Pisa and Florence. Sunday 17th May

Field of Miracles, Pisa. The Baptistry is at the front

Inside the baptistry, before the Shout

The shout as recorded in Pisa Baptistry

The Duomo, Florence with its famous dome

Rape of the Sabine women, currently in the Loggia ( soon destined for inside a museum)

Viewing the Ponte Vecchio from the river Arno. The Vasari corridor runs along the top

Centre point on the Ponte Vecchio with fountain and shop

Michelangelo's tomb in Santa Croce churcch

Heavily scuffed and worn tomb on the floor inside the Santa Croce church

Pisa and Florence. Yet again we are in a major port on a weekend. This brings the total to four over the course of the cruise so far: Athens, Venice, Rome and Florence. We wonder if things would have been less crowded if it had been a weekday, but I suspect we are heading into peak tourist season and the crowds are going to be large wherever we go now. I find myself fondly recalling the smaller, more picturesque ports such as Kotor, Korkula and Rhodes where the crowds were not so crazy. It's actually quite tiring to keep track of: your location - even with a map, your valuables, knowing that bigger cities have pickpockets galore, the traffic's direction (looking left or right when crossing roads) and whether to dodge around the mob of tourists or try to weave your way through it. Then there are the hazards of: avoiding hawkers and ensuring you have enough to drink vs being able to find a loo when you need one.

Today's semi-guided tour to Pisa and Florence was supposed to be hosted by a guide, who would handle our bus transfers between the ship and the two cities, then issue us with smart phone guides and say 'See ya later!' Well Cinzia mustn't have gotten that memo, because she briefed us so thoroughly and well that we didn't actually need to use the smart devices at all. She was an absolute treasure, being passionate about her subject and having a particularly soft spot for Australians, because her parents, who had immigrated from Italy to Melbourne in the 50s returned to Tuscany when she was 14. I asked her why her parents wanted to go back and she told me she didn't really know, that her father had been a successful restauranteur in Melbourne - setting up Australia's very first pizza restaurant, in Carlton. In Lygon St. Apparently I was talking to the actual daughter of the man who established Toto's Pizzas! I have very fond memories of late nights at Toto's, Papa Gino's and The Twins (for souvlaki) when I was a student in Parkville back in the 70s. Cinzia told me that her father would still have been there then. It really is a small world, isn't it?

We spent the first hour of our excursion in Pisa's Field of Miracles. Our ticket entitled us to visit the Baptistry and the Cathedral, but we only had time to visit the former due to the queues. I videoed the 'Shout' that occurs right on the half hour to illustrate the superb acoustics of the coned roof, and I will post a link when I have access to enough bandwidth. This is the second time I've heard the 'Shout' live and today's 'performance' was far longer and more intricate than the first. While I was videoing from the upper gallery however, I could hear someone standing nearby rattling off stills. Hmm, how does someone photograph an echo?

After walking back to our bus, trying to keep out of the strong, midday sun, we continued on to Florence, arriving soon after a 10k charity race had finished in the city. We could tell it was over because all the competitors were gone but their rubbish remained, including drifts of purple and white tissue paper swirling in the gutters in front of the posh hotels. Nice.... We ate as a group in a restaurant then went our separate ways for about three and half hours.

The queues for the Duomo and Santa Croce churches were both horrendous, so we confined ourselves to photographing the exterior of the Duomo, which is still fairly spectacular- even if it is undergoing restoration. Then we admired the statues in the Loggia near the Uffizzi, (where there was some kind of childrens's pageant ) to see the copy of David and the Rape of the Sabine women. We then walked over the Ponte Vecchio to check out the gold stores, then found another Hard Rock Cafe for Vaughan's pin collector friend at work. The queue for Santa Croce was more manageable at around 4pm so I went inside on my own to admire the elaborate memorials to Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli high on the walls, and the other smaller tombs with high relief carved figures worn down over the centuries lying dotted around the floor. I suspect I dropped some money while I was inside the church. I can only hope it went to a good cause.

After we met up with Cinzia, she took us in the bus up into the hills overlooking the city to show us some of the magnificent houses, gardens, and views back over the city. I've decided that Florence is a beautiful city but one best admired from a distance at this time of year.

We dozed most of the way back to the ship at Livorno and I find myself looking forward to our next sea day.