This blog is not the place where I tell you what to visit, or how to get to places. This blog is a place where I share my passion for photography and travel and tell you my stories and experiences. I hope you enjoy it.
My friends always ask me how I do it, why every month they see me in a different place, in many cases in Spain, although I am starting to get out of here a little more. I like to organize my dates, and plan realistic trips for me. I don’t usually make one big trip a year, but I do go out every month to discover new places to know other ways of life, to discover the history of those small villages or big cities. Those other realities are like pressing the reset button for me, help me to reconnect with myself again, be grateful for some things, appreciate others and in many, many cases, it inspires me and brings me new ideas.
I’m a person who doesn’t like monotony very much, and whether you like it or not, routine starts to become that, no matter how many plans and options my city offers me. That’s how I allocate budget and time in these plans, monthly if possible. I am perhaps not the conventional tourist who goes to the places recommended by instagram, and to the restaurants with the best reviews. However, I love to read travel blogs and investigate, according to my interests and my «mood» what that place has to offer me. After that research I put together my itinerary to try to make the most of my time (I don’t usually go for so many days, so I try to have everything calculated to make the investment of money and time worthwhile, but also to give me space to take advantage and disconnect).
Florence, a real gem
And to start this journey with this new project, I would like to tell you about my first trip to Italy.
After 5 years living in this continent, it would probably be the first place I should have gone to when I arrived. I have some curious anecdotes I could tell you about the two times I tried to go to Rome or Milan, but this text is really dedicated to «the third time is the charm».
As I was saying, I am perhaps not a very conventional traveler either with the places where I like to take the first impressions. I always say that «everything happens for a reason» and that if I had not managed to know before the country with the best culinary experience in Europe (now already proven by me) is because I had to start in the region of Tuscany, in the beautiful city of Florence.
Florence (Italian: Firenze) is a city located in the north central region of Italy and is the capital of the region of Tuscany with approximately one and a half million inhabitants.
The most representative and wonderful thing about this city is the artistic movement that originated in the second half of the 14th century, the Renaissance.
I grew up in a family of artists, and it is one of the great reasons why living in Europe is inspiring for me. The great works of architecture that are already the cities themselves and the great works housed in their museums.
Florence is considered one of the world’s cradles of art and architecture and Renaissance works such as the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, the Ponte Vecchio, the Basilica of Santa Croce and museums such as the Uffizi, the Bargello or the Accademia Gallery, which houses Michelangelo’s David stand out.
Knowing that art appreciation is something I enjoy, and that this is where many of the great references of art and architecture were born, there would be no better place to start with a first impression of Italy.
But not only that, it is possibly the best place to eat, and I’m not just saying that because of its flavors and variety (who doesn’t like Italian food) but also because there is some art in it.
First Tuscan views
Of course, the wow factor was not only the magic and art of Florence, but also this wonderful little Tuscan village, less than an hour from Florence. This tiny town called Certaldo is known for the writer and poet Giovanni Boccaccio and surprised us with a beautiful sunset, like one of those movies they shoot in Tuscany and a colony of cats that receive some visitors like me, I could not help but take pictures of them.
As I told you, this is not a conventional travel blog with information about places, prices and restaurant recommendations. It is a site where I share my experience, but mostly in photographs of my adventures around the world.
I can’t wait to go back to another magical place in Italy and tell you second impressions. I hope you enjoyed it and that visually I managed to capture at least half of what this beautiful trip was like for me!