Both Harriet and I were excited about visiting Florence and Pisa on our Disney cruise. It’s a few years since I’ve been to Florence, I’d never been to Pisa before, and Harriet hadn’t been to either; and although it was a fairly long coach journey (nearly two hours) from Livorno to Florence, it was well worth the trip.
The beauty of Florence is that it’s really not very big, so easy to explore with kids, and there is art everywhere you look. This is a model of Michaelangelo’s David (the real one is in the Uffizi, which always has big queues)…
…and there are stunning sculptures and art all over the city, and squares to sit and watch the world go by with a gelati.
One of the most impressive landmarks, of course, is the Duomo, which is breathtaking; it took hundreds of years to complete, and the pink and green marble design is incredible.
We sat and had lunch at a café where we could listen to the bells and soak up the atmosphere. Harriet loved every minute of it, particularly when I bought her a new Italian leather handbag.
We stopped inside the Gucci museum shop (there’s an entrance fee for the museum, which seems a bit odd), and walked to the beautiful Ponte Vecchio (bridge), and the Arno river, which reflects the colours of the bridge so perfectly; it’s easy to see why it’s inspired so many artists.
Then it was on to Pisa. It was such a sunny afternoon, and the stone of the Leaning Tower has recently been cleaned, so it looked blindingly white.
Of course we did that classic tourist thing of pretending to try to push it back up, and walked all around (I was too afraid to climb the bell tower), before returning back to our ship, exhausted and happy.
Our day trip to Florence and Pisa was definitely one to remember.