Gardens of Florence
27 April 2015
00:07
(It's easy to get caught up in Firenze... Sorry about the large time gap!)
One of the most enchanting places to spend an afternoon in is one of handful of gardens available to visit in Florence. Whether its for a short walk or a few hours, spending time at the gardens is never time wasted.
The most popular and most notable of the gardens is located in the Pitti Palace. The Boboli Gardens are a huge plot of (uphill) land that were once used by the Medici Family. It features an outdoor amphitheater that directly faces the palace. There is a grand staircase that leads you to the top, however I opted for a less strenuous route. The path I chose to take was eerily similar to the hedges in the Goblet of Fire from the Harry Potter movie. Once at the top, there was an amazing view of Florence. From that point, many of the city’s famous landmarks could be seen. From there, I continued my path throughout the garden. There was a large bronze head sculpture, that had such beautiful colors and textures on it from the way it aged. Around this time of year (tourist season), the line to get in is fairly long, and there are more people occupying the beautiful grounds. I tend to prefer quieter settings, so recently instead of Boboli, I took a trip to the Bardini Gardens, not too far away.
My boyfriend had visited this place in his sketching and drawing class, and I am so happy he took me here. Similar to Boboli, you first have to enter a museum building to access the gardens. I like this approach because it’s very unsuspecting and then you walk up the stairs to outside, and BAM! Florence! Bardini, in my opinion was a smaller Boboli – more charming and smaller. It sported lots of wildlife and growth, as well as gardens that were tended to. The most captivating part of this garden was the wisteria pathway. The purple blooms were enchanting to all those who walked beneath them, from their beauty and fragrance. Of course we stopped to take plenty of pictures here. Being a lover of plants, I could have stayed there all day. After, we spent some time wandering around, smelling flowers and appreciating the details of nature. There were also great lookout points here as well.
Florence and the Bardini Garden have something in common, and that is the smaller size of each, and charming appeal it has on its visitors. Authentic and real, and always a beautiful surprise around the corner.
A cat approached me! So happy!
this is what I picture when I think Tuscany