Florence-Santa Maria del Fiore

The exterior of the Santa Maria del Fiore is astounding. It is completely decorated with marble-mostly green and white with a little red. Photos don't capture it's ornateness. We could not help but marvel every time we passed the Duomo.

So of course it was on our to-do list. We were pleased that there was no entrance fee but we soon found out why. Someone forgot to do the inside. Or, so much money was spent on the exterior there was nothing left for the interior.

It did have a very nicely painted Dome which you could climb up to. But you did have to pay and it involved more queuing. I think we were all a little bemused when we got a closer look, by the content of the paintings.

The climb wound around and because of the shape of the dome(8 sided instead of round), it was a little more interesting than some of the other towers we've been up. Having reached the top, and seen that we were indeed on the highest building there, we were not swayed by Greg's idea that when you see a tall building, mountain etc... you just have to climb it. We were all quite content to have a gelato or hot chocolate and wait for Greg whilst he scaled the bell tower however. (You can just see the top of it behind Greg and I.)