Location: Chiesa di Santa Croce, Florence, Italy
This kitty was napping at the little garden of a church. It ignored me all the time I mew-ed to it.
(Caterpillar is the actual name of a cat.)
Caturday: Caterpillar-in-training in Florence
Tag: florence
Glutton in Italy
[Every Friday is Food Friday here at YQ travelling. Let’s feast.]
Last week, we had a taste of food in Florence in the Glutton eats with Florence Food Tour.
Today, I want to show you the other food I ate while in Italy. Before I went to Italy, the only Italian food I know of was pasta, pizza and Italian-named coffees. I never ate much gelato back home because it’s always more expensive than ice creams.
Italian coffees
Italians don’t seem to drink bad coffee–the coffee at the breakfast buffet of my mid-priced hotel in Pisa was rather good and even the cappucino served at IKEA (famous for its burnt coffee) was excellent.
While in Florence, I had a favorite coffee shop right at the Palazza Duomo. The place serves good coffee and has a view of one of the walls of the very beautiful Duomo.
In Italy, coffee is usually drank at the bar. It seems to me that only tourists sit at tables, and are charged more for it.
Gelato
I have to confess. I cannot actually tell the difference between gelatos of different shops. Apart from the flavors, they all taste the same to me: milky and cold.
I did have an extra nice pistachio-flavored gelato while in Rome. It really tasted of green pistachios.
Strawberries
Strawberries were in season when I was in Italy. For my first two nights, I ate only strawberries for dinner because I was too tired of going out and deciphering menus.
Pizza
Pizza used to be my favorite western dish back when I was growing up. We only had Pizza Hut but I loved it anyway.
I had the most amazing pizzas when I was in Rome. I was walking around the neighborhood of my AirBnb place, trying to look for the restaurant recommended by the houseowner. I didn’t find the restaurant but I found a pizzeria.
Pizza there sold by weight, not slice as I was used to. On the first day, I ordered a small slice. But the next day, I ordered double the volume because it was just too tasty.
Special dishes in Florence
I spent 5 night in Florence, making it the city I spend the most time in. The Chinese hostel owner brought me to the streets on the day I arrived, even before I put my bags in the hostel, and showed me a Florence street food.
Lampredotto
The lampredotto is made from the fourth stomach of a cow. It’s cooked in a sauce and served either on its own or squished between a hard bun.
The taste was alright but I always appreciate entrails (even though my cholesterol is on the higher side). The bread that came along was a tougher challenge and made me feel like a cow that have grazed too long and hurt my jaw.
Porchetta sandwich
At the Tuesday Market, there were food trucks selling lampredotto and porchetta. How do you know if the truck sells porchetta? It’s easy. They have a whole roasted pig on display.
The porchetta sandwich I ate had a hard bread. The meat wasn’t moist so it felt like I was gnawing through tough cardboard.
Florentine steak
I had this special dish in Florence one rainy evening. It’s less of a steak and more of a great slab of meat cooked crispy on the outside and bloody in the inside.
Even though I was feeling melancholic during that meal, I must say that the meat meat tasted great. However I wasn’t able to finish my 700gm slab of steak so I took it back to my hostel where the hostel mates polished it off.
That’s what I call team work!
Odd one out: Chinese dumplings
This is a rather odd entry in my Italian food list. Since I was staying in a Chinese-run hostel, I had the chance to have dinner there for an extra 5 euro.
One night, the owner served Chinese dumpling but it had a strange filling. There didn’t seem to be any meat and had glass noodles and cabbage instead.
Glutton eats with Florence Food Tour
[Disclosure: I received a complimentary tour with Florence Food Tour thanks to Italy Segway Tour. All opinions in this post are my own.]
If you’ve been following my blog for a while (before my RTW), you will know that I love to eat. I even have a series called the Glutton Series where I recap the best food I had in different countries.
Last week, I donned my Glutton cap and joined Florence Food Tour for about 3 hours of non-stop eating (tasting to be exact), walking and learning.
The location of the office is rather hard to find, especially when you rely on Google Maps. It’s not at the junction as labelled on Google Maps, but it’s a lot further inside Via dei Cimatori. So do take note.
My tour was led by Angelina and there were two couples in the group. The younger couple were from San Diego while the older couple were from Holland.
Coffee sipping
Our first stop was a cafe, a perfect place to start since I needed some battery to power through the morning.
Chiaroscuro looked like a regular coffee bar from outside but there are actually seats inside. One very good thing about this cafe is that the Wi-Fi is free and not protected by password. I give this perk an extra 20 points.
But we weren’t at Chiaroscuro to use the internet, let me get on with the tour.
The owner showed us two types of coffee beans–Arabica and Robusta–and also coffees made from the different beans. I think I prefer the mellower Arabica since Robusta was too powerful.
Trivia time! Do you know why Italy is famous for coffee even though other countries (Holland, USA) imported the beans earlier? The owner said it was because the Italians learned how to roast coffee beans well and invented the espresso machines.
Truffle nibbling
Next stop was all about truffles. The staff of Procacci Company was still getting ready when we arrived so we hung around outside for a little while.
When we were in, we each sampled a small bread with black truffle and soft cheese.
There was also a large coffee book about truffles which Angela passed around.
Trivia time! Did you know that the truffle pickers used pigs to sniff for truffles since way way back when everyone in the picture dressed like peasants? Now certain types of dogs are trained to pick truffles because the pigs would eat up the truffles too often.
Wine sipping
We then headed to La Divina Enoteca near the central market to try out some local wines alongside some nibbles.
The shop itself deserves an introduction. Back in the end of the 19th century, the shop sold cod fish and kept the fish in white marble tanks. The tanks are still intact in the shop and now hold yummies such as jams.
For our wine tasting, we had a red and a white wine. Being a wine noob, I’ll tell you all about the tidbits that went with the wine.
With the white wine, we ate the bread decorated with a lace of salty Tuscan ham and Tuscan cheese made from sheep milk called Pecorino.
One of the cheese had a dab of jam, which was oddly matching since the sour/sweet of the jam blends with the cheese.
Central Market exploration
Our Central Market stop was packed with good eats and was a living museum.
There, we had a taste of Florence’s bread which, to my untrained palate, is a bit less tasty than French baguette (maybe because they don’t use salt).
We had a view of the butcher’s fridge which had stuff like cow’s stomach, etc. Of course all these bloody entrails did not surprise me since Chinese meals do make use of them. (And it’s yummy.)
At the market, we had a sit down quick meal of fresh pasta with ragu at Nerbone.
The pasta was flat and wide and was curly. The ragu wasn’t dripping off my noodles the way I like it but it was very flavorful with the dash of olive oil.
Everything else but gelato
By the time we’ve finished our pasta, our stomach level was approaching 90 percent but we still had two stops to go.
In the market, we stopped at Marconcini for olive oil, balsamic vinegar, ham and Vin Santo with cantuccini.
Living in Singapore and Malaysia, the olive oil that I eat usually is slightly rancid because of the time it took to ship and sell the oils as well as the tropical weather.
However, there at Marconcini, I tasted an olive oil (drizzled on bread) that had a “green” flavor.
I wasn’t a big fan of balsamic vinegar so I don’t have much to comment. However, it was surprising to find that the balsamic vinegar sold there was so thick it looked like thick soy sauce.
The last bite at Marconcini was the vin santo with cantuccini. We were told to dab our almond biscuit into the sweet, alcoholic liquor and it was a very delightful combination. (I totally get Orea and milk but biscuit and wine is a different thing to process in my brain.)
Gelato licking
Our last stop was a gelato place called Antica Gelateria Florentina where they served interesting flavors including matcha.
The price here is cheaper than most places with the least expensive costing 1.50 euro. I think this means they are honest people and not out to fleece tourists.
I had two of the special flavors: one was called Buontalenti (the name of the person who supposedly invented gelato) and Ambrosia.
I have to admit that my tongue and stomach were not trained for gelato so most taste the same to me.
More information about Florence Food Tour
For the official listing of what foods you will eat (in case it changes), you can check out the list of tasting and the partners.
The price of the tour is 59 euro, which is about 17 euro cheaper than one competitor–based on my Googling skill.
The quality, quantity of the food and the variety that you can taste makes up for the price. Plus, you won’t need to eat lunch afterwards so you save on a meal.
Have you ever been on a food tour? Where was it and how much did you eat?
Italy day 8: From Florence to Rome [YQrtw Day 34 May 11]
Location: Florence, Italy
Location: Rome, Italy
After five nights, I have finally left Florence. I still feel like I do not know the city very well.
Even on the last morning, I got lost among the cobbled street and couldn’t decipher my map. I didn’t manage to visit the central market to have a bowl of Florentine soup.
I did get a small baguette with smoked ham. The friendly Taiwanese couple shared their spaghetti carbonara as well as a tub of panna cotta with me. Yums.
I arrived that the train station 20 minutes before my scheduled departure.
To my horror, my platform number wasn’t available. I panicked a little and imagined that my train was cancelled and I would be stuck in Florence with no backup plan.
Of course, my reasonable side told me to shut up and wait for the train. The platform did show up in the end, 10 minutes before the departure.
My second-class premium seat had leathery seats and a free drink for the passenger. The overhead area for luggage was slightly bigger than the standard space so that was a nice touch.
Once in Rome, I followed the directions written by my AirBnb host and took the underground. I then used Google Maps to find my way to the house. Unfortunately, Maps brought me to the wrong side of the road and I treked past about 50 houses before I reached my destination.
3 nights in the attic
My accommodation in Rome–slightly outside of Rome is probably a more accurate description–is with an AirBnB host family. I am staying in the attic. I don’t have any good photos of the room yet but I’ll put them up when I have them tomorrow.
It’s a really cute room with two beds, two sofas, a small table, fridge (!), kettle with tea bags and rather weak lighting (or “romantic lighting”).
I remembered that I once wished to live in an attic and now I really am so that’s one thing off my to-do list.
IKEA Italy’s little surprise
Since IKEA was nearby, I stopped there for a look before heading back to Rome for sightseeing.
To my delight, the IKEA here has 2 cafes! It’s so Italian to have cafe even though there is the regular section for cafeteria-like food.
I had a cappuccino and a biscuit for 1.70 euro. The coffee tasted fine (this is not the cafe for regular IKEA coffee) and the biscuit was the same as any Marks & Spenser biscuit.
Next stop was Rome proper. I only managed to see the Colosseum because the name of the station is the same as the site. It wasn’t as gigantic as I was led to believe but I sat down a while to stare at it and found that it was quite large.
Dinner was pizza from a pizzeria near where I’m staying. The pizza was charged based on weight. The whole thing was so yummy I should have bought more.
Italy day 7: Defeated by a Florentine steak [YQrtw Day 33 May 10]
Location: Florence, Italy
I was a little depressed at dinner today. I felt like weeping but I told myself that I am in Florence and I damn well should not cry.
I suppose it was a mix of the cold rainy weather and my hormones. But mostly it was the gigantic piece of beef steak that caused me to feel sad.
I could not finish my 700gm beef steak. Unlike David who defeated Goliath, I was crushed by a (roughly 350gm) piece of uneaten meat.
Conquering Florence-style steak: Bistecca alla fiorentina
The Bistecca alla fiorentina (beefsteak Florentine style) is a famous dish in Florence. The meat is grilled on wood and served rather rare.
I knew I had to try the dish before I leave Florence tomorrow. I headed to one of the restaurants where I previously had lunch. It was still too early for dinner so I was one of the few customers.
The restaurant waiter told me that the smallest serving for bistecca alla fiorentina was 700gm. I decided to go ahead even though they have a set meal with 550gm steak and a few sides.
The meat that arrived was gigantic. The only company to the meat was one piece of purple lettuce and a wedge of lemon.
I knew I couldn’t finish the whole serving but I took the advice of how to eat an elephant (one bite at a time). I squeezed some lemon juice on the whole slab of meat and started with my first bite.
The skin had a nice burnt salty crispy taste while the meat was tender. Further away from the sides, the meat became rarer and rarer, pinker and pinker.
The dish was quite good since the meat was tender. However, by the time I finished half of it, my body told me to stop or everything else might come back up.
So I stared at the steak for a while. I wasn’t sure if asking for a doggie bag was polite in Italy. I didn’t want the dish to go to waste neither and started plotting ways I could take the piece back.
As I plotted, I felt depressed. The meat that was about a two-hundredth of my weight taunted me, “You call yourself a glutton?”
In the end the waiter was very understanding and helped me get a takeaway box.
I walked in the rain back to the dorm with the steak. In the end, the others in the dorm helped me conquer the slab of meat. That’s where you’re going Mr Meat!
Today’s summary: Natural Museum, Pitti Palace’s various museum, lunch + gelato, Basilica of the Holy Cross, Palazzo Vecchio.
Italy day 6: Florence Food Tour and David’s bum [YQrtw Day 32 May 9]
Location: Florence, Italy
Today was the day for my Florence Food Tour, something I’ve been waiting excitedly for. Taking Google Map’s direction advice, I took the C3 bus, hoping to drop near the office.
The bus that came was very crowded. I stuffed myself in the front but more people came on. I was stuck between the legs of one lady and the arm of an older lady, (Lady! Why do you need to hold on to the handle when you are already sitting? Why?!)
As the bus turned, I balanced myself on my feet, afraid that I might crush the brittle arm of the old lady. I decided to get off at the next stop because the old lady seemed to be quite pissed with my bum being on her arm.
The next bus that came was rather empty but I still missed my stop. I hopped off at the next stop and started walking to the office with Google Map’s help.
The problem with Google Map was that it listed the office at the other end of the street. It took me a while before I actually reached the correct spot.
Our guide was Angela, a Sicilian. The other tour members were a young Iranian couple from the US and an older couple from Holland.
I’ll give you a quick summary of what we have, the full post will come next Friday. [Disclosure: Italy Segway Tour which operates the food tour gave me a complimentary tour in exchange for a blog post.]
Our stop included coffee, wine, truffles, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, bread, pasta and gelato. Everyone on the tour was stuffed to the brim before our last gelato stop. Of course we still managed to wolf down our gelato since desserts are processed in our other stomach.
Halfway through the tour, my digital camera suddenly grew a wound-like slash in its lens. Every photo came out with a blotch. I thought this was the end of my camera but luckily it went back to normal later in the day.
I did a whirldwind tour of the Medici chapel and the Palazzo Medici Riccardi with my Firenze Card. The chapel’s fresco were really impressive but we couldn’t take photos so it wasn’t that exciting.
Seeing Michelangelo’s David in the marble
Next stop was Michelangelo’s David. When I got to the Accademia Gallery, there were two lines for those with reserved tickets. (Firenze Card holders count as reserved ticket folks.) Instead of queuing at the second line, I visited the Archaeological Museum to pass time.
The museum had a rather impressive collection of mummies. The mummies didn’t look very appetizing and made me worry about the day when they would arise from the dead.
After about an hour of the museum, I headed back to see David. The line was much shorter and I got in quite soon.
The marble statue of David is rather impressive. It is really tall (14 feet plus the pedestal) and carved very finely.
Since we could not take photos of David (many people still do), I drew a few sketches for you. Of course I wasn’t born a drawing genius, nor was I trained in drawing, so just be happy about what you see here and don’t complain too much please.
In case you are wondering, the second photo is David’s bum, not a picture of the Elephant Man.
I listened to Rick Steve’s audio tour for the Accademia and David. It’s good enough if you (like me), do not want to spend money on the official audio guides.
After looking at the rest of David’s companions in the Accademia, I headed back to the square to my favorite cafe for a cappucino and tiramisu.
It was about 6:00pm when I was done with my cake. I looked at my map and realized that I need to check off a lot more places today with my Firenze Card so I have more time tomorrow.
I had the crazy idea to climb the bell tower of the Santa Maria delle Fiore church. It was 414 steps, divided into five or so spiralling staircases. I was very out of breath by the time I reached the top.
The view was very nice from the top but I didn’t think it was worth 414 steps. If the Firenze Card didn’t cover this site and I’ve paid cold hard cash, I think I would have found all the stair climbing a refreshing exercise.
The sky was still light by the time I walked back at about 7:30pm. I dropped in the restaurant next to my hostel and ate a humungous plate of seafood pasta.
That was all for the day. If you haven’t added me on Twitter, please add @yqtravelling. I usually spam that account since it’s less intrusive compared to spamming Facebook or the blog.
Ciao.
Italy day 5: Ufizzi Gallery and how my shoes ate my feet in Florence [YQrtw Day 31 May 8]
Location: Florence, Italy
[I am writing this slightly tipsy from a 3.60 euro bottle of Italian sparkling wine. Hangovers await me.]
The morning was dedicated to the Ufizzi Gallery. The art museum is described as “one of the oldest and most famous art museums of the Western world” by our go-to resource, Wikipedia.
I was planning to take the light rail from the hostel to the train station to save my feet from too much walking but I found out that I would still need to walk if I take the train and that the travel time would be the same.
In the end, I walked to the gallery with the Taiwanese newlywed and a Chinese couple who came yesterday. The journey to the gallery is a 2km walk but with my crazy shoes, it felt like I was walking in hot coals.
I wore the 5 euro fake leather, made-in-China shoes I bought yesterday at Florence’s Tuesday market. I knew I should not wear new shoes when I need to walk but I convinced myself that I will never be able to wear it anytime during the trip anyway.
The shoes were narrow at the toes after I wore my socks. The sole was a terrible rubber that was a far cry from my darling Crocs. I had a few blisters at the end of the day.
When we got to the Ufizzi at around 8:30am, the line to queue for tickets didn’t seem very long. As I have the Firenze Card (72-hour museum pass), I could skip the lines and go straight in.
I got to the second floor (4 long flights of stairs) before realizing that I could not rent the audioguide there. It was another 4-flights down and 4-flights up before I got to start my tour.
Besides the gallery’s official audio tour (6 euros), I also brought along Rick Steve’s audio guide for Ufizzi. I had to juggle using both audio guides during the visit but it was quite worth it.
The museum was packed with great works. It took me about an hour to finish the very crammed first seven rooms.
I particularly loved the Botticelli room because all his female figures are gorgeous. Leonardo da Vinci’s helping hand in the Baptism of Christ, when he was an apprentice, is lovely. Leonardo drew the angels on the left.
No photos were allowed in the Ufizzi and I didn’t even bothered sneaking any photo. I did see many people not-so-secretly snap pictures.
By the time I was done, it was almost 12:30pm. I dropped into the Galileo Museum right next door since it was covered by the Firenze Card.
In the Galileo Museum, the most impressive things were Galileo’s fingers and the terracotta model of fetuses in difficult delivery conditions.
Lunch time in Florence
After the museum, my feet were hurting really badly but I still had to drag myself around.
I stopped by tourist restaurant famous for its Florentine steak but ordered the cheaper lunch menu.
Lunch was lasagna and roast chicken. The lasagna was creamy and thick while the roast chicken pale but well-seasoned.
The bad thing about dining out in Italy is that they don’t serve tap water. Instead, they serve sparkling or still water at cheapest 1 euro a pitcher.
After lunch, I had another awesome cafe latte at the pastry store near Duomo.
The next part of the day was filled with a lot of aimless walking. Correction, I was trying to find obscure museums but my Google Map and physical map and internal map wasn’t coordinating.
Even when found sites with signs of Museo XXX, there wasn’t a counter in sight or the counter person said to come back another time. The mystical Italian business hour at work, I suppose.
I ended up visiting only the Opera del Duomo Museum to hide from the rain and to use the bathroom. In Italy, public restrooms can cost 1 euro a go or 50 cents at the nice coffee shop I like.
The greatest piece in Opera del Duomo was the restored Gate of Paradise. The golden panels were too small and high up so I didn’t really give it a good look.
Afterwards, I was hoping to visit another museum before I call it a day. Thanks to my terrible map skills, I ended up in a library with a nice courtyard. That wasn’t where I wanted to be but I spent about 10 minutes trying to read my book.
In the end, I decided to use Rick Steve’s Renaissance Florence tour but I walked in the opposite direction of its starting point.
I did go to one of the points in the audio tour so I stayed there and listened to the file all the way until Piazza della Signoria. Then I followed the audio guide right till the end. It began to drizzle halfway during the tour.
Since I was at the opposite bank, I walked in the drizzle for the cheap gelato. I picked chocolate chip and coffee in a cup. The gelato melted a little while I walked.
From the gelateria onwards, I gave up on humility and took off my shoes. I walked part of the journey with only my socks and a major part of my journey using my shoes as sandals.
When I got back, I realized that a huge blister formed on my toe and even on the soles of my feet where the skin is deep. Why!!
Italy day 3: Cloudy day in Florence [YQrtw Day 29 May 6]
Location: Pisa, Italy
Location: Florence, Italy
Breakfast at Hotel Moderno was a self-service breakfast bar. The layout was very cute. I gorged on coffee (even this cheap drink is so tasty here) along with a piece of toast slathered with butter.
My train to Florence left at 11:11am. It was a non-stop service which meant that it was punctual and very fast. It took 49 minutes to get to the city, in contrast to an hour or so on the normal train.
The owner of the hostel I was going to stay at wasn’t at the station as she promised to. For 5-nights, I will be staying at a Chinese-run hostel 民宿, an accommodation I first discovered in Barcelona. I’ll write a follow of this type of hostel soon.
I called the aunty and she said she will come and pick me up. I waited a while before I saw a Chinese lady waving her hand at me. She immediately started talking about how we should start sightseeing a little before we go back.
I stored my bags with one of her Chinese friends who sell souvenirs opposite the train station. Then we went to a Chinese grocery store where we even used the bathroom.
It turned out that Aunty and her friend wanted to go shopping and I was tagging along. However, they did point out the good eateries and even introduced me to lampredotto (made from the fourth and final stomach of a cow, says Wikipedia).
I told them I would go and explore on my own so they can go shopping. For an hour, I circled the Florence Cathedral which was a piece of art from every single angle. From the photos, you can’t tell that the walls are pretty with green borders and flowers but up close, there is so much detail.
While sightseeing, it started drizzling. I hid in the sidewalks of some of the closed shops, admiring the cathedral all the time.
I also popped into a makeup store and bought eyeliner. I have been travelling without eyeliner for almost a month! It’s time I get some clothes for my eyes.
When it was time, the other aunty picked me up. She showed me the way back to the hostel/house after we picked up my luggage. My backpack was so heavy that I felt that the girl from [spoiler!] Shutter was on my shoulders.
I was allowed to pick one of the free beds in the 6-bed dorm. I chose the one on the lower bunk because I like having a roof on top of me.
I met a newlywed Taiwanese couple after my check in. Later, they went shopping while I stayed in the house, drinking Ceylon tea, downloading Rick Steve’s audio guides and finishing my posts.
The dorm also has dinners for those who wish to eat in. Too lazy and cold to head out, I ate the meal. There was Chinese pig trotters (yummy) and a magically yummy bean-sort of stir fry.
Later in the evening, I met the other two Taiwanese girls in my room. One also quit her job but she was only travelling for 40 days in Europe. The other was studying in France for her last semester.
It’s quite nice getting to know people even though I’m some times antisocial.
YQtravelling 