of Leonardo da Vinci, Dante Alighieri, Galileo and Machiavelli, before we continued our way to the Piazzale Michelangelo.

Breathtaking panoramic views of Florence at Piazzale Michelangelo

To get to the Piazzale Michelangelo we crossed the Arno river. The Arno river is the most important river of central Italy after the Tiber. It passes through Florence and Pisa.

This gave us some splendid sights of the river, its bridges and the surrounding houses.

Eventually, after some steep hiking up the hill, we arrived at the Piazzale Michelangelo. The square is impressive! A copy of Michelangelo’s David stands tall at the center of the square. From here you get a beautiful view of the Arno river and how it cuts the city of Florence in two. You can see the Ponte Vecchio (old bridge with the many jewellery and art shops on its sides that I described in my previous post), the city wall and the historic center with its Cattedrale Santa Maria del Fiore and the dome.

Descending the hill in search of a famous ice cream place
We stayed around an hour at the Piazza Michelangelo to enjoy the magnificent panoramic views of Florence and of course, to take some rest. The hike up hill was quite exhausting because of the hot weather of 33 degrees Celsius.

Then we descended back into town in search for Bar Vivoli, which according to many guidebooks is the best gelato place in Florence. Founded in 1929, it is also the oldest gelato shop in Florence. We both took a €3.50 cup and chose three flavors. Overall, the flavors were good and the portions generous.

Dante’s house and the delicious hearty stews at Da Vinattieri
After Bar Vivoli, we wanted to see Dante Alighieri’s house. Dante was an Florentine poet, famous for his epic poem called ‘The Divine Comedy’. The poem describes the journey into the afterlife; from Hell (Inferno) to Purgatory (Purgatorio) and Paradise (Paradiso).

His house stood in a narrow alley, just meters away from a small church that he used to visit.

In the same street of Dante’s house, we found a small hole-in-the-wall bar called da Vinattieri. In one online review, I read that the shop was a must-visit for its famous lampredotto (cow stomach). We bought two breads with cow stomach for take-away and went back to our hostel to eat there.

Once we were back in our hostel, we took a shower and started feasting on our two panino’s with cow stomach. It was delicious! This was one of the best foods we had eaten in Italy. The stomach was tender with a distinct, but light taste. We loved every bit of it!

Rubbing a piglet’s nose for some good fortune
After the breads and some resting, we went out for an evening stroll passing some more beautiful architecture and artistic works.

The beautiful works we had seen were too numerous to mention all. However, there is this one amazing street artist’s road painting that we would like to share with you. Amazing, isn’t it?

We eventually made our way to Il Porcellino, a bronze fountain of a piglet. It is said that when you put a coin into the piglet’s mouth and then let it fall through the underlying grating, you will receive good luck. And if you rub the piglet’s snout, you ensure a return to Florence.

Ending our beautiful day in Florence
It was already 9 pm by then. We made our way to the Ponte Vechhio to have a sunset’s view from the bridge again and to enjoy a local street musician. At around 9:30 pm, we went back home to take a good rest.

Our second day in Florence was truly wonderful!

The next day we would take a train ride to Siena, a nearby city, famous for its medieval architecture and their beautiful square. We would eat an unforgettable dinner with some tasty limoncello, an Italian alcoholic drink made of lemons, when we got back to Florence. The day after, we said farewell to Florence, and took the train to Pisa.

I will conclude our travel series in Italy with a lively description of our trips to Siena and Pisa in the next part.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading our travel blog so far. And see you soon… ;)