ItalieLazioCivitavecchiaCivitavecchia Port42°5’40” N 11°46’48” E
25 juin 2016, Italie ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
Richard just lounging around chillaxing, finally!
ItalieSardegnaOlbiaOlbia MarittimaOlbia Port40°55’18” N 9°31’6” E 26 juin 2016, Italie ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
Docked before daylight for a visit to Sardinia. Brekkie on the dekkie, super service even at the buffet. Going up to 34C they tell us...what beautiful blue water and scenery.
Richard n Sheila Travels
Near the dock in Olbia, from the open top deck of our bus.
Richard n Sheila Travels
Very rocky terrain with only scrubby growth. Driving north from Olbia...
ItalieSardegnaOlbiaOlbia MarittimaOlbia Port40°55’18” N 9°31’10” E 26 juin 2016, Italie ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C
This is a beautiful ship, with 5 star plus service and meals. Never crowded, just 700 passengers.
Richard n Sheila Travels
Small cruise ship compared to some these days, but not exactly a modest lunch either (see the size of people boarding).
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Pool deck. Pool is salt water, 2 hot tubs. fitness track above the deck chairs. That's Olbia in Sardinia in the background just after we arrived in the morning.
Richard n Sheila Travels
A flight in the rear staircase, which id the plainer of the two (will post some more pics of the Sirena later...).
ItalieToscanaLivornoFiume, BagniFosso Venezia43°32’50” N 10°17’47” E 27 juin 2016, Italie ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
Docked here this morning. The port that gives access to Florence, Pisa and Tuscany. We are on a Florence/Pisa tour today.
ItalieToscanaFlorencePalazzo Vecchio43°46’9” N 11°15’21” E 27 juin 2016, Italie ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
So famous. Especially if you read Dan Brown 😉
Nearly 2 hrs on the bus through typical Tuscan countryside - well tended, with countless small groves of Olives, vineyards,
City centre still laidEn savoir plus
Richard n Sheila Travels
A gallery of other Statues in the same Piazza della Signoria as David. The blue/green is of Perseus holding the head of Medusa ...
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Michelangelo's David stands in the Piazzo della Signoria. This is a replica though, the original is housed in the Accademia Gallery in Florence for security. Carved from a single piece of marble from the same quarry, it's an exact replica in every way. It's 5m tall and took 3 carvers 3 years to complete
ItalieToscanaFlorenceBasilica di Santa Maria del Fiore43°46’23” N 11°15’22” E 27 juin 2016, Italie ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C
Richard n Sheila Travels Il Duomo...features in The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Pretty much every person in the pic is a tourist. All that white and green and reddish colour is pure marble. Diff colours from diff locations. The entire building is finished in marble and you get an idea of the scale looking at those people. The third largest Cathedral in the world I believe our guide said.
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The Baptistry out front of the Cathedral. Again, all marble finish. In early times, only those baptised here could enter the church. Many tourists, thank goodness tourism is so depressed here right now!
Richard n Sheila Travels
Front of the Cathedral. Look at the detail...above the doorways, those big circular windows, the figures in the alcoves, it just goes on and on.
ItalieToscanaPisaPorta a Lucca43°43’22” N 10°24’6” E 27 juin 2016, Italie ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
What, other than the Leaning Tower? Not much...
But the tower is breathtaking. To see it at last, after first learning about in maybe 50 yrs ago at school...wow. Truckloads of visitors, well,En savoir plus
Richard n Sheila Travels
The Tower really does lean. About 4 deg right now after some stabilisation recently as the leaning was increasing past 5deg. See the Tower location relative to the church it was supposed to be the bell tower for.
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Happy us posing...just so you know we didn't just scan a postcard for the prev pic. The Tower took something like 300 years to build, and at least 3 major architects, 2 of whom had to give up. The first was of course building a correctly vertical Tower. Ahem! Don't know how long the church took, but it's a hugely larger building...
Richard n Sheila Travels
Gives a closer perspective of how much it leans. And how big it is. Quite astonishing really. And hot, as evidenced by the umbrellas.
ItalieLiguriaPortofinoPunta del Coppo44°18’11” N 9°12’35” E 28 juin 2016, Italie ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
Anchoring here now, brekkie on board then tender into the port. Taking a bus trip today to Santa Margarita and Genoa as we saw Portofino last time...these pics taken in Portofino this trip. Still anEn savoir plus
Richard n Sheila Travels
No matter which direction one looks, it feels like we are here to shoot a calendar. So picturesque!
ItalieLiguriaGenoaCarignanoStazione Genova Brignole (RFI)44°24’20” N 8°56’47” E 28 juin 2016, Italie ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
An important political city historically, although not so much recently. Established by the earliest civilisations, centuries BC. Our tour focused on several museums and churches.
MonacoCommune de MonacoMonte-CarloJardins du Casino43°44’24” N 7°25’36” E 29 juin 2016, Monaco ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
Anchored up here for a day. No excursions booked so taking it easy. Sorry about the pics ... Internet is slow on board but will get them up soon.
Richard n Sheila Travels Ha, yeah we could. Just not sure we can afford the entrance fee 😀
Richard n Sheila Travels
Billionaire playground as they say...several private no-charter yacht in the 100m+ long category either docked, parked in the marina or anchored in the harbour. Not all of what you see is Monaco...it's apparently only about 2 sq km in area with just 8,000 residents, making it the 2nd smallest country after the Vatican.
