Florence Gelato Tour

Friday, June 26, 2015
What to do today?  We heard Siena was nice, Lucca also nice. Instead we decide to sleep late and do the Galato tour (Brenda/Jamie style).

We had considered going to Carrera to explore the famous marble quarries but could not get a confirmed tour. It is a two hour train ride one way so we did not want to travel to Carrera and not be able to tour the quarries, because there's not much else to see in Carrera.

Instead of marble quarry tour we do a gelato tour. First stop on the gelato tour is Shake Cafe where I sampled the mango flavor (very bright and delicious) and Brenda sampled the melon flavor.

We made a side trip from the gelato tour to visit the Santa Maria Novelle church, for which the train station is named.

We moved our tour to west Florence away from the tourists. Wandering the streets we stumbled upon the city's old wall where we sat for a while looking for our next gelato score. The wall use to surround the Florence before it out grew its current boundaries, now there are only parts of the wall that remain throughout the city.

We now chart a course east, across the city following the Arno river (yes we are zig zagging our path) and find the next stop of the gelato tour, La Carraia. This was a very popular spot with the locals. I ordered strawberry and Brenda had coconut, both were delicious, the locals know their gelato.

Still heading east (attempting to avoid the tourists and tour groups) we arrive at Piazz Santa Croche, where the Florentine football, Calcio fiorentino, was played two days ago. Here was also a good place for lunch at Finisterrse, where we shared a pizza.

 We has watched the match on TV from our hotel room (in Italian so we didn't know what was going on) , what we gathered from Luca, our bike ride tour guide from the day before, was that it was a game just between the four districts of Florence. The game is a cross between rugby, soccer, kill-the-man with the ball and boxing. We heard that the past three years the matches were never finished because everyone got hurt and the game could not continue. We were intrigued by the game while we were watching, but to see the field after the game was kind of unique.

(the church were the game was played in front of)

After a late lunch it was time for third stop on the gelato tour, Forno a Legna. I branched out and had a double, half tiramisu and half chocolate, and Brenda had banana. We have yet to find any gelato that we were not able to finish.

At this point in the tour I would have to say this has been one of the most flavorful tours. I have seen tours available for wine, wine and dine, museums, etc. but have not seen a gelato tour. Someone should organize one in Florence it might just be the most popular tour of the town.

Our last night in Florence, our last night in Italy, me and my beautiful bride stroll down the streets of Florence hand in hand to have our last Italian meal at the OK Bar, street side cafe. The restaurant actually had good reviews on trip advisor. We both had Ravioli, she had it with pesto sauce and I had it with tomato sauce.

A quick check with google fit back at the hotel revealed that we walked 6.25 miles today or took 17, 567 steps today (way above my daily average). The only thing left to do is pack and catch our flights home.

Whenever I travel to another county I always like to check out the McDonald's, its an international fast food place that can be found everywhere. While I don't eat at these international McDonald's its always amusing to the how they incorporate the local cuisine into there menu and I like to figure out the Big Mac economics; compare pricing of Big Macs between visiting country and my home town.

My conclusion: Italian Big Mac combo $7.96 and Pearland Big Mac combo $6.96, a whole dollar difference. This tells me that prices in general are more expensive in Florence than Pearland.

(the italian twist to the menu)

(Big Mac = $7.96 US)