Final day in Florence

We had a slow start to the day. We had decided to stay very local, and headed out to Palazzo Piti and the Boboli Gardens. We have been before, in 2015 when I was ill. There were some art displays but the real draw are the royal apartments which are very ornate and they are filled with so much art it is impossible to take it all in.

Modern art - giant shoes made out of
saucepans and lids!

We had a coffee break in the courtyard, then went into the gardens. Ian wasn’t feeling up to the climb right to the top, but I did it. Lovely terraced gardens with fountains and sculptures until you get to the top where the “gentlemens pavilion” with rose gardens that overlook olive groves.

A tiny water fountain with heads

We walked to the very end of the gardens to the Porta Romana gate, which exits to the Florence city wall. We then walked back to the entrance of the Palazzo Piti and found a cafe for lunch. It is quite amazing just how many tourists are still about in Florence. It is supposed to be the low season. But it was a sunny day and we wanted to sit outside - we found a table at a place that serves “pinsi” which are a type of pizza. Ian had a diavola one, while I had one with cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, prosciutto and rocket. They were huge! Couldn’t finish them!

Pinsi

We went back to our apartment to pack and have a rest. Then went out for a final walk around Florence. 

We decided that we would have the famous “bistecca ala fiorentina” (a huge shared T-bone steak) tonight and had booked into a cute little restaurant called Ristorante La Galleria. It is a family run restaurant and Nonno takes the orders and writes them on a little self-carbonising pad. His wife runs the kitchen and son does the technical stuff (and speaks the best English). There was no appetisers or primi or even bread - we just had steak, some potatoes and white beans. It was delicious! Of course with a good bottle of red.

We decided after a good break that we had room for dessert. Ian had icrecream with San Marzana liqueur (seems that Frangelico, while made in Italy, is not widely used here) and coffee, while I had cheesecake. We finished off with limoncello.