This morning Vanessa, Caty, and myself met Rachel at 9am to hike up to San Miniato. We had been trying to take this hike for the last few day but due to all the unpredicted rain we had to keep postponing it. I'm glad we did because the weather this morning was perfect! Actually, today turned out to be one of the hottest days since we got here. The hike was relatively steep. However, you did not notice it because around each corner there was another breathtaking view of the city with the Duomo and Palazzo Vecchio peaking above the city landscape. On our way up we also walked through a rose garden which had beautiful flowers and lemon trees! Caty really wanted to pick one of the lemons but refrained due to the large fines and possible jail time. At the top was San Miniato.
San Miniato was supposedly named after Saint Minias who was a Christian martyr in Florence. He was a merchant or prince from Armenia. In 250, he came to Florence and became a victim of persecutions of the Emperor Decius and was beheaded. Legend has it that, after his decapitation, he picked up his head, put it back on his shoulders and went to die in the cave on Monte alle Croci where he had lived as a hermit. ( I learned this from Wikipedia and a few other sources tonight so take it for what it's worth)
After we got to the top we took a few pictures, took in the view, and then we headed back down. If anyone comes to Florence I would recommend this as something you must do! I'm glad we were able to fit it in on one of our last days here.
Ciao,
Kate
No comments:
Post a Comment