Florence is the capital of the Tuscany region and considered one of the most beautiful cities not just in Italy but the whole world. It is home to the Accademia, and the Uffizi gallery,
where you can see the Statue of David by Michelangelo as well as the Birth of Venus by Botticelli. We went to both, but didn't get photos because neither gallery allowed cameras. Both are must sees if you go to Florence.
I do have this shot of a copy of the statue of David that stands outside of the Palazzo Vecchio. Not as cool as the original but you get the idea.
The Ponte Vecchio
is also very historic and as you are going across it, the sense of history is almost overwhelming. When you cross over, from the Gallery side to the south side you immediately come to another amazing Gelateria that gives you cones where the Gelato is shaped like flowers. As if the flavor was not enticement enough.
The best place to see all of Florence is at the Piazzale Michelangelo, a hill on the south bank of the river.
Everything comes into view with a panoramic setting highlighting The Duomo and the Palazzo Vecchio. There are several flights of stairs
to this vantage point, but there is another copy of the Statue of David rewarding you at the top.
When we left Florence we worked our way to the coast. Remember all this time we were toting backpacks, it was a very strenuous vacation. We spent one day in the town of Lucca, a town famous for it's defensive walls that, no longer , needed for military defense, (keeping out my wife?)
became parkland promenades.
It was a cool little stopover on our way to the coast and something else that caught my eye was the Guinigi Tower
famous as you can see for it's tower top garden. Catches the eye wherever you are in Town.
We left Lucca the next morning and spent a half day in Pisa to see......
yes that is my Joani holding up the leaning Tower of Pisa. My wife, the saviour of historical buildings and my hero. For sure the focal point in Pisa is the tower, and I will tell you that it is worth taking some time for this building! It is made of beautiful pink marble and the lean is remarkable. If you're like me, when you stand staring at it for any length of time you will notice that you start leaning like the building to compensate. Quite a sight. We left Pisa late in the day headed for La Spezia where we were catching a train to Cinque Terra. A story for another day.
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