Saturday 17^th May 2014.

Another early rise, 5:45am with breakfast in our Stateroom, as we had to be ready to disembark at 7:15am for the bus trip from the port of Liverno to Florence & Pisa.

Weather was fine and sunny with an expected temperature of 19°.

The bus trip to Florence took about 1½ hours, (we should never complain about the traffic at home) as the roads are not very good and very congested.

We had to leave the bus on the outskirts of Florence (the centre of Florence is a no traffic zone) and start our walking tour of the city.

First stop was the Accademia (Academy) of Fine Arts) to see Michelangelo’s statue of David – fantastic sight and absolutely beautiful.

Michelangelo's David

We then continued on foot to Il Duomo – the model from which the dome of St Peter’s Basilica was built. Also saw Giotto’s bell tower & the Baptistery (noted for its beautiful gilded bronze doors) however this building was covered in scaffolding as it is being restored.

More walking and we arrived at the Piazza della Signoria, Florence’s government area, which has many statues including a copy of Michelangelo’s David.

Ponte Vecchio Bridge

Next was a view of the Ponte Vecchio Bridge, (this was the only bridge not destroyed by the Germans during WWII as it was considered to be too beautiful) and the Piazza St Croce.

Lunch in the Dinning room in Florence

Last stop in Florence was the dining room of a lovely old building built as a palace, where we had a lovely 3 course lunch surrounded by mirrors and chandeliers!!

After lunch we boarded the bus again for the ¾ hour drive to Pisa to see the leaning tower in the Square of Miracles.

Once again we has a long walk from the bus to the Square, which was very crowded not only with tourists like us, but also with motor sport enthusiasts as the Milea Miglia (1,000 miles of Italy), a very famous road race, was passing through Pisa that day and went right past the leaning tower.

There were some fantastic old cars to be seen. Lynne took photos of the tower whilst I photographed some of the old cars, XK120 & 150 Jaguars, Aston Martins, Gull wing Mercedes Benz, 356 Porsches and a number of very rare (mid 50’s) Ferrari Testa Rosa’s.

We were very fortunate that the building in the Square of Miracles have all been recently cleaned.

Construction of the leaning tower (which is actually the bell tower for the church) started in 1173 and took over 177 years to be completed. 

Lynne holding the Tower up

The list of the tower is approx. 7°, however, the closer you get to is the less it appears to lean. Yes I had to take the mandatory photo of Lynne holding the tower up.

After running the gauntlet of street vendors we boarded the bus for the ¾ hour drive back to the ship. On the drive back the tour guide commented that we were  driving along a road originally built during the reign of the Roman Empire and it was lined with umbrella pines which formed a lovely canopy over the road. Unfortunately, I think the road surface is original.

P.S for all you Allo Allo fans I think I found the “Fallen Madonna with the big boobies” in Florence.

Fallen Madonna