Livorno, Italy

Livorno-Pisa-Florence, Italy -- February 15, 2015

We enjoyed our first hearty breakfast at Cagney's this morning, courtesy of Leah the concierge. The menu remained the same as our last Jade cruise in 2012. It was great to be back at this private restaurant reserved for suite guests for breakfast and lunch. Leah also agreed that we can have a 4th person to join us so we could take turns enjoying our meals there. We had all our breakfast, and lunch whenever we were on the ship, here at Cagney's in the next 21 days.

We got off the ship at 7:40 to meet with Nicola, our driver and guide for the day. He was referred to us by SC, who was happy with his service last January. Nicola was waiting for us right outside the port terminal with his Mercedes van. I had communicated with him regarding our plans for the day before the trip and he was very easy to work with throughout the process. We only asked him to take us to an ATM in a safe area on the way back and a good gelateria while in Florence.

What we saw from our balcony the morning we arrived Livorno.

Pisa, Italy

It was a cloudy day and at times we had some drizzle. The ride from Livorno to Pisa was only about 20 minutes. The van was comfortable and equipped with Wifi. Nicola took us there first to avoid the crowd that would be there for the day. When we arrived, it was very quiet and it seemed that we got the whole place to ourselves. It was too early and the tower was not open yet but it didn't matter because we had decided even before the trip that we will not climb the tower. I was especially glad that we made that decision after our climb up the dome at the Vatican a couple of days ago.

Whoa!

Who could resist taking ridiculous pictures like these?

The Basilica

The Baptistery

We spent about 45 minutes here before leaving for our next stop.

Then Nicola took us to a place called San Michele di Scalzi. This church is about 10 minutes away from Pisa Tower and next to River Arno. The tower here is also leaning on one side and Nicola said there is another leaning tower in the area except these two are not as well known or as spectacular as the Pisa Tower.

Florence, Italy
After about an hour drive, Nicola took us to Piazzale Michelangelo which is on a hill on the other side of the Arno River. We had a panoramic view of the city of Florence. It stopped raining by now so we had an excellent view of the whole area.

Ponte Vecchio

Some of us did not get to use the restrooms when we were at Pisa, so Nicola drove us to the Holy Cross Cathedral for restrooms nearby. In front of the cathedral we saw spread over dirt covered the whole square and Nicola told us that a legendary rough soccer game was to be held later that day.

Holy Cross Cathedral

Ready for the soccer game.

We had been to Florence and Pisa in 2010 and we visited the Academia Galleria so the three of us decided that we do not need to go back this time. Nicola dropped us off with a map at the Piazza de Republica and took the rest of the group to the Galleria. We would meet each others back at the same place in a couple of hours. Florence is such a compact city that we were able to walk to most places.

It started to drizzle again so we went inside the department store right at the Piazza and window-shopped for a while. We also found the washrooms on the top floor before heading out.

A couple of streets down we found the Hotel Pierre where we stayed in 2010.

A beautiful building on Via Calimala.

Then we walked inside this church nearby--Church of Orsanmichele, which is between the Piazza della Republica and Piazza della Signoria. This is a beautiful church, but under the shadow of the Duomo it is not a popular site for tourists.

Exterior of the church

The Duomo

There was a big long line of visitors waiting to get inside the Duomo. I planned on visiting this place before the trip because we missed it the last time we were here. But after seeing that long line I changed my mind because we are just not 'line' people. If there is a third time, maybe...

After meeting back with everyone, it was time for lunch. ChC really wanted to go back to the restaurant where JC/CeC took us when we were here in 2010 so that was where we ended up--

Yes, we had the lobster pasta, again. For 20 euro, we thought that was a good deal. (It was 18 euro in 2010)

I think this was a pork dish. We saw some customers ordered the huge steak plate, we wanted to try that but it was too late to change our orders. If we come back again, that's what we will order for sure. It was 60 euro per order for 2 people. Most items on the menu were under 20 euro, which I thought was very reasonable.

Parione Trattoria in a narrow alley

(Via del Parione, 74/76 R-Via Della Vigna Nuova, 17-50123 Firenze, Italy)

After lunch we just walked about half a block to River Arno.

Ponte Vecchio, the famous covered bridge that houses many jewelry shops. 

Galleria degli Uffizi

Piazza della Signoria

Piazza

That's a replica of David.

We met up with Nicola at the Piazza della Repulica after walking around the city. He then took us to Gelateria La Carraia on the other side of the river near the Carraia bridge (Ponte alla Carraia) where we enjoyed another gelato treat. According to Nicola, La Carraia offers better gelatos for less than half of what we would pay inside Florence  and yes, their pistachio gelato is the best!

Yummy!

We didn't want to mess up Nicola's van. 

After our stop at the ATM, Nicola drove us back to the cruise terminal where we said our goodbyes. We had a wonderful day with Nicola. He also arranged our tour to Pompeii, Sorrento, and Positano when we docked at Naples at the end of this cruise.

Nicola Scovenna +39 333 364 5035

nicola.scovenna@gmail.com

livornotoflorence.com

NCL crew passing out hot towels inside the terminal.

Our treat from the Hotel Director was waiting for us.

The long lines before all aboard time.

We decided to have another late dinner, at 8PM. Ooooh, sushi!

Again, we were seated at a table with Joycelyn. She was very busy that night and she apologized for not paying attention to us. We can totally understand that because we saw her in action.

We still had a good dinner.

This was such a port intensive cruise that we found ourselves resting in our cabin whenever we had a chance and did not participate much in the activities on board. We only saw one, maybe two shows on this trip. That evening it was announced that due to the strong wind, the ship will not be able to go through the narrow harbor of Monte Carlo. We were to dock at Villefrance instead. That means we will have to anchor and tender into port. We will also need to find public transportation to Monaco.