Firenze

The birthplace of the Renaissance, home of Dante, city of fascinating architecture and great museums. That is Firenze or Florence in a nutshell. I am not going to deny that the city is indeed very beautiful. The Dome is as beautiful as it looks on the picture postcards and the brochures and the Ponte Vecchio also does justice to its universal hype.

There is something irritating about this great city. It is a tourist-magnet. You see the busloads coming in from all over the world, each annoying tourist with a small digital camera. I can't imagine how dreadful this beautiful city would be on weekends or worse in the summer, when the tourist hoards descend on it.

We were lucky to be there on weekdays in the off-season. I loved each and every lane of the old town but what I enjoyed even more was crossing the Arno and walking deep into the other side. Here, you see normal Italian life in a normal Italian city. There are no tourists, just people going on with their lives. I loved the graffiti on the walls, the Florentine balconies with plants surviving in the cold, thanks to the Tuscan Sun.

Wander out of the tourist areas and see the military areas, the university campus and other nice places that remind you that you are actually in Italy.