We were up at 7 to find breakfast. Walking down the street of our hotel we found a small cafe and had a cappuccino and chocolate croissant each.
We then headed back to our room to check out and leave our bags at reception before heading into town to climb the Torre di Arnolfo.
We walked once more over the Ponte Vecchio, this time it was much quieter. Then we went into the Piazza della Signoria, as we arrived a bit early so we looked at some of the sculptures at Loggia dei Lanzi, they were amazing.
It was then time to line up, and after storing our bags we started the climb up the stairs. Each level had a new view of Florence and most had a full 360 degrees of the city and surrounding Tuscan hills. Once we got to the top, the views were even better. We had uninterrupted views of the whole landscape and it was an especially great view of the Duomo.
After returning down we walked over to the Duomo to line up to go inside this time. We had about a 45 minute wait (which is pretty good apparently) and thankfully most of it was in the shade. When we were inside, we marvelled at the architecture and painting of the building, including all of the stunning marble work for the floor.
Making our way out, we walked to another church called Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence, walked the piazza and had a look inside through the open door.
Then we continued on to find Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella which is one of the oldest still operating pharmacies in the world, founded in 1221. The building was stunning and had a queue to get in. Sarah enjoyed smelling all of the fragrances.
It was then time to head back to our room. We grabbed a sandwich from a cafe and walked back to the hotel to collect our bags and head to the airport to pick up our car.
Catching a bus then tram, we arrived at the airport where thankfully there was a shuttle bus to take us to the car hire location. The bus said it was 37 outside.
After going through all the paperwork and loading the car, we made our way out of the carpark and to the right (wrong) side of the road, something that was very strange for us. Thankfully it wasn’t very busy and we slowly made our way out of Florence. Soon we were in the Tuscan hillside, with beautiful views all around us.
The drive was just over 2 hours and we arrived at our accommodation just outside of Montepulciano. We checked in and jumped straight into the pool, enjoying a cool off from the few hot days in Florence.
After a shower we walked into town, just in time for the sunset. It was magical as it set over the Tuscan hills as we were standing in the 14th century town.
We walked our way up town and found a restaurant for dinner. We shared a pasta and traditional Tuscan pepper steak. After thoroughly enjoying our meal we went for a walk through town and up to the Piazza Grande.
We were then on the lookout for some gelato, snaking our way through the old city streets we found some lovely gelato, which Sarah especially enjoyed the wild cherry. We sat and enjoyed our gelato from a viewpoint which looked west towards lots of little villages and the hills.
We then walked back down town, stopping at Chiesa di Sant’Agnese before heading back to our room, ready for another big day in Tuscany tomorrow.
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