Day 13
Cruise Day #9 - Livorno (Pisa and Florence)
BTW I updated the Rome blog from yesterday.
Up early again as we have the same small excursion group meeting up outside the Livorno Cruise Ship Terminal. We lost Ali and Brad and picked up Jennifer and Brian from Michigan for our day in Pisa and Florence.
Our driver/guide Clara met us and only hoped to do half as good as Enrico did with us the day before. She did say that her van had WiFi though! We went to Pisa first to see the Cathedral grounds and the home of the famous Leaning Tower Of Pisa.
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| Cathedral and Tower in behind. |
We had tickets and after getting numerous photos, we climbed the spiral staircase.... all 252 steps (from inside to the bell tower floor). The tower had gone through extensive renovations and structural upgrades and it was beautiful.
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| The Tower Of Pisa |
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| Steps within the tower are worn away by millions of Sketchers. |
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| Stairwell at the top! |
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The solid marble steps inside had become worn with grooves from the millions before us but still worked well. As you climbed the stairs the lean of the tower made some parts steeper than the others of course. Once on top of the tower we had great views of the Cathedral and the grounds.
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| View from the tower looking over the top of the Cathedral. |
We left Pisa and headed to Florence but we took a winding country road through the Tuscan countryside. It was beautiful and lush with lots of grapes being harvested. We stopped and had a sample right off the vine... oh so sweet!!
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| Tuscany in it's glory! |
In Florence we went to a view point overlooking the city and then to the historical sites. First up was the
Basilica di Santa Cruce and it's busy square. They were setting up some temporary structures in the square itself but the stalls were open and the gals happy! The Basilica is the resting place of several well known individuals, the most famous being Michelangelo himself.
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| Amazing workmanship in the Basilica di Santa Cruce |
We made our way over to the
Piazza del Duomo and had a place suggested for lunch by Clara. It was just off the square and it was called Restaurant Nuti specializing in Italian food. It was very busy but the food came quickly and it to was a gastronomic hit with our group! Very good!!
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| Piazza del Doumo |
After lunch we toured through the Piazza del Doumo with stops along the way for Kelly to purchase some of the fine leather handbags she likes. She was happy! This place is one of the most visited in Europe but we had no issued getting access inside.
Next up was a walk through the Piazza del Cecchio which is the town hall of Florence. It has a full size replica of David in front of it and this was the original location before being moved inside the Accademia. We continued our walk around the area then down along the waterway to the Ponte Vecchio that crosses the river. It is basically a foot bridge lined on both sides with fine gold and jewelry stores.
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| Florence's City Hall. You can see the copy of David in the lower right. |
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| Another great piece of art beside City Hall. |
Once safely across without Kelly getting to close to said gold & jewelry, we headed over to the
Galleria dell'Accademia and after some some expert work by our tour guide we were in! Clara was able to get both Kelly and I tickets (which we had not done for this venue) as well as get everyone entry for 5 euros. The museum had some sort of special that day and was actually turning away people.
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| The star of the show. Incredible. |
This is the home of Michelangelo's
David sculpture and it is simply incredible to see in person. The detail and the shear size is overwhelming. There was so much more to see but it paled in comparison to seeing David. We spent another 30 minutes or so touring the facility before rejoining our tour guide for the drive back to the ship. She was kind enough to take us to her favorite Gelato shop were we indulged in a post tour treat!
Back at the ship we skipped the dinning lounge and took a late night dip in the pool. Another amazing day of touring Italy! Finished yesterday's Rome blog and did today's while Kelly slept.
Tomorrow we go to Sardinia.
PS This method of touring is better for us in several ways.... it's usually longer so you see more, it's much more personal, it's tailored to your needs and somewhat flexible, it's comparable or cheaper than other excursions available through the cruise line. A little organizing by someone and you're set so watch for these on the roll call on Cruise Critic. We will!!
