In October, I travelled to Italy for a week. 1 night Pisa, 4 nights in Florence, 1 day Siena and 2 nights in Bologna.

Day 1

On the first day we arived in the late afternoon, checked into our room and went towards the “leaning tower of Pisa”. Ofcourse it was pretty crowded there, took some obligatory pictures, went on to walk the area and look for a nice place for dinner. After dinner we strolled the streets, just see where we end up. Pisa has a lot of small, narrow streets. The Arno river between the train station and the heart of the city, is absolutely stunning at night, wonderful orange street lights which makes it a quite romantic spot.

Day 2

In the morning, just before sunrise we explored some more of Pisa for a few hours, checked out of the hotel, explored a bit the other side of the river, the area around the station and around lunch time we took the train to Florence. About an hour later we arrived and went towards our airbnb, checked in and headed towards the Piazza di San Giovanni. This is where the beautiful “Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore” is located. An amazing renaissance cathedral from the 15th century. Took some of the typical “holiday shots”, but it was so crowded in that area that it actually annoyed us. Tired from the pretty long walk in the morning and the travel, we decided to get some dinner, buy a bottle of wine and call it a night.

Day 3

Just like the day before, we left our bnb before sunrise, and headed towards the Piazza di San Giovanni. Nothing better than seeing a metropole come to life in the morning. The first light of day started to create beautiful lit up spots on the pavement. The cathedral on one side started to get lit up and buildings around casted their shadows on the walls. After this we started to explore the city, actually, when you move away from the very touristic heart of the city, the things only start to look better in my opinion. Beautiful streets where the light plays with the shadows of the buildings, pastel coloured buildings. On to the next big tourist spot, the beautiful Ponte Vecchio. A medieval bridge over the river Arno. Luxury jewellery stores on the bridge, beautiful arches to the side of it. These arches are beautiful in the morning light, they cast beautiful shadows and boxes of light. Some beautiful photo opportunities here. After that we started walking around on the other side of the bridge, not many tourists to be seen here. A bit more elevations on this side, but beautiful. Had a late lunch, strolled some more around the city to then circle back towards the river the river for sunset. Went for dinner, bought some tiramisu and went to the bnb.

Day 4

On day 4 we started the same, out early and walk around the heart of the city until 10am to then take a train towards Siena. Coming from the trainstation, from here you have to take escalators to get all the way up to the edge of the city, 62m vertical rise. From here you have quite an impressive view over the Tuscan landscape. Passed a small park where people were enjoying the sunny day and having their social time. Then we walked through the gates to the medieval city.
Siena is lovely , what I imagine when I think of an Italian city. Narrow streets, pastel colored buildings, lots of elevation. Had great fun strolling these streets with my camera. The square there is amazing, I hadn’t studied anything about Siena before hand, so I was quite impressed by it. Late afternoon we returned to Florence, had a nice pizza, some wine and took dessert home.

Day 5

This is our last full day in Florence, we started the day a bit later, went for some breakfast and strolled the streets we already were quite familiar with. Towards lunchtime we walked to the Ponte Vecchio, crossed the bridge and started a very long walk uphill to the Piazza Michelangelo. During the walk there are some breathtaking views of some olive farms and the city in the distance. Late afternoon we reached our destination, from here you have an amazing panoramic view over the whole city of Florence. After some photo’s and a well earned rest, we started our descent back towards the river. The sun started to go down and beautiful light was hitting the city streets. We walked 17km in total and were completely exhausted. So another early night, because tomorrow we travel to Bologna.

Day 6

We got up, packed our things and went for a walk in a total different direction, got some breakfast and walked towards the Piazzo di San Giovanni from a total different angle. I regret not seeing this angle before. But the light was amazing, had a few nice shot on our way there. Around 11 we went to the station and took a train to Bologna.
Once we arrived in our hotel, we refreshed ourselves and walked into the city of Bologna. We were quite tired so we decided to chill in the square with some aperol. Made some pictures of people in the square and some of the side streets. We walked a bit more to find a place to eat. We ended up in this lovely family run restaurant, full of local people. Eat some delicious pasta and drink a good wine. For desert a tiramisu and canolo. Both delicious!

Day 7

We start to feel that 3 city trips in 1 week take a toll, we decide to take a chill morning, it was also a bit cloudy, and for the first time in a week, we took a continental breakfast in the hotel. Towards noon we arrived in the city. This is the moment when we discover the beauty of the porticos. Stroll around this beautiful city until we felt hungry. For lunch we went to the exact same restaurant as the night before. This time only a main dish, tagliatelle ragout, with some delicious red wine. Around this time also the sun decided to join us for the rest of the afternoon. We explored some of the outer area of the city center, the later it got in the afternoon, the better the light became. Around 6pm we left the city centre and went to a supermarket, bought some charcutery, grapes and bread and called it a day.

Day 8

The last day of our week in Italy, we have an evening flight back home, so still a whole day to fill with activity. We borrowed some bicycles in the hotel and explored the city on 2 wheels. I wouldn’t say the city is optimised for cycling but it was very enjoyable. We did have some small spells of very light rain but that didn’t bother us. First to the main square, park our bikes and have a walk and look out for breakfast. Due to the rain, we were kind of forced to walk in the porticos. It was so beautiful, a monday morning, the city getting to life with local people going to work. This is how I enjoy a city the most, just regular every day life going on. We found breakfast in this small bar, super friendly owners and delicious focacia. Nearby was a court and plenty of lawyers coming in to have their morning espresso.
We went back to our bikes and decided to explore the university campus area of the city. Over here the porticos were very nice, often covered in graffiti and political messages. But the atmosphere in this area was amazing, friendly young people walking the streets. Every corner had it’s charm. To me, this was one of the prettiest locations of the trip.
In the afternoon we hopped back on the bike and started to look for a place to eat. Already the days before we saw this restaurant where you could see the women make handrolled pasta in the window. But the queue was enormous then. Now it was later in the afternoon, there was a queue, but we decided to ask if they had a spot and got seated immediately, as the other people waiting were all in groups and they only had a table for 2 available. Here I had a lovely pasta carbonara and a delicious glass of red wine. After dinner we walked back to the bike and passed another hidden gem, this beautiful portico coved with glass tiles that had the light coming through. Now we had to bike back to the hotel to gather our stuff and move towards the airport as this trip comes to an end.