Day 5 is another exciting day though definitely less action-packed than day 4. A lot of time on day 5 was spent traveling as Florence is 1 1/2 hrs away from Livorno and then Pisa is another 1 1/2 hrs away from Florence and then 1 1/2 hrs back. So it was an extremely short day to see the cities but I was satisfied with covering a lot nevertheless.
Livorno is where our ship docked. Livorno was defined as an "ideal town" during the Italian Renaissance and is today the third-largest port on the western coast of Italy. I am guessing there is a military manufacturing unit close by because as we approached the shore, from the ship, I could see a part of the dock with hundreds of newly built army trucks being loaded on to a ship. Livorno looks very beautiful and well layed out in multiple tier formats (as in one tier then some altitude and then another tier and so on) from the sea and I guess that's why it may have been 'an ideal town.'
Not seeing anything here, we took the early morning bus to Florence. I felt strangely familiar with Florence as so much of Assassin's Creed 2 is based out of Florence. I could recognize most of the churches (which is a kudos to Assassin's Creed 2's level of detail). Without a doubt, the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore is the most impressive sight in Florence. I have climbed and jumped around it in Assassin's Creed 2...I was amazed at it's virtual Hi-Definition creation, I am amazed at the real thing. This is the third largest cathedral in the world, so after seeing St. Peter's Basilica yesterday, I am now fortunate enough to see the world's largest and thrd largest cathedrals. The second largest is St. Pauls' in London. Apart from the main Cathedral, there is something called the Giotto's bell tower outside the Cathedral (in Assassin's Creed 2 you do a 'leap of faith' from the top of this tower) and the Baptistery of St. John. While St. Peter's Basilica was definitely breathtaking from inside, I liked this Cathedral better in terms of the exterior and I have always loved the bell tower.
I then proceeded to see the Palazzo Vecchio (old palace). This palace is famous for it's finely preserved interiors. The interior paintings boast of being created by such great artists as Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. So while I missed seeing Michelangelo's work at the Sistine Chapel, I did get a glimpse of them here. I also took the ticket to the top of the palace for a wonderful eagle eye's vision of Florence. I then spent some time at the Piazza della Signoria which is an open square that houses original sculpted works of such famous artists as Giambologna and Cellini.
I also visited the Santa Maria Novella (in Assassin's Creed 2, this houses an Assassin's tomb). In reality, the Basilica di Santa Maria Novella is a church in Florence, and chronologically its first great basilica, as well as the city's principal Dominican church.
As you can see, most of visits in Florence were heavily influenced by what I have seen in Assassin's Creed 2 and the same resulted in me covering the most important Florence sights. Howerver, I still missed seeing quite a few other landmarks or being able to completely explore the interiors of the above churces and I look forward to returning to completing the same.
I finally left to visit Pisa to go see another one of the seven wonders of the world, the Torre pendente di Pisa (aka leaning tower of Pisa). I never realised that the leaning tower of Pisa was actually a bell tower for a cathedral that is right next to it. Only since 2005 has the tower reopened to the public and I took the opportunity to climb the 296 steps to the very top of the tower. The view is great as you get to see the top of the cathedral and also the old city walls of Pisa that are standing to ths date. You can therefore see how the city was encompassed within the walls and the tower, thougha bell tower also makes for a pretty good watch tower. There are a total of 4 bells on top, each with intricate designs. The cathedral is called Duomo di Pisa. With this visit, I complete seeing 5 out of the 7 wonders of the world. A learning though that I took away after this visit was that there is a lot of difference and subjectivity between the definition of the 7 wonders of the world, the Wikipedia article itself being pretty dicey (they don't have Taj Mahal on the main list). However, according to what I have learnt, the traditional list is:
1) The Great Pyramid of Giza
2) The Taj Mahal
3) Colosseum
4) Leaning Tower of Pisa
5) Eiffel Tower
6) Great Wall of China
7) Hagia Sophia
I spent the evening on the ship at Cleopatra's Needle which is another pub but also has a Nintendo Wii on a giant screen.
As we sail away, I look forward to tomorrow's port of call.
No comments:
Post a Comment