Mediterranean Cruise Day 6: Florence

We got to "sleep in" a bit today, as our excursion into Florence (from the port of Livorno) didn't leave until 8 a.m. And, with the two-hour drive, I had a nice little morning nap once again.

Basically, this was an on-your-own trip, with the bus dropping us off at Santa Croce, a basilica on the southeast side of the downtown which contains the tomb of Michelangelo, Galileo Galilei and other "celebs". Unfortunately, Kristin and I didn't know any of that at the time, so we didn't go in.

Instead, we did a slow walking tour, stopping to see:
--the Piazza della Signoria, a striking square that includes the Neptune Fountain, the statue of Perseus holding the severed head of Medusa and a copy of the statue of David
--the trendy shopping street that is Via Tornabuoni (Prada, Gucci, etc.), though we didn't buy anything
--the Duomo, "the loftiest, most sumptuous edifice human invention could devise." Basically, it was a gigantic cathedral that was brightly colored (green, pink and white)
--the Mercato Centrale, a two-story grocery store. We unfortunately didn't have time to go in and see the vegetable stands, panini stores and cheese and meat stalls.

I think it was near this area where we finally settled on an early lunch (just past 11 a.m.), at a restaurant called Za Za's. I ordered the Florentine-style tripe, which was cooked in some tomato-based sauce (I think). This was my favorite meal of the entire trip. Hell, I liked it so much I bought the restaurant's cookbook!

From there we scurried on over to Galleria dell'Accademia, where we had reservations for noon (I had read that the line to get tickets can be very, very long, and that booking reservations is the way to go). Well, it turned out that the museum wasn't very crowded at the moment, so it actually wouldn't have mattered.

When you enter the museum, the first room is filled with paintings. Then you exit the room and enter a large hallway, and the moment you turn to the right to start walking, you are stunned by the beauty and size of Michelangelo's David, which is at the far end of the hall.

First though, we looked at some of his unfinished statues, and it was amazing to see these huge blocks that were half carved out. Then, we walked right up to the David, and Kristin and I must've stared at it for a good 15 min. Unfortunately, no photography was allowed, but the statue's magnificence and extreme detail will forever be burned in my mind.

After the museum we headed south to the river to see Ponte Vecchio, a famous bridge. Then we made our way back to the meeting point, where there was lots of shopping to be done. I think the first thing that strikes any tourist is that Florence is filled with leather stores--a conservative estimate would be 60% of the clothing stores were leather stores. We went in several, and the prices were pretty good, but we didn't buy anything.

The shopping guide from our cruise recommended a store called Italianloves, and it was here where we sampled wine and olive oils. We ended up buying bout 84 Euros (including the 10% cruise discount) worth of wine and oils.

Back on the ship. Tonight (Friday) we ate at a nicer "free" restaurant called Tapas, a Mexican-style restaurant. After dinner we went to the Cirque du Soleil show, which was amazing but short. Then we went to get a drink, and we decided to save money by taking part in the "buy five beers, get one free deal." We drank one each on the spot and took the remaining bottles back to our room to save for the next night.