The Ruby docks in Livorno, which is about 100 km from Florence, and about 25km from Pisa. We left the ship right when we docked & cleared immigration at 7 am. It was still dark, windy and cold and, like Civitavecchia, you cannot walk out of the port due to safety and security issues. The port does provide a shuttle to the bus stop at a small cost, but it does not start running until 8 am, and we were really hoping to be on the 8 am train to Florence. Because it was still very early and not many people were getting off the ship yet, we managed to convince one of the taxis waiting to take us to the train station for €25 ($35 US). Typically, the cabs are looking to take people on tours for the whole day, so they do not want short trips for small fares. We were also lucky to happen upon 2 other couples leaving the ship early who happily agreed to share the cab with us, reducing the cost/person significantly. About 15 minutes later we arrived at the train station, bought our tickets to Florence (we managed to make the 7:45 am train!), and were on our way. The trains here are very convenient and inexpensive, although not as fast as you might expect because they do stop rather frequently. The 100 km trip to Florence took 95 minutes, and cost €13 (about $18) each for a return trip. I had a book on my iPod and Andrew enjoyed the scenery. In what seemed like no time at all, we were at Santa Maria Novella station in the center of Florence.
From the train station, it was a only a short walk to the Duomo & Baptistry. As I mentioned previously, it was raining a little and quite cold so we ducked in to a little café along the way. We did not bring umbrellas today as the forecast was for sun, 67F/18C, and no chance of rain. Someone missed the mark on that one! Oh well, it was a great excuse to get in one last cappuccino. I will really miss those little cups of caffeinated delight now that we are leaving Italy! When the worst of the shower passed, we went over to the famous Duomo and Baptistry to take a few photos.
Duomo & Baptistry
The Accademia, which houses Michaelangelo’s David, and the Uffizi Gallery, which holds many works of art by the great Italian Renaissance Artists (Raphael, Titian, Michaelangelo & Botticelli) are both closed on Mondays, along with several other museums. We knew that in advance, however, so we were prepared to see other things and will just make sure our next trip is on a Tuesday!
Our next stop was the Santa Croche Church, the burial site of Galileo and Michelangelo, among other notable Italians. Andrew was particularly interested to see Galileo’s crypt and there were some wonderful works of art in the chapel. Check out the giant doors to get inside!
Galileo's crypt
In between our planned stops we meandered down the streets, wandering in to churches we encountered along the way and looking at the amazing paintings, sculpture and architecture.
Finally, we walked up the hill to the Piazzale Michelangelo, which boasts the best view of the city. Good thing it was a nice cool day, as it was quite a climb. The view, however, was obviously worthy of the effort!
Because of the dismal weather (too cold to eat gelato) and the fact that many sites were closed today, we finished up in Florence about 1 pm. Because we still had a few hours we got back on the train toward Livorno and got off in Pisa. We weren’t planning to get off in Pisa, so we did not have a map. Never mind - after about 15 minutes and a lot of charades, we figured out which city bus to get on to find the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. It’s obviously not called that in Italian, but if you lean yourself slightly to the side any local will roll their eyes and point you in the right direction (if only to be rid of you!). We found the Torre (we learned that was the name later) easily, took the requisite photo of Andrew holding it up, before it was time to head back to Livorno.
Back on the ship about 5:30 pm, we headed almost immediately to the dining room as we were starving! Andrew had grilled tiger shrimp and I had rack of veal. Now we’re back in the cabin for the evening relaxing after a string of busy days. We’ll certainly be ready for a sea day, but we’ll have to wait for that. Tomorrow is Cannes/Nice, and Wednesday is Barcelona. After that we have a day at sea to reach Portugal.
That's too bad that a lot of the attractions were closed, but it looks like you had another wonderful day.
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