SPAIN (part 3) -- La Spezia, Civitavecchia, and Tivoli, Italy

 WEDNESDAY we were awake when the ship sailed into La Spezia, Italy.

We had gotten up early so we could leave the ship as soon as it docked. We got a on a tour bus for 2 hours that took us to Florence, Italy.

What I really enjoyed was seeing the Carrara marble quarry where Michelangelo found the perfect block of marble to sculpt his David masterpiece.

Another interesting thing was seeing hundreds of huge blocks of marble that had been brought from the mountain down to a shipping yard. 

Upon arrival into the city, we saw the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, or Florence Cathedral. 

Nearby was the Florence Baptistry, also known as the Baptistry of Saint John, which has the status of a minor basilica. It was constructed between 1059 and 1128 in the Florentine Romanesque style.

The octagon had been a common shape for baptistries for many centuries since early Christian times. 

The east doors of the Baptistry are known as the Gates of Paradise. 

These are some photos of some of the architecture of the city.

The Galleria dell'Accademia is the home of the famous original statue of David sculpted by Michelangelo. There are other sculptures and works of art on display there.

The Palazzo Vecchio, Old Palace, is the Town Hall of Florence, Italy.

The Loggia dei Lanzi is an outdoor museum space where various sculptures can be viewed.

Uffizi Gallery, is a prominent art museum located in the historic center of Florence. It holds a collection of priceless works, particularly from the period of the Italian Renaissance.

Ponte Vecchio, or Old Bridge, is a medieval stone arch bridge that spans the Arno River at its narrowest point. It is noted for the shops built along it. Building shops on bridges was once a common practice. 

Funny story. 

While we were walking through the city, I noticed something on the brim of Glen's cap. At first I thought it was a huge beetle. I carefully removed his cap using the opposite side of the brim to get rid of that huge thing perched atop his cap.

As I pulled it down from his head, the dark blob fell onto the ground. Upon closer inspection, it was determined that a big bird had deposited a big dropping upon my husband's beloved BYU cap. 

Thankfully, we had some water left in a water bottle and used that to clean up the remains of the bird dropping. YUCK!!

We hopped on a bus once again for a 1 1/2-hour ride to Pisa, Italy. Happily, we learned that this ride was at least traveling in a direction that took us back closer toward our ship.

This was our view as we approached Torre Pendente di Pisa, the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I was expecting something more ancient-looking, more cobblestone, more something other than grass which police were watching carefully so that NO ONE crossed the fence and went onto the grass anywhere near the Leaning Tower.

With such strict no-grass rules, I was surprised to see that lounging on the grass was allowed in other areas. 

The round building is the Pisa Baptistry of St. John, which is the largest baptistry in Italy. Construction started in 1152 to replace an older baptistry and it was completed in 1363.

The next building was the Duomo di Pisa, the Pisa Cathedral. It is the oldest of the three structures in the plaza, followed by the Pisa Baptistry and the Campanile known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa. 

Construction on the cathedral began in 1063 and the Cathedral was consecrated in 1118.

The Torre Pendente di Pisa, or the Leaning Tower of Pisa, is the campanile, or freestanding bell tower of Pisa Cathedral. 

The tower began to lean during construction in the 12th century, due to soft ground which could not properly support the structure's weight. It worsened through the completion of the structure.

Construction of the tower occurred in three stages over 199 years. 

We took our pictures by the tower just as everyone else was doing. Little did I know that I was leaning in the opposite direction as the tower which makes it look not so lean-y.

We walked around the Tower and got a different view of the Cathedral and Baptistry.

Beyond the Baptistry was the wall and gate where we entered. That is more what I expected the Leaning Tower of Pisa to look like--old.

Time to leave through the archway in the ancient medieval wall surrounding and protecting the structures we just saw.

On the other side of the wall was a cemetery. 

We took a few minutes to walk through it and read some of the headstones.

Off to the bus we went, but first we needed a treat in an attempt to cool us down. We ate Magnum bars by the dozens when we were on our Holy Land trip a few years ago when that land was in a heat wave.

These bars were cool, but I was disappointed that the ice cream wasn't hard. So, the ice cream bars only rated about a 6 out of 10 for me that day.

The bus ride from Pisa to the port, where we so eagerly boarded our cruise ship, was about 30 minutes. Home sweet home!! Air conditioning once again. HALLELUJAH!!!!

We sure did a lot of walking that day in the heat!!

THURSDAY we docked in Civitavecchia, Italy. We got a cab that took us to Rome which was about 1 1/2 hours away. In Rome we stood on a corner waiting to connect with a tour bus for an excursion.

Our tour took us to Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli. We walked through an orchard of olive trees to a visitors' center.

We looked at the layout of what we were going to see and then began walking the grounds.

We walked all around Hadrian's Villa which comprises the ruins and archaeological remains of a large villa complex built in 120 AD by Roman Emperor Hadrian.

The villa was constructed as a retreat from Rome for Emperor Hadrian during the second and third decades of the 2nd century AD. 

It was traditional for the Roman emperor to have constructed a villa as a place to relax from everyday life. Many villas were also self sustaining with small farms and did not need to import food.

During the decline of the Roman Empire in the 4th century, the villa gradually fell into disuse and was partially ruined as valuable statues and marble were taken away.

Our tour continued as we drove into the town of Tivoli and saw the impressive Rocca Pia Castle. 

It was built in the mid-fifteenth century on the top of the hill in the town center. The fortress consists of five round towers connected with massive walls which enclose a courtyard.

We walked around the area for a while. The tour guide took those who had paid for lunch with him to a restaurant. We walked the streets looking at shops and buildings and we ate pizza for our lunch.

One thing I really loved seeing was the narrow streets with shops at street level and apartment buildings above.

We then went to Villa D'Este which is full of architectural and landscape splendor.

We went inside the Palace and saw many of the original fresco paintings on display on the ceilings and walls.

Villa D'Este is famous for its splendid fountains characterized by wonderful water displays and for being the most beautiful example of the Italian Renaissance in Europe. 

The villa was built in the mid 1500s.

It was designed by Pirro Ligorio as a water theater, spraying water in a variety of forms.

The water gushing from the many fountains comes directly from the River Aniene through a 600-meter underground channel. The whole complex includes around a hundred fountains.

Then back to the city we went to wait for our tour guide to take us to our bus taking us back to Rome. We took in more sights while we were waiting.

Once in Rome, we took a train ride from there back to Civitavecchia. Steven had been sweating it planning the train ride transportation, but it worked out just fine.

And there we were--back at our air-conditioned home on the water.

We attended another singing and dance show after dinner. 

Another day with many steps and lots of sweating.