Chris & Deb's Adventures in Traveling: November 2016

In the past, when we visited Florence, we have stayed at a hotel (Hotel David). It was nice, had a little snack and cocktail hour every evening, but we decided to get an apartment this time. I love to look at the food, produce and fish in all the markets and there is nothing quite so frustrating than seeing all kinds of things you want to cook, but can't. So Deb found a little first floor garden apartment just across the Arno River from the city of Florence. There is a great bus system there and you can buy bus passes for very little money, which is what we did.

It is a short walk to the Arno river and depending on which route
you take, there are a few piazzas you pass through surrounded by
some impressive structures.

Here is the view upriver from the bridge crossing the Arno River.

The city of Florence is a driver's nightmare with one way streets
and some only wide enough for a scooter. Many of the streets are
paved with hand cut stone. Some much older than others. Here
is a pretty old example.

This first day we decided to pay a visit to Mercarto Centrale
(Central Market), a two story building with dozens of little
stalls some larger, some smaller. They sell all manor of
meats, fish, cheeses, wines, produce, spices and souvenirs.
For some reason I greatly enjoy all the action in there.

Bugs Bunny

The famous Tuscan steak Bistecca alla Fiorentina, the "T-bone" cut
pictured directly above is usually from the worlds oldest breed of cattle,
which is also one of the worlds largest, the Chianina. It was originally
raised for draft use in Italy and was purposely raised to be tall and
narrow for use on the terraced hillsides, which were often quite narrow
as well. The steaks appear to be quite lean, yet, they are very tender.
A New York Strip steak from one of these animals can often be twice the
size of a similar one in the US and will often fill the plate.

A Chianina bull

The Italians always have cheese on the menu.

Salami

Truffles and Porcinis

Now, I did not say that I wanted to cook everything from the market.
This "bento" box of lamb heads, for example

Kidneys

Lungs

Nice to see a familiar face!

The upstairs of the market is like a giant food court.
We decided to check it out.

Here I am ordering a mozzerella salad to share.

As we were leaving, I noticed this sign. It made me realize, that hot

dogs and burgers were something you never used to see in Italy and

now they are starting to show up everywhere. There was even a big

Burger King across from the train station.

Electric cars are becoming much more common. We saw quite a

few, that I had never heard of. My personal favorite was the Twizi!

Another place we think of as a must do in Florence is a sandwich

place , Il Fratellini. It is a little hole in the wall where two brothers

( Il Fratellini) sell sandwiches and wine out of a tiny stall. One guy

just makes sandwiches and the other one pours wine and handles
money. They are surprisingly quick. So much so, that you have
little time to pick a sandwich from the extensive menu, before it is
your turn to order. Those wooden racks on either side are to hold
your wine glass while you eat your sandwich and you leave
the glass there when you are done. It is fun, and the 3 Euro
sandwiches aren't bad.

One day we took a bus (actually three busses) up to Fiesole

(Fee-Yes-Olay), way up in the hills. The wealthy used to stay

up there where it was cool, in the heat of the summer.

We climbed up pretty high in town, hoping for a decent view

to photograph, but most of the prime views are on private land.

This picture should give you some perspective That big dome

(Il Duomo) off in the distance, in the center of the photo, is in

the city of Florence.

There are several restaurants and we got hungry
enough to finally pick one.

We went on a tour out of Florence, a few years ago that stopped

for lunch at a winery. The lunch was all very simple fare, but oddly

enough one of the more memorable items, was simply some

cannelloni beans with salt and pepper and drizzled with good olive oil.

I never forgot that. I saw it on the menu and had that with some bruschetta

al pomodoro (with tomatoes) and I was happy.

Deb had her new favorite, tortelli, filled with fresh pecorino cheese and pears.

Breakfast in the garden. Can you tell that just a few doors down

from the apartment, there is a pasticceria. Breakfast suddenly

gets better when you open up the package from there.

I am obsessed with bruschetta after having some really good ones

earlier in the trip. It is a work in progress and here is yet another

attempt for dinner in the apartment. A little garlic infused olive oil

with chopped fresh basil and a dash of sea salt on toasted crostini.

Just a few doors down from us is Trattoria Dell'Orto and it

seemed like a local favorite.

A few nights after we arrived, we gave it a try. What a charming

place it was. The guy who appeared to be the owner could not have

been more friendly. We were pretty much the first diners

when we went in, but it was full, when we left.

We had heard gunshots early in the morning the day we left Greve,

so we knew that chingale (wild boar) hunting season had begun.

They are a nuisance in the vineyards, but a delicious one. This was

the first time we had seen it on the menu on this trip. Deb got

pappardelle au chingale and I got tagliolini con tartufo nero

(black truffles) and insalata di casa. It was all very good!

Every day we would pass this ornate charcoal grill in a shop

window and I finally had to take this picture. Quite the rig!

We tried another hole-in-the-wall lunch place we had read about

for lunch in Florence. All' antica Vinaio. They serve a variety of

sandwiches, all on fresh baked focaccia. There is no seating, so all

the dry curbs nearby are prime. The sandwiches are huge, all cost

5 Euro and as you stand in line, fresh, hot focaccia bread is delivered

from someplace nearby and stacked on the counter from where the

sandwich makers are continually grabbing it. It is an impressive

operation, a genius idea, a raging success and if the "La Summer"

sandwich we shared (fresh warm focaccia, prosciutto, fresh mozzarella,

fresh tomatoes and fresh basil) is any indication, deserves all the attention.

Check out the porchettas stacked up in the glass cooler. You can see the

loaves of focaccia on the counter that are replaced with fresh baked,

hot ones as fast as they disappear

One of Deb's favorite leather shop in the world is on the main

drag right near the Ponte Vecchio, so one morning we headed

in that direction, crossing the river and heading upriver along

its course. This picture shows the famous bridge in the distance.

Deb is heading for it like a heat seeking missile. She is already

in possesion of those new gloves and handbag in her mind.

Here are some of the very popular shops on the bridge and a

picture from the other side of the river.

After yet another visit to Central Market we both spotted
Trattoria Za Za at about the same time. We had both read about
it somewhere and decided to give it a try, The two story building
on the right is Central Market. The second floor is a giant food
court, San Lorenzo Market fills the street on three sides of
Central Market. It was a warm and sunny day, so we chose to
sit outside.

The clientele seemed to be a pretty even mixture of tourists and locals.

Deb had spaghetti with clams sauce

I had Spaghetti with zucchini blossoms, sliced zucchini, black truffles

and shrimp. Somehow I had not seen the word for shrimp on the
menu, so they were a surprise. It was a very delicious dish, but I
could not really taste the truffles. If I had access to truffles, I would
leave out the shrimp.