Italia 2017-Day 4 Firenze

We started our day going to a lookout of the city called Piazza Michelangelo. It gives you a panoramic view of the entire city with the hills as a backdrop. Florence is a beautiful city. The way the Duomo dominates the skyline it really is a beautiful sight. In reading some books before we left I read about a church above this lookout and we decided to walk up the road and check it out. The Basilica San Miniato al Monte is the first Christian church in Italy. The legend goes that he was beheaded in front of the Emperor and he picked up his head, crossed the Arno River, and walked up the hill to the place where this church and cemetery now stand. We walked around and enjoyed the even more amazing view of the city. We walked through another church and headed down the hill to go see Florence. We meandered through the streets. The Piazza della Signoria where fountain of Neptune and the statue of David replica is located was under construction and was closed off (but we have a picture of it in the background). We took a quick picture in front of the Palazzo Vecchio and stopped and had gelato and a focaccia sandwich before getting to the Duomo. On our way we walked through Piazza Santa Croce and randomly saw an Apple store and arrived at the majestic Duomo. We lost time as we were enjoying the sights and the streets that we got there 10 minutes too late to get inside the Duomo. Luckily the beauty of the Duomo is the facade and not the empty inside as most cathedrals are ornate and detailed on the inside and the outside, though beautiful, are not the star. The star of the Duomo is definitely the outside. We walked around it and took pictures and marveled at all the details of this massive building. And by massive, I mean massive! It's unfathomable to think that they built this in the 1200s.  It's over 500 feet long and the dome is almost 400 feet high and every square inch of it has so many details you could sit and stare at it for hours. It was getting late so we headed back to the van and drove back up to Piazza Michelangelo to see the view of the city at night. It didn't disappoint. It was spectacular! Florence is a magical city.