Room 105, Hotel Europa, Signa
This morning there was some confusion over our departure time, so we ended up leaving the hotel half an hour late.We had to change coaches in order to drive through the streets of Florence, but that meant cutting down the long walk to our meeting point for the day - the Piazza di Santa Croce, dominated by Santa Croce (the church of the Holy Cross). Although not the main church in Florence, Santa Croce happens to contain the tombs of Michelangelo, Niccolo Machiavelli and Galileo Galilei.
Our first stop was the huge Peruzzi leather shop, where we watched an artisan embossing a leather wastepaper basket with gold leaf.
Then I spent some time looking at all the leather products in the store, before making my way back to the Piazza di Santa Croce, where there was a nice little shop selling painted postcards.
After everyone had returned from the leather shop, we met the local guide at the Piazza and followed her through the narrow, uneven streets, dodging the many other tour groups around us - and scrambling onto the sidewalk everytime a car, scooter or bicycle appeared.
We passed a few palaces and museums before reaching Piazza del Duomo, which was swarming with tourists taking photos of Florence's massive Duomo - the Santa Maria del Fiore - with its walls of pink, green and white marble in regular patterns, great brick dome, and intricate carvings all around.
The small Baptistry across the road was not forgotten though, thanks to its great gold-and-bronze door with carvings from the Old Testament - Cain and Abel, the landing of Noah's Ark, Moses receiving the Ten Commandments, the walls of Jericho falling, etc.
After all that jostling for good shots of the Duomo and Baptistry, we weaved our way down streets lined with clothing shops, before arriving at the Piazza Della Republica and viewing its Roman-style triumphal arch.
Then it was time for our last stop - the Piazza Della Signoria, where citizens used to gather centuries ago for public meetings to discuss political issues. Now tourists are the ones who crowd the square to admire the Palazzo Vecchio and the sculptures scattered around, from the Neptune Fountain and Cosimo I on horseback, to a copy of Michelangelo's David.
And not forgetting the many other sculptures in the Loggia dei Lanzi, including that of Perseus holding up Medusa's head.
Our sightseeing tour ended not long after, and for the first time since Amsterdam, we had time to wander around and shop before meeting at the Piazza di Santa Croce again.
One hour and forty minutes later (and armed with numerous shopping bags) we were on the coach and off for optional excursion #4: "Excursion to Pisa"!
The ride to Pisa took another 1.5 hours, and even then we had to wait (along with throngs of other tourists) for a shuttle bus to bring us right outside the Square of Miracles. It had been raining on the coach, but thankfully the bad weather cleared before we got off.
The Square of Miracles was bordered by a high brick wall, and as we made our way around the outside of the wall, we passed by rows of little shops and carts selling all forms of souvenirs and knick knacks.
Then we stepped through the archways in the wall and found ourselves in the middle of a crowded path. There were many more busy shops to our right and a bright green field sprawled out on our left, from which four white marble buildings seemingly sprouted out from nowhere - the round Baptistry with sculptures of faces all around its façade, the Duomo with its decorations of "coloured sandstone, glass and majolica plates", the long Camposanto (cemetery) in the background...and the most famous of the Square's inhabitants, the Torre Pedante - better known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
According to my guidebook, the Leaning Tower was built between 1173 and 1350. Although it began to tilt even before its third storey was completed, another five storeys were eventually built - including the Belfry on top with its bells that added more pressure on the tower!
We were only given 45 minutes in Pisa, and there were admission charges for all four buildings, so we just strolled around the Square before purchasing souvenirs on our way out to the bus stop.
Then it was time to return to our hotel, where we had another group dinner in the hotel restaurant - which happens to be just across the staircase landing from our room.
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