OK - so we added a brief couple of days in Florence on our way to Lake Como. Not really necessary, but I had to have a sandwich!
All’antico Vinaio has consistently been rated as the #1 place for sandwiches “in the World”, and we stopped in a few years ago to see what all the hype was about. And yes, now we scheduled part of our trip - mostly for this! I can’t really describe it - the meats, the bread? Most people come for the museums - I come here to eat!
They have three shops - take away only - and one sit down Osteria - all in within 100 feet of each other. Not sure which one makes the bread, but you see them moving from shop to shop - and you can smell it (wow). The line? It is here about 20 hours a day - seriously. Certainly part of the draw is the 12,000 (and climbing) reviews on the internet, but this is a “must-do” when you are here.
And I apologize right now - I neglected to take a picture of a sandwich. But if you Google All’antico Vinaio Florence, you will see much more. Oh, and if you don’t want to stand in line, there is always “Uber Eats” (and many other delivery services). Seriously - I think this is the original Jimmy Johns!
As luck would have it, our AirBNB was just around the corner - “heaven”! OK - I only had one sandwich while we were here, but you get the point - a good stop to make. Our place (inside) was fine - but a few stairs to drag luggage, and the apartment down below had the worlds biggest chain-smoker living in it (really - the smoke was wafting out into the staircase all day long!
A quick couple days here in Florence. Walk, walk walk - much to see in a short time. The Ponte Vecchio; the Duomo...
The David reproduction in the Piazza (sorry, but after our last trip where someone - we'll just call her "Lucy" - got us kicked out for life for taking a flash photo of the real one, we are only allowed outside). Just kidding (mostly), but lots to see in a short time frame.
So, after a long day of walking and looking at all there is to see in Florence...it’s time to eat again (of course). They have all four critical food groups - Meat; Cheese; Bread; WINE!
Another great place we found where we could sit and relax while having a nice charcuterie board and wine was “La Prosciutteria”, and it was just a couple hundred feet beyond the sandwich place. Of course, I am sure you can find some “fine dining” experiences here as well but for now, we are just into the local places and this was a great recommendation from our AirBNB host.
And after a bite, we head out to the Piazza nearby, sitting below The David on the steps, to listen to street music. It doesn’t get any better than this. Look up Tadusz Machalski on YouTube (I haven’t yet figured out how to upload videos). He is incredible - people come and sit to listen to him for the entire evening, and there is no better setting than this. We bought one of his CD's - Think we will give it to Luciano when we see him in October.
A great couple of days in Florence. Next, we head off to Lake Como for about a week. Time for more hiking to counter some of the food, and wine!
p.s. - I am still working to figure this whole blog thing out. Think I can now edit the picture size in the blog to make it a little easier for you to read/see. Hope this is helpful. I will also try to get caught up in the next few days.
All the best to everyone.
Ciao for now.