A cruisey day in Florence

We had a bit of a sleep in today, and planned to just wander around for the day.

We walked up to the central market, where we had a look around the food market, stopping for a coffee, hot chocolate and cornettos with custard. Eight years ago when we stayed in Florence for a two weeks, attending Italian language and cooking classes, we spent our school break in a cafe eating these lovely, unhealthy treats!

Morning tea!

We braved the market stalls outside the central building and I bought a couple of handbags, haggling the price down pretty well I think.

Lots of leather goods on sale

We walked back past the beautiful Duomo on our way back to the river. For lunch we stopped at the Formaggioteca Terroir. It is owned by Rebecca and her husband who also run the Tuscan Wine School. Nine years ago we did a Chianti Classico tour from the same building, which they have turned into a lovely cheese and wine store / restaurant. We shared a plate of cold cuts and a selection of three cheeses, washed down with a glass of red.

Yum!

We went back to the apartment for a rest, then wandered out again to visit the nearby Chiesa de Santa Felicita, another church. This church is linked to the Uffizi Gallery via a raised corridor that goes across the Ponte Vecchio. It was used by the Medici family back in the day so that they could move around and go to church without mixing with the masses.

We went to the Osteria Cinghiale Bianco (white boar) for dinner. We were given a little niche table, perfect for two! Ian had crostini toscani (toast with liver pate) and I had caprese salad for entree. Then Ian had wild boar steak and I had roast suckling pig for main. Ian’s was a little tough, but mine was lovely. After a decent break to finish our bottle of Chianti Classico, we braved dessert - Ian had Cantucci (almond biscuits) with vin santo while I had tiramisu (couldn’t finish it!).

Antipasti