VIDEO: The Renaissance city - Florence, Italy

The birthplace of the Renaissance, Florence, Italy is one of the world's premier tourist destinations, thus, avoiding the crowds is virtually impossible. Despite this, we greatly enjoyed our visit to this colourful and interesting central Italian city.

We stayed in a budget hotel withing the main rail station precinct. There's plenty of affordable hotels in this region and they're within walking distance of many attractions and sights.

The video was shot from the open top deck of the 'hop on, hop off' citysights tour bus (a great way to get your bearings and save your feet) as well as on foot, exploring this beautiful city.