We have a busy day today! We are docked in La Spezia and have booked a tour called Florence and Pisa on your own. The tour leaves the ship at 7:30, so we need to be up early in order to have our breakfast and be on our way.
We also have a private tour in Florence so that we can see the Uffizi Gallery and the Galleria dell’Accademia. Both of these venues are extremely busy, so in order to be able to see them both we booked a private guide for the afternoon. The description of this tour said we would arrive in Pisa at 8:45, have an hour and half, then back to the bus. We should arrive in Florence at 11:40, so our tour was booked for 12:00.
While at the meeting point on the ship, they described the opposite itinerary. They said we would go to Florence and then to Pisa. This will definitely not work for our plans for the day. We spoke to the guide as we reached the bus. She said she would poll the passengers on the bus to see if anyone else cared if we went to Pisa first. No one did!! Yeah, Florence is a go!!
Pisa is known to be a very busy site. We have arrived early, before 9. I think the order of this is perfect. Pisa is relatively quiet still we are able to walk and see the tower without the huge crowds that I imagine will be here in the afternoon. Tower certainly is leaning! The tower began leaning during construction in the 12th century. By 1990 the tilt had reach 5.5 degrees. Between 1993 and 2001 there was work done to stabilize the tower. Today the tilt is a mere 3.97 degrees.
The Travelling Fish with the tower.
We have the time and space to some of the cheesy shots most tourists do here. Adam saving the tower as Alex pushes it down with one finger 🤪🤣
We spent some time wandering around the site before we re-boarded the bus and headed to Florence. Found another amazing door for the “Door Series” with the boys. As you can see it is a very tall door.
Our bus has to travel a circuitous route to get us to the Historic Center of Florence. When Florence was built they certainly couldn’t imagine large motorcoaches driving in the city.
We find the spot to meet of guide. Off we go for our abridged tour of the Uffizi Gallery. This is pronounced like “pizza” 😁 The complex of buildings was begun in 1560 to be the administrative officed of the Italian banking family, the Medici’s. They ruled Tuscany for the greater part of 300 years. The last descendant died in 1743.
It is ne of the most important Italian museums and the most visited, it is also one of the largest and best-known in the world and holds a collection of priceless works, particularly from the period of the Italian Renaissance.
We see the beautiful works by Botticelli, The Birth of Venus and The Primavera.
The museum also has an unusual portrait of The Duke and Duchess of Urbino. The Duke’s portrait is especially unusual. It is said to the most famous nose in Italy. He lost his right to a lance in a tournament. It was surprising that he even survived the injury. He had a very prominent “Roman Nose”, which severely limited his vision to his right. So he decided to have the upper part of his nose cut away give him some peripheral vision past his large nose.
After our speedy tour of the Ufizzi highlights, we have time for some lunch before heading to the Galleria dell’Accademia. Our guide leaves us a bit of free time to have a bite to eat.
After our lunch our guide joins us again and leads us past the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore or Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower. It took 140 years to complete. It is certainly one of the most recognizable cathedrals in Italy.
Our guide takes a few group shots of us with the iconic structures.
We wind our way through the narrow streets of Florence to the Galleria dell’Accademia. The sidewalks here are very narrow, sometimes only wide enough for one person. We think back to the wonderfully wide sidewalks in Barcelona.
We have about a 15 minute wait to enter the museum. This gallery has really only one attraction, Michelangelo’s David!! David was carved from an inferior chunk of marble. The marble had been rejected by other artists. It really is amazing to see.
After our visit with David our guide leads us to our meeting point for our bus back to the ship. It getting very busy in the historic section of Florence. We are happy for his knowledge of the streets and piazza as he ensures we are back in time for the bus.
On our way back we see lots of large blocks of marble. Most of this likely comes from the Carrara marble quarry which is northwest of Florence. Carrara marble is very popular for use in sculptures. I wonder what these blocks of marble will become???
We have had a very long day and are happy to return to our ship. Dinner and beverages wait for us. Tomorrow is Rome. Another long day. It is also the day that Lindsey will join us. She is in Rome now and we will see her when we get back to the ship tomorrow afternoon. In preparation I have stocked our fridge with some beer for her!!
