Italy Part 3 - Costa to Florence and Pisa.....

So after a wonderful week in Costageminiana we drove via the Appenine Mountains to Florence. It was a fantastic drive with views of the most amazing villages which clung on tightly to the mountainside, thick forests and houses so high that they looked as though you would need to be dropped in by helicopter to actually reach them......we passed through Carrara which apparently is where around 80% of the world's marble comes from - clever me thought that the white mountains we could see were actually covered in snow....it was marble!

It was also a marvellous drive since it was the ONLY drive during which neither of my children threw up.....seriously, the only one......and we did a lot of driving! I became quite the expert.....

My first trip to Italy was when I was 19.......during my second year at University I spent 6 months studying in France and I spent my mid-term 10 day break with 3 girlfriends in Italy....travelling by train to Florence, Rome and Venice....Florence was far and away my favourite city. My girlfriends were romanced by two Italian carabinieri (policemen) and we therefore all got a fabulous tour around the city from all the best viewpoints during our 3 days there!

No police escort this time but we did have the luxury of an air-conditioned hotel 2 minutes from the Duomo instead of the bunk-beds of the youth hostel.

I definitely fell in love with Florence all over again, it was just breathtaking......the Duomo, which is I guess Florence's most famous and recognised building, was so stunning, I could have sat and just looked at it all day long. Florence was very hot, very full of tourists and very busy......it's always nice when you have visited once already since it takes the pressure of having to see absolutely everything......especially when it's roasting hot and one of your group is a 3 year boy who asks every 10 mins "where's the playground?"!!! My son apparently does not do well in heat - seaside heat good....city heat bad.

Anyway......we spent a great day actually on the "hop-on, hop-off " open top double decker bus, this made us all happy and was a great way to see the city. We went up to Piazzale Michelangelo, which houses one of Michelangelo's famous statues of David, and is where you get a stunning panoramic view of Florence.....we also did this at sunset which is a sight I will never forget.....even though my son hated this too and did a lot of yelling.....I just prayed that we weren't standing near anyone who was about to propose (it is that kind of location) because we sure would have ruined that special moment in their lives!

Florence is a great city for walking around.....we walked to the Uffizi art gallery, across the Ponte Vecchio, along the banks of the River Arno, around the Duomo....it was truly fabulous.

Our flight home was from the City of Pisa and we spent the afternoon in Pisa itself visiting the famous leaning tower. This was really worth the trip.....it's in a beautiful square, standing next to another beautiful domed church and it is just amazing. For some reason, I don't know why, I thought I might be disappointed.....maybe because it is so photographed but it was wonderful, I was so glad we took the time to visit it.

So, that was Italy......beautiful, emotional, breathtaking and heartwarming.....everything I hoped it would be and so much more. I really appreciate everyone's lovely comments about my post on the places that Giovanni and Luisa came from, our trip was so wonderful that I want to tell everyone about Costa and it's history and about a different down-to-earth Italy.......thank you so much for sharing it with me.

PS The minute we landed, my son was his normal self again, that little boy was thrilled to be home again!

One of my favourite shots of the Duomo....

Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, otherwise known as the Duomo....

Faced in white, green and pink marble from Carrara, Prato and Siena....

Building of the Duomo began in 1296....

The River Arno.....

The view from Piazzale Michelangelo....

The dome remains the largest brick built dome in the world....

The Ponte Vecchio, a medieval bridge covered with shops....the only bridge in Florence not destroyed during World War 2 when the German army retreated....

Sunset from Piazzale Michelangelo....

Where else but Italy would you get glimpses of such beauty around every corner?

My little angel (injured during a fall down the steps in Costa's cemetary.....)......this was just before he declared the interior of the Duomo to be "disgusting" and asked if we could please leave....I will of course be reminding him of this when he is grown up, particularly if he is an Art major.....