Montecatini to Florence

No we haven't dropped off the map, it's just that we'd planned to have a few days just chillin' and there was nothing of any significance to tell you about. What we do want to say, though, is how nice this campsite is, probably one of the best we've ever stayed on. For no particular reason either, it just has that gentle relaxed ambience that, despite getting busier over the 5 nights we spent, never felt that way.

We did some washing, bought bread daily from the small shop, walked the dog a lot and enjoyed the views over the Tuscan countryside. We never strayed off the site, the local village being quite tiny and Montecatini Terme, in the valley below, a bit of a faff to get to despite there apparently being a (€7) funicular and with nothing that attracted us. We met a few Brits, one couple parking next to us with two dogs who Jamie wanted to play with all the time, and spoke to several others.

Unfortunately the weather deteriorated over the five days with some quite heavy rain showers although it stayed reasonably warm. We stayed a day longer than intended simply because it wasn't worth getting wet and anyway we fancied trying the popular site restaurant – a little pricey and the portions weren't large but it was very nice and the half bottle of Tuscan red went down quite well.......

But move on we must and with the forecast looking a little better we decided Thursday to move on to Florence. Once again we planned to leave early, get parked up and go explore, it being less than an hour to get there. That's if, of course, the navigation aids were working but would you believe both TomTom and Nellie decided to play silly whatsits and got us quite thoroughly lost up narrow roads. In the end we just trusted to instinct and got ourselves back on track whereupon both “aids” sorted themselves out, providing us with a mix of ordinary roads and autostrade to enjoy.

We had picked out the closest sosta to the city, on the south west corner at Parcheggio Gelsomino, Camper-contact telling us it was a 2km walk to Ponte Vecchio or you could catch a bus from right outside the site. We found the place okay, a little pricey but in view of the location understandable, and once we'd persuaded the barrier to open for us found plenty of room and parked up. It still being late morning we decided to leave Jamie in the well ventilated van, packed waterproofs and snacks and also took TomTom, set to walking mode. It was actually an easy 30 min walk down to the town walls and thence to Ponte Vecchio, the “old bridge”, which we had decided to use as our starting point.

Ponte Vecchio - difficult picture

Rio Arno from Ponte Vecchio

Ponte Vecchio

Then it started to rain! Ah well, waterproofs on and don't worry about it. But boy was it crowded. We'd thought that mid-week away from the public holiday would be better but obviously so did three million other tourists and we spent a lot of time dodging “crocodiles” and small groups of guided tours, just to take photos. When the rain finally decided to desist we bought “sandwiches” and a gorgeous cake which provided us with a light lunch.

Palazzo Vecchio

Uffizi

Piazza dela Republica (the old centre)

Baptistry

Duomo - east face

Duomo - south face. Piazza del Duomo

Bell Tower - Duomo

But what of Florence itself? To be perfectly honest we were not all that impressed, finding it somewhat scruffy despite some excellent architecture. It seems that, as in Pisa and Lucca, the main attractions are properly looked after but everything else has to take it's chance. We wandered around the many streets of shops, cafes and tourist traps but decided you really need to go in to those places – and the queues were horrendous, not to mention the entrance fees! We concluded that Florence was a city of museums and art galleries and you needed a few days to see them, which unfortunately wasn't in our plans for this time. Maybe we'll come back with a better idea of how/what to do.

So early afternoon we walked slowly back to the van (we'd have used the bus but had no idea of where to catch the right one) to a slightly deliriously happy Jamie and a welcome cuppa, snooze and late tea. We'd already decided that despite the cost, we would stay the night here and move on tomorrow.

We stayed at:

Parcheggio Gelsomino, via de Gelsomino. Water and waste disposal €15/24 hrs (possible to pay hourly for a short stay). Note: machine only takes notes/coins. Secure, some road noise but closest m/h parking to the city centre. Bus stop outside gate.