Florence - 24 Nov 23

Country: Italy, Florence

Currency: Euro 

Depart Paris: 7.20am, Arrive Florence 9.05am  (Duration:1 hour 45 mins)   

Flight to Florence via Air France                     

Ticket: S$197.19 per pax

Day 8 - 24 Nov, Fri

Check out hotel at 4.30am to reach CDG airport 5.30am. Ask hotel to advance bk cab for us to airport Euro 65. At the airport was super pack, lucky we arrived early.

Florence Airport to hotel ard 25mins

*Took big cab from Florence airport to hotel instead of Uber, much cheaper only Euro 30 instead of 60.

ARRIVED AIRPORT

Check In Hotel - C Hotel Joy  (5 mins from Firenze Santa Maria Novella Railway Station)   

Room not ready, while we leave our luggage with the hotel n proceed to Outlet Shopping. 

Rushing to catch the shuttle bus to The Mall Firenze.  There is a daily round-trip service from central Florence to the outlet. Need to walk through the train station. 

Bus Pick Up Point: Florence Piazzale Montelungo, 50129 Firenze FI, Italy (10 Mins walk from hotel)

Bus ticket costs 7 Euro for a one-way trip, and 13 Euro for a round-trip.

From Florence (to The Mall Firenze)

8:50AM | 9:10AM | 10AM | 11AM | 12PM | 2PM | 4PM

From The Mall Firenze (to Florence)

9:45AM | 10:10AM | 1PM | 2PM | 3PM | 4PM | 5 PM | 6 PM | 7:20PM | 8:20PM

https://firenze.themall.it/en/visit-us

https://www.eatandtravelwithus.com/2019/04/how-to-go-to-the-mall-florence/

I would recommend to book 2 ways as we wasn't sure what time it takes us to "complete" our shopping so we only bought 1 way thinking when going back then purchase but to our horror the tickets were fully sold = O 

In the end we were told to try our luck to wait at the shuttle bus pick up point if there is any space that we can hop on.

Finally we arrived after an hour ride

In summary, I quite like this outlet as it has stock for most of the items I want. Europe is so pet friendly that even pet is allowed in luxury shop.  Oh yes, there is only 1 restaurant in this outlet hence, must go early or non-peak hours to avoid long Q. Food was superb! 

Dinner - Osteria Pastella

https://www.osteriapastella.it/

6 mins walk from hotel

Very good restaurant for cheese wheel pasta, definitely must make reservation else is fully or have to Q

Finally this is our room =)

The size was much bigger than I expect and I like the bathroom esp. the tap so Victorian style

* Ryan actually itchy hand pull the red string which trigger the alarm of the whole hotel n it activated a few times.....Cold Sweat 

Day 9 - 25 Nov, Sat

7.50am: Day Tour - Pisa, Siena, San Gimignano, and Chianti Experience             

Euro336/4pax=Euro84/pax

While waiting for Dawn, took some pics at the hotel small lobby. I quite like the hotel, feels homely and safe. They will lock the door after 8pm or 9pm.

1st Stop - Pisa

Purchase the ticket to visit cathedral, tourist got special rate. Too bad we didn't have enough time to climb the Leaning Tower

Hungry and bought a hotdog from the truck, surprisingly good.

Our tour guide told us there are professional pickpockets and to secure our bags. There is this group of pickpockets of 7 ladies working together. 

The toilet here mainly needs to pay even we use McDonald's, there is this guy (don't seem to be McD staff) sit outside the toilet and collect money.

2nd Stop - Lunch @ Siena

                                                              

Free flow of Wine n Bread

The tour guide sooo notty asked us KISS....must be lovely at such beautiful place haha

3rd Stop - San Gimignano

Nov period is their low peak probably weather is cold so lesser people. Tour guide say peak period is full of people. On the way back to bus, came across this leather shop and price was reasonable. For tourist they will offset the price with the tax refund. Just nice bump into our lady tour guide and got extra discount for group tour :P

The owner say this is the excess leather from Bottega just no brand. Bought it at ard SGD200, really soft good leather and smell sooo good. Ryan also bought 1 sling bag but he ah gong nv wait for me for payment else we can get more discount.

Last Stop - Chianti

Return to Florence for dinner, managed to find a restaurant round the corner of our hotel that sells everything from Chinese to Korean cuisine. This Chinese restaurant (中意壹家) opp train station. Cheap n good.

A regret for Florence is we didn't get to see the city, thinking we will return evening and can explore but most of the shops closes at 7pm. Everyday we venture out from Florence and only back earliest 7pm. 

So do plan a day to explore the city in future.