(This is a continued series from Travel Freely Member Adam’s 70 Days on Points and Miles around the world. Read his introduction here and see links to more posts at the bottom.)
After the floating city, we traveled to the Tuscany region of Italy to visit Florence!
The easiest way was to travel via high speed train that only lasted 2 hours! These tickets were only $30, and were covered by paying with the Capital One Venture card and then using miles to reimburse myself for the purchase.
Florence also happens to be another location where we met a friend.. Dakota’s sister Montana! We booked Montana’s ticket from Detroit to Florence with a standard United award ticket that only cost 30K United miles. We transferred points from my Chase Sapphire Preferred #1 card to snag this award flight.
Once we met Montana at the Florence airport we had three days to explore – we got things started right away at the Cafe Rondinelli. To put it simply, we were starving. This was quite a small cafe just a couple minutes from the train station, and though I am sure the food is always good, our hunger took it to the next level. Simple baked goods and a savory calzone-type sandwich saved us from our own empty stomachs.
Finally filled up, we started the short walk over the Arno River to our Airbnb. As we took a turn onto Via de Tornabuoni, we all collectively felt our eyes widen. The street was lined with store after store of designer brands – Balenciaga, Prada, Gucci – you name it. Shoppers bustled around the pristine streets, mannequins gazing out from each shopping window, the towering Column of Justice keeping watch at the far end of the street. While I won’t pretend to be interested in fashion, it was a pretty interesting experience right off the bat to see such an impressive street with countless shoppers decked out in designer attire.
We wrapped our day up a bit early on day one, just grabbing a bite to eat at Trattoria Leoni for dinner after getting set up in our Airbnb. I had some of the best lasagna ever, so good that I ate 2 servings. (side note: I didn’t think the pasta in Italy was anything incredibly different with the exception of lasagna – it was phenomenal everywhere we ate it).
Day two included most of our site seeing. We stopped by the Palazzo Pitti, enjoyed the statues surrounding the Piazza della Signoria, and enjoyed espresso at Finisterrae cafe just feet from the Basilica of Santa Croce. We grabbed lunch at an amazing sandwich restaurant called Pinos before continuing to more sights. As you might expect, we spent quite a bit of time at the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, colloquially known as The Duomo. However, my best memory of the Duomo was actually a few miles away.
On our last night in Florence we watched the Tuscan sunset from the Giardino Bardini. From our vantage point at the height of the gardens we could see the Duomo gleaming over the city. We sat on a bench warmed by the setting sun as we enjoyed the beautiful golden hour and comfortable breeze. There was only one thing that could make the night better….
Gelato! And we had more than our fair share of gelato in Florence. We were only a minute’s walk from Strega Nocciola, just at the mouth of the Ponte Vecchio – which I can firmly say is the best gelato/ice cream/frozen treat that I have ever had. I am not exaggerating when I say that we had gelato here 8 times in our three days of visiting. After capping the night with some incredible gelato (Buontalenti and Bergamotto were my go-to’s), we turned in before catching a train to our next Italian city – The Eternal City!
More from Adam’s 70 Days on Points and Miles:
