Continuing our post from Thursday, here are 5 more insights and suggestions to make your Florence, Italy vacation unique and memorable.

Madova

In Italy, even hands deserve la dolce vida. This family-owned boutique offers an array of handmade leather gloves in every shape, color and size. Lined in cashmere, silk, wool or fur, the friendly staff makes sure your selection will “fit like a glove.”

San Gimienano

The ultimate status symbol in this quarrelsome medieval town was a tall family tower. While only 14 of the original 72 towers remain, this captivating Tuscan city is a study of what can happen when egos run wild.

Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella

A tucked-away Florentine jewel, this charming pharmacy displays the results of more than 800 years of work by the Dominican monks who call it home. Following centuries-old formulas, the shop sells ancient remedies and tonics alongside hand-molded soaps and perfumed powders.

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Today’s must-see picks highlight Tuscany’s capital city of Florence.

Da Vinci’s birthplace

About a half-hour’s drive from Florence down a small country road is an old farmhouse in the town of Anchiano. Here it is believed that Leonardo da Vinci was born in April of 1452. Farther down the road in the town of Vinci is the chapel where he was christened.

La Casalinga

For comfort food in a Tuscan setting, look no further than this quaint little establishment. What else would you expect from a restaurant whose name translates to “housewife”.

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Benvenuti, or welcome, to our series of posts on Florence, Italy. Over the next two weeks, escape everyday life as you check back for our latest travel stories on the city known as the “Cradle of the Renaissance.” We’ll highlight the must-see sights on every savvy traveler’s list as well as the hidden charms of one of the world’s most alluring cities. And take note of local host picks – your where-to-go and what-to-see tips that only an insider would know.

During your vicarious visit to Florence, you’ll cruise into Tuscany down the Highway of the Sun for a bite of comfort food and a glass of locally produced Chianti. Stroll along the banks of the Arno River and catch a glimpse of Giotto’s spectacular Bell Tower. Your Florentine experience is only just beginning…

As its name implies, the Friendship Store originally developed as a means to foster relationships with foreign visitors. It is no coincidence that the store chain opened at the same time communist China opened itself to the outside world. Offering a myriad of authentic Chinese goods, from art to silk to antiques, the Friendship Stores provided one-stop souvenir shopping – only accepting foreign exchange currencies. The original intent of the stores was to welcome foreigners while also encouraging the spread of Chinese culture as shoppers shared their souvenirs with loved ones around the world.

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As the Harbor stretches its turquoise tentacles into every inner suburb of Sydney, the 70 beaches that lace the city’s edges have created a hedonistic surf culture on a par with Rio and Waikiki.  The most beloved of the urban beaches is Bondi (pronounced Bond-eye).  Here, between sandstone headlands at the eastern fringe of the city, the long glassy rollers of the Pacific Ocean thunder onto a half-mile of golden powdery sand.

In the 1920s, Bondi was a modest version of Coney Island, where city dwellers in need of fresh air would travel here by a rattling tram to cool off with an ice cream or cheap fish-and-chips by the sea.  In the 1950s, the surf craze arrived from Hawaii, luring thousands with their boards into the crashing surf.  And since the 1990s, Bondi has gentrified, attracting millionaires and movie stars.

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Sydney Harbor is Australia’s most renowned natural feature – a glorious, deep water inlet where yachts flit past the vast pearly shells of the Opera House and under the  soaring steel arc of the Harbor Bridge.  (Completed in 1932, it is referred to locally as “the Coat Hangar”).  Today, over 200 years since it was settled by the British, the Harbor remains surprisingly in touch with nature.  Much of the shorefront, Australia’s most valuable real estate, is still protected as national park land: Walking tracks curve through eucalyptus-fringed wilderness filled with boisterous native birdlife and up along high sandstone cliffs riddled ancient Aboriginal rock carvings.  Read the rest of this entry »

While “express” may not be the most fitting word, Post Office Bay on the volcanic island of Floreana (also known as Isla Santa Maria) has had its own special mail system since 1793. In the 18th century, whalers and Galapagos residents used to leave their mail inside the wooden barrel, waiting for a captain of any boat headed to where the mail was addressed to deliver it. In the vast and remote Pacific Ocean, this was the only official way to communicate with relatives, friends and governments. As a result, Post Office Bay soon became a mandatory stop to all sailors in Galapagos waters. This was indeed a useful service, free of cost, and gave everyone a chance to communicate while in Pacific waters. Read the rest of this entry »