Live, Run, Grow

Last stop – Florence!

We arrived by train at almost 10pm and walked right over to our hotel, which I immediately fell in love with!

As soon as we dropped our stuff in our room I headed for the 5th floor where I knew (from my TripAdvisor and website stalking!) that I’d find a small spiral staircase that went up to a 360 degree observation deck with an AMAZING view…

…I was so disappointed there was a giant crane right in front of the Duomo though!  Oh well, I’ll have to wait to get some crane-less pictures on our next trip!

Day 1 in Florence was jam packed with a full day tour of Florence with Walks of Italy.  Our guide was AMAZING and entertaining – he really brought the history of Florence to life as we saw The David…

…the Duomo, the Uffizi and Ponte Vecchio.

The next day we were heading out of the city to the hills of the Chianti region of Tuscany for a bike tour!

And not just any bike tour, it was a wine & bike tour!  We’d be biking about 13 miles through the countryside stopping at 3 different vineyards for tours and tastings and finishing in a medieval walled in city for lunch – I really couldn’t wait for this tour!

We were picked up right in Florence by our guides Piero & Elena of Bike Florence & Tuscany and it just so happened that we were the only 2 registered for the tour that day!  We drove for about 40 minutes until we got to an adorable little village at the top of a hill where we stopped for a quick cappuccino before getting on our bikes and heading for the first vineyard!

At each vineyard we were treated to a private tasting of their wines (we tried 5 wines at each place!) and olive oil.

I honestly can’t say enough about our experience with this tour, it well exceeded my expectations and again (like our running & kayaking in Venice) was a wonderful way to do something a little less touristy and a bit more active!

The next morning we kept up the active streak and went for a run from our hotel up to Piazza Michelangelo to experience the amazing view from the top!

After that we finished our time in Florence with a wonderful food tour of the city – we visited a local wine shop, the market, sat down for some pasta and finished up with some amazing gelato!

We ended up on the tour with just one other couple that was about our age, and get this, they’re travel bloggers!

Real, full time, travel the world and make money doing it travel bloggers!  They were awesome and I’ve really enjoyed following their journey since (they’re currently on Malta!).  If you’re interested in not only travel, but blogging as a source or income I suggest you check out them – Nick & Dariece at Goats on the Road!

That afternoon we headed back to Rome for one last night before our trip back home.  I can honestly say we didn’t have enough time in Florence and I can’t wait to visit again, I just loved it!

So there you have it, our trip to Italy – Rome, Venice & Florence.  We’ve been home for a little over 2 weeks now and Jason and I still can’t stop talking about it!

I have one more trip post coming up on staying active while traveling (cause as you can see, we certainly did!) – what tips do you have for staying active while you travel??