Lucca - Wednesday 9 October

We had to be in the Michelangelo Dining Room by 7:30 am this morning for our 4.5 hour Princess tour to Lucca (due to start at 8 am. It was very frustrating sitting there, waiting another 25 minutes past the actual deadline, until the final go ahead to move at 7:55 am. We headed off with a busload of others towards Lucca, and within half an hour of the tour's start we pulled into a petrol station where those who needed to could have a free toilet stop before arriving in Lucca another 15 minutes away. Would you believe it.... All but 6 passengers got off to use the toilet, and we spent nearly 15 minutes wasting valuable time waiting for them - duh! There was plenty of time before we left the ship, and strangely enough, Lucca does have toilets too...!

It was interesting looking at the countryside along the motorway - we could see the Duomo and Leaning Tower of Pisa in the distance, the quarry on the hillside where sandstone for the local buildings was excavated, and the area of hills where the white marble came from. Some parts of the landscape reminded us of New Zealand, except we have noticed that we rarely see animals.

Finally we got into the lovely Tuscan walled town of Lucca (a Roman colony in 180 BC) and heard some of its history. It was interesting hearing about how town walls developed over time as a result of weapon developments, and how the fortifications around Lucca were largely huge, deep embankments of dirt, lined on the outside with bricks or stone. Now they have planted trees on top to make parks (they use a lot of Linden Trees).

We saw some of the remnants of the ancient Roman amphitheatre that were now converted into homes and shops.

We strolled into the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro and got delayed there while some of our fellow tour passengers had a long conversation with our guide about taxes and property taxes in both Italy and the USA, and the Italian Prime Minister and other political matters... Eventually moving on, we saw the watch tower (Torre Guinigi), and heard about the town during the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods. There was also another long discussion about opera when we stopped at the school where Puccini had studied. Sigh... So much for seeing as much as we could.

Finally we made it to the Piazza San Martino with its Duomo. We had a quick look in there (very dimly lit, gloomy interior but with beautiful stained glass windows) at the much-revered Crucifix. We heard about the legend of how this Cross came to end up in Lucca and about the annual 13 September celebration of the town, when the Cross is paraded through the streets that are all lit up with candles. We saw a different style 'Last Supper' painting, thought to be by Tintoretto or a member of his family or his workshop in 1593.

We headed to the Piazza San Michele and had a quick look in the church of San Michele in Foro (also very gloomy inside). This left us with 50 minutes of free time to wander around. No chance of heading up on the town walls for a look, or to stroll or cycle along them. I guess that means we'll need to come back to Lucca in the future.

We bought a couple of bottles of the local chianti wine, and looked at the shops as we explored some of the nearby streets. We liked the feel and atmosphere of the town. Everyone rides bikes (much like we saw in Amsterdam), and you have to be really careful when you stop or turn to look at something or you'll cause a collision. David had to grab hold of my arm several times before I came a cropper in a collision.

Before we knew it we were back on the bus for the 50 minute trip back to the ship at the port of Livorno, arriving by 12:30 pm. We headed for the buffet lunch and ended up sitting with a couple of Aussies who said they hadn't been to this part of the world before, but had missed what we thought was the incredible opportunity to visit Florence and Pisa, let alone anywhere else in the area, and had just caught the ship's shuttle for a quick look at what they described as the 'boring' shops in Livorno. All that history, and they didn't see any of it.

David was keen to have a relaxing soak in the spa, and then we settled down to read our books. I used one of my Captain's Circle drink vouchers for a cocktail (Bombay Sapphire gin, Grenadine, and a cherry Brandy). We caught up briefly with the Barrows just before we headed off for our usual 6 pm dinner. They'd had a great day in Florence and had enjoyed climbs up the Leaning Tower of Pisa, as well as the dome of the Duomo in Florence.

We had a great dinner, and sat next to a couple from Aussie and had a good chat with them. After lingering over dinner (me having two large glasses of wine, followed by a Lemoncello...) Needless to say, I was slightly tiddly. We looked around the Piazza, and I looked at the deals on dress rings (artificial) and bought two more to go with the two I'd bought a few nights ago. David is very pleased with one in particular, because it looks like a huge and expensive diamond, but it only cost US$16!

Pisa & Florence

Firstly, last night we had another lovely dinner. And I'd like to report that David ate most of his FOUR courses that he ordered ;-) It's lovely having a different menu each night, and if there's something not on there that you'd like, you can ask for it anyway! There is always something gluten free that I can eat.

Another hot day around 30 degrees, clear blue skies. We were picked up my Maurizio of Tuscany Taste Tours in his mercedes van at 8.00 am, and off we went to Pisa where we spent 30 minutes looking at the Leaning Tower, Baptistry, and Duomo and surrounding area called the Square of Miracles. On the way to Pisa, Maurizio talked a bit about Italian politics, and the problems they have with gypsies in the area. Our group was made up of our Cruise Critic friends: Anna and Marilyn, Jo and Rick, Paula and Harold.

From there he detoured off the freeway, and through some beautiful Tuscan countryside. Then on to Florence where we had a fabulous view over the whole city from Piazzale Michelangelo.

From there we visited the Church of Santa Croce (lots of very famous people buried there - eg Dante, Michelangelo, Rossini), then on to lunch in a very small, cheap, authentic Italian restaurant (Trattoria Le Mossacce). They cooked up some of my gluten free pasta and added a tomato sauce, for my lunch. I had my first experience of an Italian 'hole in the ground' toilet when there... say no more!

We were lucky that Maurizio has a permit to drive through Florence, so we didn't have to park in a bus outside the town, and so we had less walking. He made several stops where we were able to walk around for between 30 minutes and an hour - not that David and I were really into shopping.

We were the only couple on the tour to stop and go into the Accademia, and to see "The David" by Michelangelo - but, when your name is David, you need to do it. We loved that, and the 'prisoner' sculptures that were Michelangelo's unfinished works. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos in there; what a pity as the David was magnificent and certainly worth visiting... Rick Steves did a great quick explanation for us of these sculptures in his podcast. I also enjoyed seeing some of the first pianos - spinets and harpsichords - very different to our digital keyboard!

Then we carried on, walking around places like the Duomo with its famous Dome (we saw the famous Baptistry doors), through Piazza della Signoria and past the Palazzo Vecchio, along past the Uffizi Gallery, along the River Arno and then over the Ponte Vecchio. Unfortunately, the queue was too long to get into the Duomo, but we'll survive! We had a little time to visit the San Lorenzo Market, but didn't purchase anything, David also had his photo taken stroking the Lucky Boar. We had decided not to go into the Uffizi after all, as it would have been too much of a rush and we wouldn't have been able to look around the streets.

Then it was the journey back to Livorno and the ship, via the freeway. Thoughts about this tour with Maurizio - he was very nice and accommodating, but we would have benefited from him having a microphone in the van so everyone could hear him. And also, more information about the sights we were seeing in Florence would have been helpful. A little map of Florence to hand out to people, showing the main stops, might have been helpful too. He was more of a driver than a tour guide, with the information he gave us.