There's plenty of street entertainment in the Piazza della Republica, right outside our hotel. The department store nearby is all decked out with fairy lights and one of the nearby restaurants specialises in chocolates and has great displays in the windows for us to drool over. One evening we were entertained by this band with one member playing - a garbage bin!
Exploring the Duomo can take several hours. There are a number of buildings to spend time in. The complex is 3 main buildings. The Baptistry is a large octagonal building with a magnificent mosaic ceiling made up of millions of tiny glass tiles based on a gold colour scheme. Apart from the ceiling the interior is mostly plain - except for the huge brass "Doors of Paradise". These doors are actually replicas with the originals safely stored away.
Next door is "Giotto's Tower", the Campanile or bell-tower. The 414 steps to the top are well worth the effort as we looked over the top of the cathedral and could see all over Florence. I'm not sure who counted the steps - i think they missed a few!
After the climb we went next door into the cathedral where we saw the beautiful marble floor and perhaps the best known painting of Dante who was born and lived in Florence for most of his life. Inside is the "one-handed clock" which is a 24 hour clock. Underneath the cathedral is the original church which dates to about the 4th century. This church has been excavated and is now a museum. We were able to walk on the ancient mosaic floors and see some of the tombs of the early bishops.
Again well worth it as we made our way up the narrow stone staircase, this time we could look over the campanile. All of the buildings are faced with white, pink, green and black marble.
In the evening we booked into a cooking class to learn how to make authentic florentine pizza and gelato. A great evening with our chef Daniel.
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