Hi ladies,
I went for a trip to Florence this Winter to celebrate New Year's Eve. As a city person, I was sceptical, and rightfully so. See, I'm not a city person, in fact, I'm neither an Italy person. The only city I like is Vienna, because it's nice and quiet. I was hoping that Florence would be something like that.
I didn't take the initiative to go, of course, I was invited. All I wanted to do was have some quality time with my partner. I know how traveling to cities works these days. Everything is crowded and everything seems to be about consumerism. You get to pay a lot of money for things that, by the end of the day, you don't enjoy at all. Cities are always portrayed nicer than they are, because, of course, who wants to come accross as a failure who can't afford a nice place when they get home? Who wants to be that person who wasted his money and doesn't appreciate our "wonderful heritage"? I had read about Venice getting absolutely swallowed by tourists to the point where there is just no real Venetian person left in the city. It becomes a soulless museum where all authenticity left is the buildings. Places are so crowded that you never get some peace of mind to get the actual Italian vibe. Cities suffer most because they are so ridiculously easy to reach. If it weren't for all those people from outside of Europe, Florence might have actually been a nice experience, because we wouldn't have had to wait 5 hours for every museum ticket.
The people
Expectation: beautiful Italian people, a nice amount of tourists.
Reality: unfriendly waiters, worn out museum staff, masses and masses of Asians, muslims, poor people, arrogant rich people,... barely any normal people you can talk to. Lots of vendors setting of fire crackers right at your feet at the market. Merchants that are illegal. More illegals trying to sell umbrellas in the freezing cold and rain, poor guys.
Getting around
Expectation: romantic walks through Florence
Reality: literally every single street is crooked, so watch your step. Florence is also impossible to get through in heels. It also has poor plumbing, so if it rains, prepare to come back to your hotel room with shoes full of water, because the puddles just build up on the streets.
Weather
Expectations: gentle winter
Reality: the coldest wind you have ever experienced, with icey rain and a chance of snow. A sporadical day of Spring weather in January where it will be too hot to wear all of those hot clothes you brought.
Museums
Expectations: pop into several museums a day to enjoy Botticcelli and others.
Reality: you can get your Botticelli, if you are willing to waste 5 hours or longer per museum, standing in line until you are ready to faint. All to see a painting that you have already seen so often on pictures (trust me, I wasn't the one who wanted to go, I prefer taking in the local life outside when I travel and make pictures). Crowds and crowds father around that one Botticcelli, and then go home... a bit poorer... a bit more exhausted... No wonder staff looks so cynical... seeing masses and masses waste money and this kind of "experience" is a gold mine. I hated feeling part of the cattle, but oh well, at least "I was there". Can you tell I'm more of a nature person? All that kept going through my mind was: I could have been at an amazing beach somewhere with this money.
I have no idea why people take thousands of the same pictures of this every single day... It's a nice painting but the internet if full of pictures that 100 times nicer than the ones you took... I just don't get museums. Travelling is hard enough and waiting hours to see something I can study much better in books is just stupid.
Transportation Expectations: just take a cab from the airport, get around on foot.
Reality: you can take a cab or train to the airport, and get around on foot, but beware of fast taxis trying to run you over. The area around the train station was getting renovated and it was a muddy, rainy mess. It was sedatingly cold and in the station it looked as if the benches were full of poor black people trying to find some warmth in that cold city.
Worn out, tired, cold, in pain: the end of our trip at Florence station.
Eating out
Expectations: romantic Italian dinner
Reality: about the restaurants, I have to say that I have never eaten a steak as good as in Florence. I just hated the consumerism around it, charging 5 euros for cuttlery. All in all, food wasn't very expensive though. I also ate the most amazing eclairs near the Piazza del Signoria.
Shops
Expactations: buying fresh Italian produce every day. Lots of Italian fashion stores in all price categories.
Reality: spending your last energy to reach a filthy busy Conad, a small supermarket that is too narrow for two people to pass in the halls. Despite serving the best steaks, it is really tough to find a butcher in Florence. So we got an appartment for almost nothing, because I just couldn't cook. About shopping for clothes, you either have the chains you have at home, or the very expensive couture. And, to complete the whole sheeple thing, even when it was pooring rain, lines and lines of millenials were waiting to buy sandwiches at the same shops, probably highly overpriced. Some were eating cheap pizza in the rain. Hey, I get it, restaurants are expensive, but you look like actual cattle! Another thing about shopping abroad is, if you were invited and happened to have to travel with Ryanair (with depressed staff and loud enginges), then you will have limited hand luggage. Shopping is very hard when you only carry hand luggage. Everything is just too big or heavy to take back, so if you do go... just take the normal luggage...
Reality
Was there nothing nice about Florence? Well, no, not on my trip. I took some good photographs of nice buildings and stuff, but I had to work really hard to not get some mass of people in the shot. It is the type of pictures you see on Instagram I guess. It baffles me how some people can like cities like this and actually spend money on this. I cannot believe anyone can really enjoy this. If I can only see some nice buildings and artwork, I may as well buy a book on Florence, because, the physical experience, is just insane.
So, don't visit Florence, there is a millions places on earth that are nicer, quieter and more beautiful.
x
Helena
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