Day 06 - Florence

This morning we decided to have breakfast in the dining room. The Windjammer on deck 16 is a bit of a zoo. The dining room was much calmer and more enjoyable.

We made it to the meeting location on the ship for our excursion to Firenze at 9am. The ride from the port at La Spezia to Florence took about 2 hours with a stop midway at a leather factory. Our route took us nearby Carrara where they continue to quarry white marble from the same locations used 2000 years ago. These are the same quarries that Michelangelo picked his stone to build his masterpieces.

The road was quite scenic as it wound its way through the Tuscany hill sides. We saw plenty of grape and olive vineyards. Carnne (sp) wines have certain requirements they must meet and one is that the grapes cannot be watered via an irrigation system. They can only be watered by rainfall.

We arrived in Florence around 11am and had a 1.5 hour guided tour around the city by Francesca. She spoke great english and encouraged us to try local chianti. Florence was very busy with tourists, but we enjoyed the architecture and side streets. 

The main square had stadium seats set up for a game to be played that Francesca told us had no rules. People can bite each other, kind of barbaric. It was more crowded because of the limited space. After the guided tour, we had 3 hours on our own. We found a nice restaurant just off of the Croce Square and shared a calzone and salad for lunch. We learned that bibite means tin, so Michele had peach iced tea from a can. It is fancier than it sounds. 

After lunch, we walked back to visit the Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio, and the Ponte Vecchio. 

We also saw the David replica and said hello to Galileo.

There was also Michelang and Leonardo. Rumor has it that the two were not all that fond of each other.

 

The Duomo is so impressive with all of the marble and decorations on the outside and the doors. White, pink and green marble was used and it was paid for by the local merchants of the city, at the time. The panels depict the trades and each is different. We did not go inside since tickets were needed and we did not have enough time to explore.

 

 

We walked back to meet up with the tour group at 4:30 to return to the bus for the 2 hour return trip. Today was hot, about 87, but sunny. 

We got dinner upstairs and then saw the sunset as we left the port of La Spezia. 

 Tomorrow is Rome!