Florence & Pisa

We got off the boat at Livorno and travelled about an hour & a half by bus to get to Florence. We had a guided waking tour of Florence. The political & artistic history is just amazing, I think you would have to do at least a 4 year history degree to get your head around it all!!

The Cathedral was amazing made of local white, green & pink marble. These structures took years to build of course and most workers didn't live to see it finished. The dome on top of the duomo (house of God) was constructed in 16 years, a quick amount of time achieved by housing the workers up in the top of the church so they didn't waste time climbing up & down the structure to work. The baptistery was built using the same materials as the cathedral, which cannot be entered until you have been baptised in the baptistery, it was adorned with huge carved bronze doors depicting scripture stories.

The statue of David was amazing as were all of the other statues carved either from marble or stone. Michelangelo worked differently to most sculptors of the time and created statues from sketches & drawings not creating a cast first.

We then drove to Pisa & had a bit of a walk to the tower & cathedral. The leaning tower of Pisa is an amazing structure & you wonder why they continued with it when the lean, due to the clay soil began leaning early in it's construction. Work halted for 100 years before it continued and was completed. The Cathedral & baptistery constructed of mostly white marble were both imposing buildings.

Continue to pinch ourselves on a regular basis to be visiting these incredible places.