Our second adventure Florence, once we had arrived from Rome we then had a to find a taxi to take us to our hotel but we had to explain to the taxi drivers that the chair folds because a few were quite unsure about taking us at first, after a couple of minutes talking to one of the sala blu members we eventually found a taxi driver and he helped us with our bags and lift the wheel chair into the boot, we arrived at our destination and well it was a struggle, we hadn’t realised that the lift to get into our hotel was only small it could only fit 2 people so we had to take the bags up separately and then we split into two jai and liv went in the lift and waited up top and then i went up in the lift with the chair folded as their were too many steps to even carry the chair up he steps, whilst we were checking in the hotel manager couldn’t apologise enough and explained to us that if we need any extra help please don’t hesitate to ask, this was great because although we didn’t realise the lift size the manager was extremely helpful in all aspects, our hotel in Florence was called “Hotel Colomba” although it wasn’t very accessible it was very close to the town centre.
Highlights
Florence Cathedral, when we were walking around the surrounding area by hotel we came across a big dome and little did we realise that it was the beautiful cathedral of Florence when visiting this cathedral we noticed it was constantly busy and then we figured that we had to go round via the exit to gain entrance with the wheelchair ( be aware that you should have your shoulders and knees covered when visiting ) as we entered the cathedral we had two guards guide us to the main area with everyone else it was stunning, so much to see inside unfortunately there is no accessibility for wheelchairs to go to the underground part of the cathedral as they did not have lifts of any sort but we enjoyed the views inside the cathedral and we were also escorted outside the cathedral with guards helping us opening the doors and offering help getting out of the building.
Basilica of saint Mary of the flower, although we didn’t actually go inside this building we still wanted to see it and it was stunning to be able to see the building itself and the design that has been put into it, you just become overwhelmed and we all were for sure, the basilica is near the florence cathedral or el duomo.
Ponte Vecchio, medieval bridge this bridge was accessible and we were able to walk around the bridge, leaving stunning views of the surrounding areas and we were not hounded by any of the jewellers or artists on the bridge, in terms of accessibility the wheelchair access on the bridge was ok again their were cobbles which can cause the small wheels to catch every now and then but the site itself was stunning and we enjoyed the village across from the bridge which had lovely restaurants and shops, the only issue we had was that a lot of the shops had steps to get into but it was manageable at times to lift the chair over the small step.
Piazza della Repubblica, Florence, this is the city square in Florence a very magical and busy area, we loved this because this area was open and full of shopping centres which were accessible, whilst we were walking around this city square we noticed again that most of the surrounding area was cobbled, we just had to be very careful regarding the wheelchair especially whilst having to walk on the roads, the pavements are very small and difficult to walk on so at times we had to walk on the road with the chair to get from one place to another, whilst we were in the city square we couldn’t help but notice the massive arch which we found out was originally put their to demolish the old buildings and build the new “square”
During our stay in Florence we decided to check out a “museum” called Leonardo da Vinci, it is accessible and we were able to move around without any struggle but it was more a museum for kids showing you the designs he had created so for jai and ourselves it wasn’t really for us but it was good to be able to use the designs as this museum was more interactive for children.
whilst we were in Florence we also used our bus tour again “CitySightseeing” and we visited many places being able to just hop on and hop off, the problem we had in Florence with their buses was that some of the buses side doors weren’t working and some of the buses didn’t have ramps to get the chair on board so sometimes we had to fold the chair up and lift it onto the bus and unfold it to get jai back in and comfortable on the buses, however the bus drivers did offer to help if we needed any.
