The Journey Onwards

"Travel is more than just sensing a new surrounding – rather it is a change that goes on within: in the deep and permanent ideas of living"

Arriving into Firenze (Florence) central train station demands basking in the delightful scenery the rural Italian countryside has to offer. Tuscany is the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance, and its capital Florence is considered the ‘Athens of the middle ages. It was meant to be – we were destined to visit this rustic region. After a short bus ride to our hostel to check-in, we went back again to the central old city to start exploring.

San Lorenzo Basilica is one of the many churches in Florence that claims to be the oldest. Behind it is the San Lorenzo Mercato Centrale, inside of which lies a labyrinth of culinary stalls offering exotic elements like wild boar, cow’s stomach, black corn ears and pig’s intestines along with classic favorites like ripe figs, spicy prosciutto and nutty cream cheese. It was a simultaneously furtive search for samples of the enormous chestnuts and purple grapes, as well as a swift escape from summons to try the liver of [insert animal of choice here]. Once outside again, we strolled through the famous leather stalls, all of whom sold high-fashion authentic Italian leather that caught our eyes.

San Lorenzo market full of leather and leather...and leather

We saw a leather jacket that we liked in a stall, passed by it and walked into the outrageously overpriced retail store instead. We promptly walked back to the stall, walked past it into the store behind it, walked through that and ended up in an ominous looking warehouse with rows upon rows of leather jackets on display. Choosing the right size in an instant, the owner of the store started talking to us in every single language possible. From Kashmir, he spoke to me in Hindi, to us both in English, to my friend in Spanish, and to us both again in Greek. Alone spectacular in itself, he then proceeded to explain that there was a “special 50% discount for you because you are from my country” (a recurring theme in Europe that I am not about to start complaining about). It was a done deal – except for the fact that it didn’t fit quite right. Not at all a problem: within ten minutes he had cut off, resized and re-stitched the sleeves and sides till it looked tailored to fit.
More than the jacket itself, the experience was well worth it; especially the solid thirty minutes I spent seriously contemplating a spontaneous impulse purchase of a beautiful leather trench coat that I promise was calling my name. Sanity prevailed and I meekly walked out empty-handed. The next test of resolve was at the Lindt store that almost cruelly dared me to ignore its taunts. It was hard, but not impossible to say no to the mint, coconut and hazelnut drops of heaven. By that point it was definitely time for dinner. An artsy trattoria (restaurant) with the friendliest waiters and a big warm earthen pizza oven by the entrance served us so well that we returned there another night to dine again. One word: Finnochiona. With a slight hint of fennel, garlic and white pepper, this cured meat (the speciality of Florence) is a bite into savory pleasure. Delicate slices with balsamic vinegar to enhance its smokiness made this the perfect accompaniment to the fagiola zuppa (white bean soup) that night. Dinner was a success, but desert was yet to be judged. Suspiciously, gelaterias were just about closing by then and we were almost afraid that night would be the first without any. Au contraire; the bus stop by our hostel revealed a cozy and late-night bakery with the richest assortment of flavors imaginable. After ‘tasting’ over seven of them, I settled on a combination of three different chocolate ones. Perfection is a wonderful feeling, especially experienced through taste.
The next morning saw us leave the hostel bright and early for a full day in the old city again. The real main church of Florence is the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, or simply the Duomo. It is a magnificent marble paneled gothic-style cathedral with green, white and pink highlights that take your breath away each time you turn the corner of San Lorenzo market and behold the entire structure. Inside are the conventional yet nevertheless remarkable mural motifs of biblical scenes and a high altar that gazes down at the worshippers. We chose to climb the four hundred and sixteen steps of the adjacent bell tower, and thus we witnessed the most inspiring panoramic view of Tuscany one can only dream of experiencing. Almost symmetrical rows of terracotta roofs all aligned to meet at the base of the rolling countryside hills. Huffing and puffing, we admired the expansive view and promised to somehow acquire residences in the distant horizon that exuded traditional and idyllic archetypes.

Duomo with marble facade and Renaissance golden doors

The Duomo sits behind its baptistery and this building is famous for its golden doors. The artistic decoration on these doors are said to represent the first ever elements of the Renaissance. We stood in awe and pretended to fully grasp the gravity of the situation. Along the same vein, one cannot visit the region of the origins of the Renaissance and not visit Michelangelo’s David himself. Standing tall and towering over the rest of the exhibits at the Accademia, the statue is very…intriguing. The hands are disproportionately large because when it was sculpted, it was meant to be atop the Florence Cathedral. The whole body is an amalgamation of perfect aspects of the human body simply synthesized together. To make David “more beautiful than God”, Michelangelo added the beautiful elements from various real people and created the sum of these parts as the biblical depiction. The uneasiness that washes over the viewer due to the unnatural portrayal is overcome, however, with a sense of wonder at the contours of the nude male stance that has historically been interpreted as one of the most unsettling albeit marvelous masterpieces.

Piazza della Republica: marking the site of the ancient Forum and the center of the city

Continuing our ambling about, we stumbled upon a Jewish synagogue and other intermittent huge structures that functioned for administrative and official purposes. The whole city is intended to allude to a sense of grandeur and majesty. Nobody looked out of place, and both tourists and locals alike blended seamlessly into a crowd of sophisticated style. Next was the Piazza della Signoria that hosts the Palazzo Vecchio (Old Palace) as the town hall of the city. It is a massive, Romanesque fortress palace and is one of the most significant public places in Italy. It also happens to be a great spot to eat a relaxed lunch, watch the world go by and make fun of little children who are eating servings of gelato twice the size of their heads (now that is good parenting).

Tuscany showed us its magnificent landscape with charming low hills covered in olive groves, vineyards, woods, isolated cypress trees and adorable old farmhouses – all part of a landscape that seems to have been carefully tended to since the dawn of time. It is a refuge for the soul as well as an ideal place to get lost in contemplation; no wonder the Renaissance had impetus to start here and changed the rest of the world. It certainly struck a chord with my heart and sang a tune my spirit was only too happy to comply with. Ponte Vecchio is a medieval stone arch bridge across the Arno River in Florence. Its claim to fame is the array of shops and activity that happens in the bridge: all the residences and commercial estates are built into the structure itself and it stands testament to life that prevailed and prospered once upon a time. Currently, it is inundated (in a positive way) with gold, silver and jewelry stores. We didn’t see too many couples; either the men conveniently crossed it off their maps or the women stole their wallets and magically found their way there. At the very least, it offered, if not any expensive purchases, a dramatic view of the urban dwellings of Florence proper in the foreground contrasted with a far-off, almost magical rural setting in the background. A suitable souvenir came in the form of an Italian-bred English-educated artist who produced touching geometric representations of Tuscan themes. After a warm conversation with her about her life and work, we left with a new friend and colorful keepsakes that accurately yet creatively captured the essence of the region.

It doesn't get any more perfect than this. The view from Ponte Vecchio bridge

Dinner that night was at a lively tourist pizzeria with good music, interactive chefs and run-ins with familiar faces halfway across the world. Full though we were, the usual splurge (financially as well as nutritionally) on gelato from the same bakery near our hostel rounded up what was a long but thoroughly satisfying day. The only hitch was on the way back. In Europe, public transport tickets must be self-validated. Many people lose interest and simply reuse old tickets and ‘stamp’ them repeatedly because honestly, “nobody ever checks”. Wrong – they check sometimes. And those sometimes are enough to make it worth it to always have a valid and usable ticket. After spotting the conductor hopping onto the bus and make his way through all the passengers, we pressed the emergency next stop button and ran off the bus and all the way back to the hostel fueled by adrenaline, sugar and bizarre laughter. Needless to say the one time we decided not to renew our tickets was when we nearly paid dearly for our mistake.

With that bout of excitement and a good night’s rest, the last day was actually all set up to take place in Pisa. Not just the one picture in front of the leaning tower, but spending the full day in the dynamic city that produced famous personalities such as Andrea Bocelli and Leonardo Fibonacci. The minute we glimpsed the tower from afar, the first reaction was that of laughter. It was the funniest thing I had felt: just looking at it was humorous and it was amusing to try and wrap my head around it. Physically I understood exactly how the silt and weight of the building allowed for the comical slant, but visually the anomaly was just plain silly. It is surrounded by well-manicured lawns and the day was bright and sunny, inviting all visitors to lie in the sun and enjoy looking straight-on at the lopsided bell tower known so fondly the world over.

The straight baptistery, the straight cathedral and then the not-so-straight bell tower

Apart from the tower and of more significance are the cathedral, baptistery and cemetery of the Cathedral of Pisa. They are impressive marble structures with intricate architectural features that are very aesthetically pleasing. As the premier college town in southern Italy, it was a welcome change to be surrounded by locals our age and perks available for “EU students” (which we fortunately are) all around. The friendly white-stalled local street market was selling traditional cannoli cream sweets, chocolate pies and sugary treats. After much (almost too much) tasting and settling on red-pepper-and-walnut pesto spread, we boarded the train back to Florence. Much easier said than done – after what seemed like predictable the hour-long train ride, we disembarked onto a station that we thought was Florence. It wasn’t – far from it in fact. After nervously asking around, running across rail tracks multiple times and dancing on the platform to the music from the speakers, we caught the next train for the thirty minute ride back to the correct Firenze SMN station.

Too many run-ins with near-disastrous situations seemed to be the running theme of these few days. As a surprise the last night in Florence, I dragged everyone to a legendary ‘secret bakeries’ at midnight. Most retail bakeries receive their delicacies from central bakeries that start rolling out baked goodness from midnight to around 3.00am. Although not completely legal, locals will knock on these sign-less, light-less buildings and creep in to snag all the yumminess. For a few Euros, the bakers hand everyone little samples of fresh pastries, sandwiches and of course a twinkle-eyed smile to go with. It was heavenly: although we were clearly out of place among the regular customers and the police guards who were sneaking a quick bite as well, we were clearly a source of great amusement to everyone who chuckled at our innocent and inexperienced conduct.

Bird's eye view of the city: this is what dreams are made of

Some places offer great cuisine, some offer scenic views. Others will reveal hidden mysteries, and still others provide a personal search for fulfillment. Florence attacks directly on all the senses and effortlessly captures the heart. A graceful city if there ever was one, the city is ever-so-poised in its demeanor and leads to a blissful discovery of elation and yearning. It certainly worked wonders with our hearts, and raised the bar even higher for the next and last leg of an already-incredible trip. To Rome we departed, for more sights to see, more people to meet, more food to eat and more of life to fall in love with.