Hiking in the Florentine Hills

I was exhausted yesterday because Kristen and I did a 10 mile hike through the Florentine Hills that afternoon in about 4 hours. Definitely worth it. We saw some beautiful views that we wouldn't have otherwise and got an awesome workout (I'm a bit sore today). Luckily, it did not rain during our hike because up until the day before, the forecast was rain all day. It did rain before the hike some though, so our shoes got caked in mud at one point. They felt like weights.

We took a bus up north to get to the starting point (Piazzale Michelangelo is on the other side of Florence for reference). Then, we walked up some roads and started on the trails. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking:

Ahh Florence

Kristen (left) and I (right) took pictures of each other.

The park we hiked through: Parco Montececeri Fiesole

The place where Leonardo's apprentice tested his flying machine.

Can you see the face?

Fat slug that surprisingly no one stepped on

An entrance to some sort of caves

We couldn't go in though

This is the steep slope next to the path we took (which was pretty steep in some places). Reminds me of another hike I went on...

Our goal is the castle in the far distance (it blends in with the trees, but it is sticking up just above the tops of the trees).

Another creature we encountered

We made it!

Olives that some people were silly enough to try to eat.

A huge spider

This picture came out terrible (I was completely in shadow) so I messed around with it in Picasa a bit.

We saw some bamboo

Kristen!

I think these trees are cool

End

There are a ton more pictures on Picasa:

Hike in the Florentine Hills