Giardino di Boboli

I will start this post by saying that it was quite hard to walk to and from the gardens, I think we had hit tourist pollution at its highest, there were so many tour groups walking around it was ridiculous. But having said that I must say that it was worth it, the gardens were great.

The Queue At The Ticket Booth

The gardens open at 8:15am, but we did not get there until about 10:30am, so this most probably explains why there were so many people around. We had about a 20 minute wait in the queue for tickets, but if this happens to you, just wait, it is worth it.

Exiting The Palazzo and Looking Up To The Gardens

Looking From The Gardens To The Palazzo

Garden Views Across Florence

The gardens are quite spectacular and vary quite a bit as you walk around them. You will find everything from Grottos, Fountains, Small Lakes, Treed Walks, Manicured and Structured Garden Areas, and Great Views.

Amazing Grottos

Remember..What Goes Up Will Come Down..Later

Manicured Gardens

One thing that got us the most was the hills, yes we had read that the garden were built on the Boboli Hills, but until you are going up and down them you not think about what that means. I kept looking for Sir Edmund Hillary as he must of used these hills as training for scaling Mount Everest.

Climbing Up Always Rewards With Views

Rural Looking Views

Florence Views Everywhere

You would be enjoying beautiful gardens one moment and then concentrating on your bursting lungs and burning thighs the next...one good thing is we must be getting quite fit....I know Lesley struggles a bit with her knees when we are going up and down hills and steps, but the beautiful gardens made up for it a bit.

The Porcelain Museum

Still Trying To Master Self Portraits

At the top of the gardens is the Porcelain Museum, Lesley was walking around this with a big smile on her face, and then I noticed her striding out measurements......What was she up to?

Get Rid Of The Crockery and You Have The Perfect Kitchen According To Lesley!

It turns out she loved the building, it's doors, it's windows, just everything, and she was getting ideas for her cooking class business, Simply dVine Cooking, and the ultimate kitchen layout she had been looking for.......oh this looks like it is going to be very expensive!!!

We then headed east to look at the rest of the gardens, there is so much to see!!

Lesley Wants It!!!

I got a bit panicky when we saw some of the statues, one in particular that was similar to the heads we had seen in Verona.....this sort of art gets Lesley very excited and I can hear the cheque book screaming!

This park is not as landscaped or manicured as the first section but it is just as pretty, but for different reasons, it has more trees and sloping hills going down to fountains.

Open Treelined Walks Down

Small Tree Covered Walks Down

Tranquil Walks

Some Area Appeared To Be Undiscovered

The whole thing with exploring the gardens was the quiet, even though there were a lot of people in the gardens, they are so big everyone just disappears into them.

Walkways Opened Up Onto Fountains

Walks Down To Fountain

Edge Of The Park

After quite a few hours walking, sitting, and generally exploring the gardens we found ourselves back at the Palazzo.

Spectacular Gardens Near The Palazzo

Rest Time

So we stopped for a drink (we both had Bitter Bianco's) and nibbles at the Palazzo Cafe, I think we managed to find the unhappiest waiter in Italy here, I do not think I have seen a sadder soul that really did not look like he enjoyed life, never mind his job!

Well, we had a lovely time at Giardino di Boboli, and took so many photos, it was hard to work out which ones to put in the blog. Now we are resting up, Lesley is icing her aching knees, and we are thinking about where to go tonight.

 

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