Florence, Italy was on of my favorite cities so far, it was just as nice as Venice, but in a different way. We stayed at David’s Inn hostel, which was right in the center of the city. It was a very nice hostel with recently updated furnishings and decorations. The first night we meet a guy who told us about this great spot with live music that overlooks the whole city and gives a great view of the sunset; we ended up going to this spot every night, it was absolutely gorgeous. The views were fantastic! We mainly just wondered around and explored the city, but one day we did a day excursion. We did a wine tour through Tuscany. This was probably my favorite part of the backpacking trip so far. We book the grape escape wine tour at a really good price online before we left. The tour took us to a wine tasting school first where we tasted not only wine, but also olive oils and balsamic vinegars. We learned a little bit about paring with different foods and the proper way to taste the wine. We then went to a local winery where we were taken on a tour of the production of wine. After the tour we were treated to a traditional Tuscan style lunch over looking the beautiful Tuscan countryside; we also got more wine and cheese. The tour continued with a trip to the little town of San Gimignano, where I ate the best gelato I have ever had! The little town was what I pictured an Italian town to look like. I am so glad we did this tour because it gave us the chance to explore a side of Italy that we wouldn’t have had the chance to see without renting a car.
southerner2londoner 