florence

according to the legend, florence was founded by cesar around 59 bc, where he settled along the banks of the arno river, which seperates the city in two. whether or not that is true, is something else but the history of its monuments, churches, roads seeps into the atmosphere. its surreal.
the "duomo" is visible from pretty much everywhere, due to its height but also its colours - pink, white and green. its construction started in 1296 by the architect, arnolfo di cambio, and was completed about a century and a half later.
the int. of the cathedral is enormous, measuring 155m x 90m, and has frescos by donatello, del castagno and ghiberti. the "piazza del duomo" consists of a large square with shops and restaurants spilling into it. of course, there are the tourist sellers/ harrassers with their postcards, wooden pinocchios and italian flags. it all adds to the vibe...
here, we stayed in a "pension", which i presume used to be a monstary/ nunery of sorts because on the majority of the walls, there were religious figures luminated. needless to say, this was quite a scary sight in the middle of the night!