Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Florence and Pisa

I may have swamped you with pics, sorry just look at what you like. You can view them as a slideshow if you click on one.

In case you are unsure of what I posted....

Day 1 - Getting there
Day 2 - Uffizi, Duomo, Santa Croce, San Lorenzo, Medici Chapel
Day 3 - Galleria Dei Accademia, San Marco, Santissima Annunizata, Palazzo Vecchio
Day 4 - Pitti Palace, Boboli Gardens and Santa Maria Novello
Day 5 - Piazza dei Miracoli - Duomo, Baptistry and the Leaning Tower.

Piazza dei Miracoli

So we checked out of hotel on our way home via Pisa. We found the buses hopped on and within 20 minutes we were Pisa bound, honestly this foreign travel lark is easy.

At the airport we each stored our bag (7 euros per bag) and hopped on a bus into town and were dropped off at the Piazza dei Miracoi ***** which houses Pisa Dumo, Baptistery and some tower that is a bit wonky ;)

Now the church has a money spinner here and they know it. We elected not to walk up the tower (15 euros)  as we would be hot and sweaty but did the Baptistery (5 euros )  and Duomo (2 Euros). Our ticket was sold to us by a woman who really thought she was doing us a favour serving us.

The Piazza is lined by stalls selling.... well naff souvenirs but forget that because the group of Baptistery, Duomo and Tower look magnificent.





The Baptistery












And the Duomo (much better than the one in Florence!)

















Bet you've never seen this before....







So with time to kill we headed back to the airport and lazed around for "a bit".

When we finally landed it was a longish wait to get through passport control (although I suspect unlike Pisa they knew the right person had come through!). I knew my bag was on as I saw it put on the plane from my window. The joys of having an odd coloured bag. When we picked them up mine stuck out like a sore thumb where as Trish had to work to find her one!

Great holiday, great company (thanks Trish). Now I need to sleep.


The Pitti Palace & Boboli Gardens

We arrived at the Pitti Palace ***** just as it opened!!









We did one part of the palace which was impressive, stopped for a drink and then did the Galleria Palatina which had the most amazing ceilings. Honestly my jaw was dropping! There was stunning art as well. It wasn't all renaisannce art which was nice.

We then went into the Boboli Gardens ** which are attached to the Palace. The gardens are a mix of lovely and some seemed scruffy (not lack of water) just needing work. Still it was a lovely change.






A few of these about.













we were walking through the garden with no binoculars and we saw a little bird and were desperately trying to id !! and I got very lucky....


Firecrest!




Italian Wall Lizard I believe












So we headed back in to town







We made a mistake by going back to the il Bargello. We wanted to head over to the Boccedama. Oh well I had Lasagne and another giant coke!

I had a Lemon Ice Cream before heading off to Santa Maria Novella **** alas no  pics!



Trish wanted to eat elsewhere and we were heading off to the Piazza della Republica but a youth orchestra was warming up so the promise of music sent us back to the il David. And the orchestra stopped!!! I had Pizza Florentine




We wandered over the Ponte Vecchio where I had a lovely Mixed Berry Ice cream - best I've had.



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