Three days of mid thirty-degree temperatures made for a challenging stay in Florence. We managed to see all of the things we wanted to see but we needed to dodge the midday to 5pm heat in order to do it in relative comfort. It also meant that lugging a backpack full of camera equipment was not practical, so the trusty iPhone was the go-to camera for most of these photos.

We start our visit with a traditional lunch beside the river at an old football club. Cold roast potatoes and a salad plus a few cold beers to beat the heat while sitting under shady trees on the banks of the Arno river.

Over the next few days its early walks through the heart of the city and evening walks along the river. We managed some nice reflection photos late in the evenings.

Having been here before in 2019, we tried to find some interesting sights that are not generally photographed.

As we were walking through the various piazzas we came across groups of men dressed in team colours at the local pubs, preparing for what we thought was a game of football, or soccer for us Aussies. It seemed strange that they were drinking beer prior to the game but given the heat it could be a local thing. A temporary stadium had been constructed in Piazza Santa Croce and sand had been put down instead of grass.

We stopped and through our poor Italian language skills, had a conversation with one of the players. Instead of soccer, they were preparing for a traditional game of Calcio Storico Fiorentino with the rules explained by a local as 27 players a side, score goals by kicking the ball with feet, throwing the ball with hand and wrestling and punching the opponent with fist, “good fun!”

Unfortunately, it was sold out, so we only heard the roar of the crowd and the wail of ambulances coming and going.

Our last two stops are Turin in Italy and Lyon in France which are places we haven’t been before, so we are looking forward to some new experiences.