[Florence, ITALY] Day 1: Santa Croce, Ponte Vecchio, Antique Market Santo Spirito, Santa Novella Maria, Lobs Fish Restaurant, Duomo

Florence is a very walkable city, at every turn, there's something to amaze you.

Our apartment is literarily just at the corner of Basilica of Santa Croce, which is one of the largest Franciscan church in the world, and the resting place of Galileo, Michelangelo, Rossini and many others.

We took a long morning stroll around the city, making our way towards Ponte alle Grazie, so that we can get a good view of Ponte Vecchio, the only bridge that wasn't bombed in WWII (a last minute decision by the Germans to preserve it for its historic values). The Ponte Vecchio, also carries the secret passage "The Vasari Corridor" that connects Palazzo Vecchio to Palazzo Pitti and many of the other buildings in Florence. Supposedly the Medici instructed that every citizen's roof needs to be opened up to build a connecting passage that allows the family to travel anywhere above ground.

I think the best way to observe and understand a city, is to go to a local market. I was in luck, as the Saturday we arrived, there was an antique flea market at Santo Spirito, and it was a great place to watch people rummage through for treasure, hackle on price, and the owners chilling and chit-chatting with neighboring vendors.

Wonder if they picked up these wine from old sailing boats?

Amazing antique silverware

We then stopped by Basilica Santa Maria Novella and Officina Profumo - Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella to do some shopping!

Although Florence is not really the city to have seafood, but if you are craving for some, Lobs Fish restaurant is the one to go. I would also suggest getting the warm seafood salad for appetizer.

Since this is the first day of us arriving the city after a red-eye flight, we wanted to take things slow, so in the afternoon we took a quick tour at the Duomo.

Tips: If you want to get ahead in line, they have tour guides (10 Euro per person) waiting at the door, which I thought was pretty decent deal since you get a little introduction about Cathedral of Santa Maria de Fiore (Duomo) and you didn't need to wait for the long queue.