We docked at Livorno at 8am to partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the mid 50’s. From here through Malta, we are on private tours with two other couples that we met through Cruise Critic.
Today we were off to Florence and Pisa for most of the day as the ship isn’t sailing until 8pm. We went down the gangway and our tour guide Sabrina was waiting at the bottom. After greeting us, she took us to her van and we were off. As the ship tours were going to Pisa first, we decided to go up to Florence first and do Pisa on the way back.
It took a little over an hour to get to Florence, and she took us there via some back roads going through some of the country side. She made a stop overlooking a vineyard so that we could get some pictures of the beautiful country.
Being in a van, we were able to go down quite a few of the very small roads in Florence and were able to see things that the tour buses would not be able to see. Just some of the things we saw included Santa Croce Church and square, The Ponte Vecchio (or Old Bridge), and several of the Churches around the city including the Jewish Synagogue.
Around 12:30 Sabrina called ahead to Marione Trattoria (a local café type of place) and made table reservations for our lunch. It was a very small local establishment but the food was excellent and the Chianti outstanding.
We walked out around 1:30 to an overcast sky and light rain (BOOOOOO!). We made a couple more stops in Florence and decided to head back towards the ship and Pisa.
Arriving in Pisa we went directly to the Piazza dei Miracoli where the leaning Tower is located. By our arrival there the rain had let up enough that we could get a few pictures of the tower and the Piazza surrounding it. Shortly however the rain got harder and we decided to call it a day and go back to the ship.
Even with the rain the day was fabulous. Florence is a very interesting city and well worth visiting, especially on a private tour so that you can get down some of the narrower streets and see the little shops there. Our guide was fantastic and was very good about pointing out things to us and answering our questions.
Tomorrow we dock at Civitavecchia at 7am, and we meet our guide to Rome at 7:30. Until tomorrow night, Cheers!
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