I skype with Paalo who still hasn't got his bag - good thing is that now we can talk since he's bought a mic. Other items on the shopping list have been abandoned as price wise there's very little difference to what we can get in oz.
To go to Arezzo I have to go to Firenze Campo de Marte (which means Mars Camp) according to the Trenitalia site.
Even on Sunday the street market is on.
Ahh, lovely empty streets.
I decide to catch a taxi from the station rather than battle the trains. The process proves to be a little more expensive than I imagined - €15 for 5 minutes. When I hand over €20 there's that pause when he realises that I'm not getting out and am waiting for my change. Unbelievable. Grudgingly I'm given the change.
He can't complain as there's a lot of people waiting for taxis at this station.
Lesson learnt - that's that last taxi I'm catching in Florence. We certainly were spoiled in Turin.
While waiting for the train I check out the departures board and find out that there were a lot of other trains heading to Arezzo and I could have caught them at Santa Maria Novella. Doh!
Arezzo proves to be a welcome respite from the tourist filled streets of Florence. I walk through the near empty streets, disturbed only by the church bells and snippets of Italian conversation.
I take the long way to my destination, happily absorbing the atmosphere with a break for a macchiato on the way.
There's a real charm to the layout and as I reach the high point, Piazza Grande appears before me - most aptly named indeed.
The camera show is being held under those arches
and as all camera shows it seems to be frequented by men who have the need to dangle their cameras with the biggest lens they have, around their necks. I should have brought my 500mm lens, that would have showed them!
There are many cameras to drool over but no real bargains - plus just a bit to much cigarette smoke to have me seriously consider buying a camera. I did manage to find a small tripod that should hopefully do the trick - to take the photos in the apartment I'm having to up the iso since I have to hand hold so they are more grainy than I'd like.
I'd never seen the Ferrari Nikon - I have no idea how much it was but it probably takes photos way quicker than the rest ;)
I should explain what some of these building are on the Piazza Grande
On the left is the Palazzo del Tribunale and right is Fraternita dei Laici
the porticos where the camera show was held are part of the Palazzo delle Logge
This sits to the left of the Palazzo del Tribunale and it is the Pieve di Santa Maria.
The piazza has an irregular shape and unusually it's built on a slope to follow the natural contour of the hill. You can see the slope a little better on this photo.
This is the Lappoli Tower
and this is the Cofani Tower
After the show I continued by exploration of the city, basically just following roads and seeing where they took me
The wonderful smells coming out of the restaurant certainly had me licking my lips
it is located near to the Basilica di San Francesco di Arezzo
Started in 1920, the facade was never finished.
Nearby is a patchwork of a church, the Chiesa di Badia
It was founded in the 14th century but redesigned in the 16th.
By this stage I was feeling a little depleted by the warm weather and when I spied a gelateria near the church, I looked a bit like this
not that I am a red-headed boy or anything
so off I went and I was soon happily tucking into my cup of pistachio gelato
Once finished it was back to my wanderings about town
there's a few of these restaurants that set up around the churches
Eventually it was time to head back "home", I couldn't really risk staying out in the sun for much longer and I didn't want to push it too much since I still wasn't feeling the best.
Time to head back to the station.
where I caught a rather lurid green regional train back into Florence SMN - no Mars Camp for me!
For more photos check out the Flickr set: Arezzo
