Our last stop in Italy, Livorno is the port city for Firenze. Our bus left at 7.30, so a early start again. A small group again today, 26 people, there is another bus doing the same tour as us, which turned out to be a good idea.
Nice countryside from Livorno. Big round hay bales, olive groves and vinyards and also market gardens. Very flat for the first half hour and we saw some canals presumably for irrigation.
Our first stop is the Accademia home to Michelangelos Statue of David. Another que. Only som many people are allowed inside at one time. I don't know the number, but say 50 in, 50 out etc. We had to send our bags through metal detectors and x-ray arches. I can bypass as I have a pacemaker. Sometimes they pat me down or they let me pass through. Maybe I look innocent enough. David is gorgeous and Mchelangelo was only in his twenties when he made it. From here we walked to the Duomo and Baptistry.
The Duomo or Santa Maria del Fiore is the largest masonry dome in the world. It was built in 1430 without internal scaffolding!! I would like to se someone doing this today. Seeing the doors to the Baptistry opposite the Duomo Michelangelo exclaimed "They are so beautiful that they would grace the entrance to Paradise". After another walk to Signoria Square, Florence's government offices with a collection of statues, including a copy of David.
We made our next stop the Uffizi Museum and Gallery. Originally intended to house offices for magistrates, it is now full of medieval paintings. It is one of the oldest and most famous museums only rivalled by the Louvre, thanks to the Medici family who started this collection.
Not far from here is the Ponte Vecchio, the Old Bridge, with many shops on both sides which originally housed butcher shops. Very easy to dispose of "leftovers" in the river Arno. These days it has only jewellery shops. A short walk takes us to the bus.
The Baptistry
Ponte Vecchio
Palazzo Vecchio
Il Duomo
Countryside outside Livorno
No comments:
Post a Comment