A Charming Apartment Above The City
I've learned over the years that often when visiting a major city, an apartment is often cheaper than a hotel. If not outright, in terms of money down, it always works out better if staying longer than 3 nights. This is exactly why I got an apartment instead of a hotel in Florence, even though everyone else was at the designated hotel. I could buy and make my own food amongst other conveniences.
Apartments are usually also much more charming than hotel rooms. I was lucky to find this particular one which looked like an attic, or at least a penthouse, in a 500 hear old building. The rooms were beautifully decorated with a mix of antique, vintage and dolce vita era Italian chic.
In classic pain-pleasure theory fashion, I had to go up a flight of stairs consisting of 81 large steps to get to the apartment - no elevators. I figured, were there to be an emergency, I'd have to make my way down these steps, hopefully, without inhaling too much smoke. I put the bad thoughts out of my head. I guess I could always leap out of the human-sized windows unto the rooftops and escape that way.
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Talking of rooftops, I could see all the clay roofs outside every window. It looked like I could walk around the city from roof to roof. The Cathedral could bee seen not too far away. The bells could be heard periodically. The cacophony of the vibrant city below also reached upwards by which it had merged into one continuous white noise.
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The bed was also in the vintage style, with a thing but strong metallic frame. The mattress, however, was modern (thankfully) and very comfortable. I spent many minutes looking around and finding charming little easter eggs like tiny plant pots wedged in corners of the wall where the brick had fallen out, or bits of candle used to block holes that previously served different purposes like letting in pipework for plumbing or electricity.
The 250 Euros I left as a deposit, in case I broke something, was totally justified. In fact, it was quite modest. There were things in there that were worth a lot more than that. There were nice books, cassettes, DVDs and even vinyl records.
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I set up my computer at the work desk in the living room area. The table itself was made of very high quality wood, probably oak, and painted one of my favourite colours. My window blinds at home are that colour. I wish I could take the table with me.
I thoroughly enjoyed being in that space. I could have spent more time just being in there, especially when I had to walk all the way down to go out haha. It was also fitted with 3 separate air conditioning units which provide much respite from the 40 degree heat outside. Mind your it had adequate cross ventilation with a window on every wall. It also had the most number of coffee making options I'd ever encountered anywhere. The owner is surely a coffee fan.
Being back in England now, you can understand now why I miss this space, sound and view. Yes it was too hot, as there was a heat wave, but I got used to it quickly. Besides there is AC everywhere you go anyway.
Lookout for a proper post about Florence. I took a lot of photos there as you can imagine.
Peace & Love,
Adé