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and life along the winding road

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Trafalgar Tours Italian Scene Review Day 10 - Florence

Tour Day 10 -
We met with a local tour guide in Florence for an walking tour past the The Cathedral of Santa Maria dei Fiori and ending at The Basilica of Santa Croce. The dome of the Cathedral has an interesting story and was designed by a goldsmith. Florence is renowned for its gold jewelry and leather products and after a visit to a jewelry store, we were led to the Peruzzi leather factory and showroom. With a couple of hours free time, we wandered around the Santa Croce Piazza and some of the group toured the Basilica where Michaelangelo is buried.
Back in Rome there was an optional dinner, but we chose instead to walk to a restaurant close to Raganelli Hotel (I think it was called Benditos).

In summary I thought this was a great tour, and I was fortunate that the group was a lot of fun and looked out for each other. No one intentionally turned up late at meeting places and were prompt when we had stops for lunch or restrooms. Our tour guide was also very entertaining and efficient at keeping things running smoothly. The hotels were all adequate. This was a cost saver tour so the hotels were usually away from the main cities, but I found them all clean and comfortable. The buffet breakfasts were good (although many complained about the coffee). There was a rush in the places we stopped and not nearly enough time to take in the sights, but we did cover a lot of Italy in a short period of time.