The suggestion was made to visit Fiesole.
The mystical beauty of Fiesole, less than 10 km outside of Florence, encompasses centuries of history and it is amazing well preserved. Largely unknown by many, this small town hides a wealth of surprises: the massive stones that make up the Etruscan walls, the remains of Roman baths, the green hilltop where Leonardo da Vinci first experimented with the concept of flight, and the Roman amphitheater that still serves as a stage for the EstateFiesolana summer events. The small city center is home to a wide range of historical sites, churches and parks where you can spend some time escaping from the hustle and bustle of Florence.
Fiesole was well established as an Etruscan stronghold in the 8th century BC, until the Romans were finally able to dominate, building a thriving town of their own over the remains. For centuries it existed as a powerful rival to Florence, until once again it was subdued and its ruling nobles were forced to take up residence within the walls of the conquering city. In the 14th century it became known as the new living quarters for the rich and famous Florentines looking for new territory to build their villas surrounded by cypress trees and spectacular gardens.
The hillside looms 295 meters above Florence, offering a special and stunning panorama of the Renaissance city. The city lends itself to a lazy afternoon exploring its historical museums, gardens & villas, picturesque streets, simple yet stunning churches, trails and parks (www.visitflorence.com/fiesole).
Sounds delightful right? Welcome to the experience of trying to "tourist" on a national holiday. We waited at the first bus stop about five minutes away from the hotel for over 40 minutes with our luggage in tow. One lady at the stop was becoming more and more agitated by the moment. She was willing to complain to all that would listen in Italian and English. “Stupida busa. Stupida city. Don’t they realize that more-a people are off-a for the holiday and want to go-a places. There are more-a people in-a the city today. Stupida.” In her favor, she had fresh steaks in her grocery bags and still far to go.
When a bus finally came, she was barely able to squish on it as people were spilling out the door almost. Us four with all of our luggage never would had made it. Trailing our luggage behind us, we walked about twenty minutes to the next bus stop. Our day trip to Fiesole just took a detour.
In all of our waiting, we happened upon two missionaries dressed for P-day. Elder Keller from Holliday, Utah and Elder Christensen from Littleton, Colorado. I snapped a picture and sent it to Emily Morgan, a returned missionary from our ward.
Our transportation troubles continued as we got off at the wrong stop and eventually found ourselves dragging suitcases past the Duomo over cobbled stones. Ultimate tourist sign flashing over our heads! We finally reached a Store n' Go luggage place in Florence, only to find that every. single. locker. was filled. Ahhhh, what to do? We headed to the train station and after a long and tiring morning, found ourselves looking for seats at McDonald’s at the train station. We weren’t the only ones. So many people jockeying for seats and only a little bit of table and chair space. We hung out at McDonald’s in Florence for awhile. Lovely (said with sarcasm). But it was cool and a place to sit. And food. We left after a lady sat down across from us, suffering from heat stroke and car sickness. I tried to help, but she just wanted to rest and eat some of the food her husband was getting. She threw up on the floor. Seemed like a good time to leave.
We had about an hour and a half left before our train was supposed to leave for Naples on to Sant’Agnello. I offered to sit with all of the luggage in the station while the other three spent the last bit of time exploring Florence. We found an out of the way space behind a sign where I sat on a 4-inch ledge.
Flat Amy in Florence
Not the day we had planned but we were still smiling.
We arrived in Naples and watched our luggage and things closely. We hadn’t heard positive things about Napoli and the train station and were careful. Our train to Sant’Agnello turned out to be a step up. We had been told it would be without A/C. Hooray for a little cool air and for finding a seat. A bonus to the end of our crazy day.
It was late when we arrived in Sant’Agnello and Chris needed to get to the Airbnb to check in with our host Raphael. Chris and Misha loaded all of the luggage into a taxi and headed off while Kristen and I were charged with finding some groceries for the next morning. There were no groceries stores as you and I might imagine, just a little tiny store along the street. So Kristen and I ventured in and grabbed some cereal, yogurt, bananas, and milk. We hoped we picked good milk as the packaging was all in Italian. Chris sent us some directions of where he was and we followed Google Maps to his location. At least we hoped we were following the right path.
We walked up and up along a narrow road. When Google said we had arrived, I was skeptical. I called Chris because he was not very visible. The map had to recalibrate and after another 1/4 mile up the road, we finally arrived at the Airbnb. It was a nice apartment with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. We immediately started a load of laundry of whites and then set off back down the hill to find food. It was late and the service was slower than normal for European standards. We didn’t eat until 1030 pm.
We did get to FaceTime with Amy as she was in Utah at my nephew‘s wedding. She was happy to spend some time with my family.
Another load of stinky socks went in the washing machine as Chris hung the whites on a drying rack to dry overnight outside on the deck. Chris stayed up long enough to hang the load of now clean socks and then we all slept.