Monday, October 8

Fiesole

The other three couples headed off in their different directions today, Greg & Kelly to Bologna, Skip & Josie to France, John & Jan to Lucca, but Lorri and I wouldn't leave Florence until Tuesday. We decided to take the No. 7 bus to Fiesole, a town on a hill overlooking Florence from the northeast.

It was a short bus ride (round trip for two - 4.50 Euros) and the first thing we saw when we got off the bus was J. J. Hill's Irish Pub. It wasn't open yet so we went and toured the Archeological Park instead.

This is a Roman amphitheater built in the first century and is still used for concerts and shows today.

The baths were built at around the same time as the amphitheater. Adjacent to the theater are the remains of a roman temple as well as parts of an Etruscan temple dating to the fourth century BC. From Fiesole you get a great view of the city of Florence. In the fourth photo you can see the Duomo in the middle. We had a good lunch at Caffé Al No. 5, a "Bistrot American Bar". We had French fries! That was our waitress in the photo on the right.

Back in Florence with an afternoon to kill we visited the Duomo again, this time venturing inside to check things out.

It's big and impressive and hard to photograph.

After a long day of touring, it was time for a beverage back at Hotel Laurus.