Florence

I had travelled to Siena with a group of friends. The group was planning two

trips to Florence six days apart; I decided to take my bags on the first trip and

return with the group to Siena on their second visit. I felt that Florence probably

deserved more than two days. When we arrived at the railway station in Siena

we were running late (the group I was with was always frustratingly late) so I

caught the train by myself and arranged to meet everyone after I had checked

into the hotel. My little adventure began on a train by myself travelling through

the Tuscan countryside. Not being used to group travel I was very happy.

The outer suburbs of Florence looked very dowdy, industrial and depressed.

The Grand Hotel Baglioni was very close to the station so lugging the luggage

was very easy. My room had a view but was incredibly small: I complained and

was shifted to a larger room. The hotel had a fabulous roof top restaurant and

garden that overlooked Florence 360 degrees. At four-stories it was one of the

tallest buildings in Florence so the views were great. Even if you are not staying

here I would recommend having dinner on the roof.

I met up with the group and we walked down to the main square with the Cathedral,

Bell-tower and Baptistery. There were queues to get into every building. Tourist central.

I had thought Siena was fabulous but Florence was spectacular.

The use of multi-coloured marble made the square look like a giant ice-cream cake.

The detailing of the facades would take months to document.

One pair of doors to the Baptistery was by Ghiberti, “The Gates Of Paradise”.

I’d studied these in Art History at High School. The fineness of the detail is

exquisite. History coming alive.

The richness of the exteriors was matched by the ornateness of the interior

decorations. I was fascinated by the ornamentation and illustrative

qualities of the ceilings and walls of the major buildings. The craftsmanship

is exquisite. I found these more interesting than the ‘must see’ pieces of art.

 Florence is a walker friendly city and is laid out so that it is very easy to

see the major attractions, although just meandering had its own rewards.

There are fountains and statues everywhere.

 The Ponte Vecchio was full of small jewellery shops selling very gaudy items and I

resisted temptation to add to my collection. Although I was to later find some really interesting earring shops and succumbed to the lure of pearls, rubies and emeralds.

A lot of the pieces are replicas of the Medici collection.

The legacy of the Medici Dynasty has made Florence a monument to art and culture.

The Medici Chapel is a superb example of the art of lapidary; the walls and altars

glowed with lapis lazuli, carnelians and other semi-precious stones and marble.

But along with all the history Florence has a needy underclass.

 On my days alone I wandered around spending a lot longer at the major attractions.

The most important one being the Uffizi Gallery. I was a little disappointed with it

as I feel it needed a better curator. Not all old art is good art but this gallery seemed

to display everything with pride and without prejudice. It needed a good culling so

that the gems could really sparkle.

 It was great to be able to get up close and personal with the religious art. The

books that I have at home don’t show the finer techniques and different materials

that were used to build up the density of the gilding. You couldn’t take shots so I

busily took notes on everything. No-one commented on me waving a pencil inches

from the paintings. The gallery has a wonderful collection of Botticellis and it was interesting to see the originals that I have been using for inspiration for years.

The hotel was directly opposite Santa Maria Novella with all its stunning murals

by Andrea Buonaiuto

Like all other Italian towns that I had seen there were Madonnas on nearly all

street corners. Lots of Kodak moments. I decided to get my film developed

and found a local chemist who quickly decided that I was mad with the amount

of film that I was getting processed. 

The major public gardens in Florence are the Boboli Gardens behind the Pitti Palace.

The gardens were wonderfully laid out with various outdoor “rooms”. It was

obviously a place for the locals to chill-out on a hot weekend with families having 

picnics and couples wandering around.

On my last day in Florence I went to see David. A giant, impressive piece of marble.

I prefer the unfinished sculptures of Michelangelo as they have more energy and

humanity. No photography was allowed so I went and photographed a lot of false

Davids. Florence is well populated with them.

I found a lot of attractive restaurants and had a grand time pretending that I was

Italian. The general shopping in Florence was very stylish but I was bemused to

see that people take their dogs into department stores. I also visited the Palazzo

Vecchio built between the 13th and 14th century. Parts of it had been modified

by Michaelangelo. The interiors are magnificent.

I loved Florence and want to return sometime with Omar.

Kilmartin...a place of mystery

We were part way through a driving trip of Scotland and we had booked into the

Caledonia Hotel at Gourock, a small town off the beaten track on the banks of 

Loch Awe. The room was pure trailer trash but the local bar was warm and inviting. 

The next morning we awoke to wonderful views across the Loch. 

 

We were staying here as it was close to Kilmartin and that was our next destination.

On the way to Kilmartin we passed the ruins of Carnassarie Castle. I found out 

that there is a tenuous but weird family connection. My great-great grandmother 
was a Campbell  who emigrated from Scotland in 1853 and there is a family 
connection to the McLean clan.

 Now back to the Castle. It was built in 1565 by Bishop John Carswell who was 
the rector for Kilmartin. It was sold on until it was bought by Sir Dugald Campbell, 
the 3rd Duke of Argyll, in 1643.  It stayed  in the family and finally became the home
 of Archibald Campbell, the 9^th Duke of Argyll. In 1650 he married Lady Mary Stewart 
and became  entwined with the Scottish nationalist movements. He joined in the 
Monmouth Rebellion; the West Country rebellion was an attempt to over-throw 
the new King of Britain, James II, who was Roman Catholic.  The rebellion failed and 
in 1685 the Duke was captured and executed in Edinburgh. The McLean’s, who were
royalists blew up the castle and engaged  in quite a lot of murder, mayhem, rape and
pillage. The castle is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

We drove in to Kilmartin. We were there to see the prehistoric ruins and megaliths.

Kilmartin is located in the Kilmartin Glen and is the richest prehistoric landscape in 

Scotland. Within a six mile radius there are more than 350 ancient monuments and 

megaliths. 150 of them are classified as prehistoric. They consist of stone circles, 

standing stones, carved rocks and burial cairns. No-one has yet come up with a

plausible reason for such a concentration of ancient monuments.

The first thing you see when you drive in is the Crinan Moss, in front of the only rise in 
the peat bogs, The Dunadd Fort. This is one of Scotland’s most important hill forts. 
Dunadd was the capital of the Scottish kingdom of Dalriada in 500AD. The fort was 
situated on top of a high outcrop of rock with a complete 360 degree view. It became 
the  place for crowning the Kings of Scotland.

We first went to the Kilmartin House Museum of Ancient Culture. The people were 

very friendly and allowed us to use their office to get our email and to deal with some
business back in Melbourne. Omar was very impressed with the library and meeting 
room in the office building. The chairs and table in the library were very Celtic. The
museum is a great starting point for exploring the area.





Around the museum local animals have been carved from dead trees.

We drove around Kilmartin Glen stopping at all the sites. The first walk was
easily accessible from the car park where you can wander with the sheep around
the Nether Largie Stones in the fields. Unfortunately, over the years, many of the 

stones have removed to make way for farming.  

There are walking paths through the farmland connecting the 
cairns and megaliths. All very ancient and pagan.

It is only a short walk from here to the Temple Stone Circles, these date from around

3500 BC. The three circles were being built and used up until 1400BC. The trees were planted in Victorian times to give the place more atmosphere. It doesn’t really need them.

The third circle is concentric and surrounds a stone slab-sided cairn.

Going back to the car you pass the Nether Largie South Cairn. This is a chambered 
cairn and has an opening into the central chamber. During the excavation of this 
cairn they recovered Neolithic pottery and arrowheads.



The walks are all really well signposted and are well detailed.

A short driving distance from Kilmartin is Achnabreck which has the largest collection

of cup and ring carvings. Many people have tried to read a symbolism into these cup
 and ring marks, but it is only speculation. Such rock art is difficult to date, but it is also 
found in archaeological contexts such as tombs. The rock art at Achnabreck is likely to 
be around 5,000 years old. It comprises several decorated outcrops. Many of the cups 
are surrounded by one or more rings.

 It is an incredibly spiritual and moving place to visit. The day we were here it was 
in the middle of winter and freezing. We had the area to ourselves.

Then we were off on the next adventure