Fiesole

Fiesole; tiny historic town on the top of the hill next to florence. 

  The first day we went up there it was foggy, and the windows on the bus were so fogged we couldn’t see out. 

I guessed just from how long it took that Fiesole must have been…five miles at least from the city, but when I climbed the duomo and I could see the whole city laid out there’s only about a block of green between the city edge and the hill Fiesole’s on.  

Whomping willows  in the morning fog.

The town square.

They have a tower.

I Spy: A deer.

They also have a bunch of really old ruins, such as a roman gymnasium and an ampitheatre.

This ampitheatre. Dad’s a very quiet guy, but if he stood in one particular spot I could hear him all the way in the back, which was a very neat trick considering The Roman’s built the thing.

Sorry about his arm. 

{iPhone 5 Panorama}

On the right, there, is Tina, a friend of Dad’s from way back who lives in Fiesole and seem to know everybody, from the people walking by on the street to the people who owned the place we ate lunch to the guy who almost ran us over.

Those arches were the steam–room bit of the old roman gymnasium.

Pro Tip: If you want something to last longer than your civilisation, make it a stone arch.

The red things on either side there are the old furnaces for the steam.

Dew drops

I’m not sure what this part was, but I liked it. Possibly some kind of water intake pipe?

Fiesole Belltower

Any guess on what this giant rectangular hole in the ground was? 

Alright. It was a swimming pool.

As you can see, the only part of the old gymnasium that survived was the stone arches. 

I Spy: Birds.

This is several temples on top of each other. First, a Villanovan temple, which the Etruscans tore down and built a temple on top of that the romans subsequently tore down and built a temple on top of.

Popular spot, this.

The Villanovan’s were the first people archæologists could find in the area, but I thought their name was hilarious because if you anglicise it it’s just “Newton”.

[Villanovan=New Villa=New Village=New Town=Newton]

Walking up the steps into the ancient temple.

This is just a bit of ancient wall. 

This bit of wall is older than your country.

If you want some good food, go to the place in Fiesole that has walls like this. 

I forgot the name of the place, but it was very good.

Well, he’s not smiling but at least he looks thoughtful.

This is an Etruscan tomb. I climbed on it.

In stead of using mortar, the Etruscans just used giant stones that weighed a thousand tons! 

I’m not sure who lives in that house, but I like to imagine they are very thin. 

Even though it says “Monastero” on the door this is a closed cloister.

Nuns go in, but no–one ever come out.

Only hardcore religious types may apply.

They do have some nice windows, though.

Pink nun flowers.

Every single spot in Fiesole seems to have a beautiful panoramic view of florence.

That’s some Pro-Level windowing, right there.

This is a very serious monument to all the fallen soldiers of the world wars, it’s supposed to be an eternal flame.

But all it remind me of is a Bionicle part.

These panoramas always end up with dad on the short side of the deal.

[iPhone 5 Panorama]

This is the duomo again, I did what I could but I was using my worst lens.

Italian condos.

Hey Dad! There you are.

Tina, after showing her the picture of Dad as a pirate.

This symbol with the balls was the crest of the Medici’s, who were the ruling family of florence forever until inbreeding killed them off.

But before they died out they were hardcore mobsters.

I always like a graveyard, the names, the monuments, but his one was lit up, so that was cool.

It was attached to a “Convento” {Monastery} which was very cool and had a little museum of things the monks had brought back from abroad. Including but not limited to: A Mummy, really fancy asian things, and a persian helmet.

Graveyard of the Chiesa e convento di San Franceso 

We couldn’t go inside because the gate was closed, but it was still pretty.

This door was kind of foreboding.

Everywhere in town, beautiful view of the city.

It’s worth seeing this panorama full–screen.