Train from Pisa to Florence

Day 6: PISA - FLORENCE

Today is the first extra day on our trip to Cinque Terre for the cancellation of the flight from Pisa to Girona yesterday. In the end, after giving it many laps and evaluating renting a car to get to know a new area of ​​Italy, with the high prices for doing it a few hours before and without having much information about the destination, we decided to return to one of the most beautiful cities in Italy: Florence . So today we have to take a train from Pisa to Florence That will leave us in the "museum city" in a few hours.

We were lucky yesterday and we were able to book a room at the Hotel Milano, one of the very few that was left with places at a reasonable price. So after all we can't complain too much.
The first thing we do is get the train tickets from Pisa to Florence for 15.80 euros both and we will have breakfast at the same Central Station in Pisa.
Our train from Pisa to Florence departs at 9.12 in the morning and takes 45 minutes to reach the Florence Santa Maria Novella Station.
We have been lucky choosing this train, because the rest of the schedules, cost the same and take an hour, so today we can say that we also have 15 extra minutes.
The day has dawned raining and stormy, something that has made us look weird from the window of our hotel in Pisa, but as soon as we go out there is a sun that announces that we will have 2 perfect extra days.
At 9.12 we promptly take our train from Pisa to Florence and we arrive at our destination at 10.15 in the morning and we go directly to our hotel in the Plaza San Lorenzo and after a few minutes walking through the streets of Florence, we have the incredible views of Santa Maria Novella and the Duomo of Florence.
We arrive at the hotel in a few minutes and when we enter, after reviewing our reservation they tell us that they have not received the email from Booking, but that they can give us a room in the same conditions only 5 minutes away and that the Hotel Basilea, which is closer to the Santa María Novella Station.

As all we want is to settle in and go out to enjoy Florence, we don't argue, we take the address and there we go.
We have to say that as soon as we arrive at the hotel, the atmosphere does not excite us much, but we do not pay much attention, we check in and when we look at the door we see that it is raining in seas.
We can not believe it ourselves. We just arrived in Florence and it rains? Seen the seen, we have to wait at the reception for a while until a little bit.
And so we get at 12 in the morning when we finally set out to tour this amazing city that we met several years ago.
We leave ready to eat the city and the first stop we make it in Florence Central Market, a place where the senses are sharpened to the fullest and where we enjoy an explosion of senses.
A good option to not miss anything about the city and learn more about its history is to book a guided tour in Spanish that includes the entrance to the Uffizi Gallery and the Skip-the-Line Academy Gallery or this Free Florence tour. Free!

And when we go up to the second floor and see what there is, at that moment we decide that we will eat here today.
Restaurants that offer their products and tables where you can taste them in a most pleasant atmosphere. It is impossible not to stay here.

We do not know how to choose from everything there is and in the end we decided on a couple of homemade pasta dishes, for 17 euros and for dessert some cupcakes plus coffee for 8 euros that give us a perfect desktop.

This is pure gastronomy. Italy at its maximum power.
After this sweet desktop, we leave the Central Market to go directly to the Plaza San Lorenzo, where we see the Medici Chapel.

Here we will make a brief paragraph and it is that by knowing the city already, on this occasion we have decided that we want to make the most of the experience of enjoying the city without having any scheduled or forced visit. That is why, although the order of the tour has a logic and is marked by the places we wanted to see again, we will not give explanations or show photographs of everything we could enjoy.

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- Offer: Florence + Uffizi + Academy
- Excursion to San Gimignano, Siena and Chianti
- Excursion to the Cinque Terre
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That said, we follow our route and go to the Medici Palace, which connects with the Duomo of Florence.
And when we arrive, the first thing we do is look at each other and comment that we didn't remember it so beautifully.
Even with the crowd there is, it is one of the most amazing places in Italy.
And here we can't stop thinking about the phrase "There is no better way to see how much you have changed than to return to a place where you were already".

We do not know why but now, after these years, it seems that we value more if we are lucky enough to enjoy what we like.
After a good time here and determined to return tomorrow first thing in the morning to try to enjoy it alone, we go to the Piazza de la República, another of the places we remembered with special affection and in which we spent great moments enjoying The local cuisine.

From here we go to Piazza della Signoria, where we can do nothing but stand as we get closer.

If we remembered this place as a hotbed of people, this afternoon could not be less. This is one of the reasons that remind us because we like to travel in low season and above all avoid these types of cities in months of high tourist occupation.

So we have to get around umbrellas, rudeness, shoves, organized groups whose lives are going to take a picture at the fountain with 100 strangers ...

And with a little bad accumulated milk, we go to a corner where we remember that we had beautiful views of the Ponte Vecchio.
It does not take more than 5 minutes to arrive and again as we approach, we verify that people at this time of the afternoon accumulate in the Florence's most emblematic places.

We are increasingly convinced that tomorrow we will have an early morning session to see all these places again, hoping that with more loneliness.
After a walk on the Ponte Vecchio where we see fewer people than we expect, as is the city, we enjoy one of the most traditional places in the city.

In one of the cafés of the Ponte Vecchio we stop for coffee and a cappuccino for 6 euros, it is very clear that standing near this place is not especially cheap.

More practical information to prepare your trip to Florence

- 50 things to see and do in Florence
- 10 essential places to visit in Florence
- The 5 best tours and excursions in Florence
- 10 essential places to see in Cinque Terre
- 10 essential tips for traveling to Florence
- The best free tours in Florence for free

After this brief kit kat we go to the Palazzo Pitti, another of the places that we remembered perfectly and that we can not fail to include in this tour.

After a walk in the area, we retrace our steps to go to the bridge parallel to the Ponte Vecchio from where we have a fantastic perspective.

We continue touring the city and arrive at the Church of the Santa Croce where they have the whole square under construction and it is quite difficult to access it, not only for the works, but also for the constant people that accumulate at the doors.

It's 5 in the afternoon and we still have some time until sunset time when we want to go up to the Michelangelo Square to enjoy the best views we remember of the city and that is another essential activity if we want to enjoy Florence.
6 years ago we did this tour by bus, but today, taking some more time, we took the opportunity to walk around the area and arrive on a walk of about 15 minutes.
If years ago the views did not disappoint us, today if possible, we find them even more spectacular.

It is worth climbing the amount of stairs that are there until you reach Michelangelo Square to have the city of Florence in front of you.
At 8 in the afternoon and telling us that we ate a few hours ago and the stomach is screaming for us, we return to the city center looking for a restaurant to have dinner.
With the free Wi-Fi in almost 80% of the city of Florence, we consulted some restaurants that we have listed and decided on the number 2 of Tripadvisor, La Prosciuteria, where we ordered a cheese and prosciuto table, a beer and a coca Queue for 19 euros.

Undoubtedly a place totally recommended for quality, atmosphere and why it is a pleasure to taste Italian cuisine in a place like this.
With a full stomach, being almost 10 at night and taking so many hours on the move, we decided that the time has come to return to the Hotel Basilea and continue dreaming of Florence.

If you have one more day you can follow this guide from Florence in two days.