| To Travel Page | To Main Page | Mediterranean | Italian Destinations | Portofino |
Livorno is a busy port, not much to see or do, but it is close to Pisa and Florence. Our British friends had invited us to join them on a private tour and split the cost of the van and driver for a day. This turned out to be an excellent arrangement. Our driver, Paolo, was born in Florence, lives in Pisa, spoke perfect English, had a nice Mercedes van and drove much better than the average Italian. |
 |
|---|
 |
 |
|---|
| Our first stop was Pisa and as we entered through the portal we had our first glimpse of this unusual campanili. "It is much smaller than I had imagined", was one of our group's reaction. |  |
As we got closer, Sharon had to help the tower from falling. There must have been a hundred tourists doing the same old thing. It was interesting to note that when the tower was being built, the bottom section already started to sink at an angle. The builders, rather than tearing down what they had, continued the construction but tried to compensate by leveling the next floor. This can be seen in the following pictures. Of course, that made matters worse and the result is what have today. |
 |
 |
 The
architecture is really ornate. The tower, cathedral and baptistery all had
very fine detailed exteriors. However, most people don't even notice this
and only want to see the slanting tower. I
wonder how many of them felt like us when we walked next to the sloping
side, "Will it fall today?" |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Before leaving Pisa, Paolo also took us by the old city square with buildings dating back to the days when the rich merchant families ruled the town. One is now a museum, another a post office. |
Then
it was off to Florence (so we thought). Suddenly Paolo pulled off the highway
and took us to a converted castle. As we looked around, he told us all about
the history of what is now a hotel.
The surrounding country side was
beautiful and it was a nice diversion not normally included in bus tours. |
 |
 |
|---|
 |
 |
Before we entered the old parts of Florence, our driver took us to a lookout point near Giardini Boboli. This is a popular spot to see the city and the river Arno below. We were anxious to visit the cathedral, Piazza Della Signoria and Ponte Vecchio, the famous covered bridge with many shops on top. The bronze statue of David in the center of the piazza was a taste of what was yet to come. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Since Paolo could not drive us to all the attractions in town, it was decided that we would be on our own for two hours and then he would take us to a nice restaurant for lunch. Sharon and I headed for Piazza del Duomo to see the cathedral first. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|
It was a holiday in Italy and the piazza was crowded with visitors. Here are some partial views of the baptistery, cathedral and campanile. The brass door decorations were shiny where people had rubbed hands on the designs. |
From
here we walked through some side streets and along Via Roma and Santa Maria
towards the river. Despite a light drizzle, street artists were busy painting
their murals as we joined the crowds near Ponte Vecchio. |
 |
 |
|---|
The covered bridge, with its three story houses on top, has an interesting history. Now, however, it is the place for jewelry shops. What is it with ladies and window shopping? Sharon must have looked at more gold that day than is stored in Fort Knox. |
 |
 |
| At the center of the bridge (opposite the side shown above) is an interesting spot where two bundles of brass locks hang from the wall. The story goes that when young lovers kiss and declare their love (such as these youngsters here) they vow to be together by hanging another lock onto the bundle and throw the key in the river. We noticed that one enterprising Romeo had used a combination lock. |  |
We retraced some of our steps and stopped at Piazza della Signoria. The impressive building was at one time a palace of ruling families such as the Medici and later Duke Cosimo. The square is now an open air museum with statues such as this copy of David by Michelangelo and the Fountain of Neptune by Ammannati. |
 |
 |
It was time for lunch. We all met at our drop off point and Paolo took us to a small, family run restaurant. Il Latini. With hams hanging over our heads, we had a couple bottles of Chianti, large portions of anti pesto, prosciutto, bread, ravioli and penne pasta with meat sauce. We declined the main meat dish because there was no more room, we were stuffed! |
 |
 |
 |
 |
That evening, back aboard our ship, no one ate very much dinner. P.S. Anyone interested in Paolo's travel services go to his web site: http://www.unforgettabletuscany.com |
 |
Our next stop was Portofino. Click here to continue our journey |