Florence city break fun

We spent a few days over the half term break in the beautiful city of Florence catching up with old friends and exploring the ancient town in the glorious autumnal sunshine. If you haven’t hit up this beauty spot, then take a peek at some of these pics and start thinking about booking your flight.

First up we stayed at the Westin Excelsior right on the banks of the river Arno, perfect for our mission which was to take a little of the art history in as well as to work through the culinary delights in the city and catch up with our buddies. We set about the first part via a fun walking tour through Freya’s Florence Tours and the lovely Suzanne who kept the kids enthralled with her fun take on the twists and turns of historical Florence. I’d road-tested a walking tour last time we were in Venice, and for me it’s that perfect mix of getting orientated in the city you’re visiting whilst grabbing a little insider knowledge of the history and lifestyle along the way.

Michelangelo’s David

The ceiling in the Duomo

A peek at the base of Donatello’s St George at the Orsanmichele showing an early example of flattened relief or perspective.

Florence… the food

Of course, once a bit of sightseeing has been done, there’s the inevitable rumbly tumbly, so we stopped along the way for a little light refreshment.

Max wears Ruff & Huddle jacket (which we bought at least a year before a certain Beckham kid was spotted wearing it BTW!)

Before a bit more art hunting…

Then it was time to catch up with our buddies taking lunch in their cool city center home with ingredients sourced from their garden in the countryside.

Another pit stop during our stay was at the uber chic mozzarella bar Obicà where it’s cool to turn up on your Vespa…

Another fun stop one morning was Cafè Gilli for some amazing sweet treats…

Florence… the shopping

Of course, there’s oodles of shopping to be done. We were quite taken with Gerard Loft and the legendary Luisa Via Roma which I’ve been internet shopping on for years, so it was fun to take a spin around the actual shop floor.

The perfect winter hat from Gerard Loft

Fun entrance to Luisa Via Roma

As the sun set on our city break, we agreed we would definitely be back.

 We booked through Expedia – take a peek here to start planning your next city break ideas.