Florence & Lucca, Italy

I am thinking that this blog should now be called the Beverly & Michael Blog. We have escort duty on excursions every day, but we go to separate places. We don’t get to travel together very much when we are escorting, but the neat thing about that is we cover twice as much territory!

Hi everyone! It’s Michael, and I am just back from a simply wonderful day in Florence, Italy. Florence, the City of Flowers, named after Flora, the God of Nature, was founded in 59BC on the shores of the River Arno. We began with a panoramic view of the city from the Piazzalle Michelangelo, and then it was on to the Galleria dell’ Academia to begin our mostly Michelangelo day. Michelangelo’s “David” is, of course, the focal point of the gallery, but is really just the first of a number of Michelangelo’s works that we could visit. “David” truly takes your breath away, particularly when you realize that it stands 13½ feet tall, weighs 10,000 pounds it is over 500 years old. One lady on our tour remarked “that’s one good looking guy,” and all the other women laughed when they realized what particular part of his anatomy she was eying at the time.

We proceeded to the Medici Chapels that houses the grandiose funerary monuments of the Medici Grand Dukes of Tuscany. These fabulously wealthy people liked to get buried in style, and the architecture was incredible! It was then on to a “light” lunch at Paoli, which consisted of a first course of lasagna, a second course of a steak, a desert and, of course, all the wine (a very nice Rufolo) you could drink. Next we went to the Duomo of St. Maria del Fiore, one of the world’s largest unsupported structures, and to the Giotto Bell Tower, which is over 300 feet tall, and just beautiful. We concluded our tour at the Piazza di S. Croce and Santa Croce church, in which Michelangelo is entombed, along with some other pretty well know Italians like Divinci, Dante, Machiavelli, Galileo, Rossini, and even Marconi. This was a ten hour tour and I am very, very tired.

*** Beverly’s turn:

We docked at Liverno, the port city of Florence. I came to Florence, but never saw it. I don’t even know if I came close. I passed by Pisa, but never saw it either. My tour took us to the medieval town of Lucca, which was about 1 ½ hours from the port. I was sorta bummed out about this as this wasn’t one of my choices and I really wanted to see Florence. Sometimes, things work out for the best: Lucca was a charming, unexpected delight.

Without going into all the history, Lucca was established somewhere around 1200 AD in a valley rather than a mountain top. Because it was in a valley, they constructed defensive walls around the city, and over the centuries the walls have been repaired and rebuilt. The city is very old and has 87 churches. The streets are cobblestone and narrow, and people mostly ride bicycles for transportation. There are no sidewalks and small cars and motor scooters as well as bicycles whiz by – you better be ready to jump out of the way. The thing that impacted me the most was seeing all these old buildings, with their original decorative doorways and old retail signs, housing very modern retail establishments. There were many of the stores we recognize and lots of little eateries and delicatessens selling cheese, sausage, prosciutto and bread.

We walked and walked, and walked right past a beauty salon. Now I am getting desperate to get a haircut and I knew we had some free time after our guided tour, so I filed the location away. After the tour, I made a beeline to the shop and they said yes, they could fit me in. I had less than an hour and that made me nervous. I got as far as the shampoo bowl. There was no way it could be done in the time I had left, so I left to find the bus. It is a good thing I started early because the streets look like alleys and dead ended when you didn’t expect it. It was a real maze, but I finally found my way out. I tried to get a hair appointment on the ship when I returned but found out that they only give the crew discount for morning appointments and I have nothing but morning excursions. Tomorrow afternoon, we will be in Monte Carlo and will try again – but maybe not. Maybe I should just let my hair grow longer!

I have some wonderful trivia for you. Pinocchio was created in Lucca. Pinocchio means piece of pinewood tree with eyes. There is no or little salt in Italian bread because there was a tax on salt and it became too expensive for the peasants; today, there is reduced salt because it is healthier. Pisa means the land of water. Olives are harvested by hand; they run netting under the trees and shake them until the olives fall off into the nets. Good olive oil is mixed with three varieties of olives, and green olives give the best flavor. Each region that produces olive oil tastes different. If some says you are biscaro, you say ”biscaro you” right back to them (it means stupid).





We had a wonderful lunch in Tuscany. I thought lunch was slim with a plate of appetizers (bruschetta, cheese, olives, bread, etc.). Then came the prosciutto, then came the ravioli, and then came the pasta. There was wine, too. And still there was more food – dessert and then a huge basket of biscotti. Oy vey, the biscotti was wonderful.










We finished off the day with a visit to a 16th century estate, where we toured the gardens and fresco-adorned villa. It was a very long day, but a very rewarding trip.