Day 9 Pisa

This is a photo showing the layout of the three main buildings in Pisa, well, the ones we tourists are interested in, anyway. To the left is the 11th century Baptistry, in the middle the Cathedral de Santa Maria del Flores, and to the right, to give it the correct title, the Bell Tower.

The Baptistry, separate from the Cathedral. The guide told us "Everything in Pisa leans sideways". This tilts less than some. There are mosaics inside, but no time to see them.

The Cathedral would lean too, as the ground underneath is very soft, if the builders had not added extra to the layers between the marble. See the black layers between the white - they are narrower on the right side of the doors!

Decoration between and over the doors.

Inside the cupola of the Cathedral. I thought this looked rather Byzantine in style.

And just to prove the Bell Tower leans... (What's he doing there?)

Like I said, everything leans!



Day 10, Rome, (please read day 9 Pisa first!)

I was really looking forward to today - Rome is a bit special - I apologise for the quality of the photos, as many were taken through the coach window, as we did the whistle stop tour! Also, mostly I can't name any of the sights we saw, apart from one! It was a fairly short tour, but took in the main sites, and sights, and we instantly decided that we wanted to go back to rome for a much longer stay. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, I think.



The Coliseum is way bigger than expected - it is huge!



The Romans don't park their cars - they abandon them, three deep in some places!






 

The Vatican and the space in front of it, usually seen filled with people at Easter and Christmas

The space is actually bigger than the picture appears to show - there are two portico'd wings either side, as if hugging the space.

And 'cos I loves him...

Day 8, another sea day

On an 18 night cruise there are quite a few sea days, as we gently cross and re-cross the Western Mediterranean. Today we were on route to Livorno, the port for Florence and Pisa. Our trip tomorrow will be Pisa, as we have spent time in Florence, far longer than the cruise allows for. That is the only problem with cruise/visiting. There is only a limited time ashore, so you have to make choices, and given our limited walking  abilities and my breathing problems, we see a lot of places from a coach. We do, however, get enough of a feel for a place to decide if we would like to visit for longer. We thought this of Barcelona, and on the very first cruise we did, we wanted to spend weeks longer in St. Petersburg, (mainly in the Hermitage) and in Tallin, a charming city in Estonia.

Today we idled away the hours until the late afternoon, when we went to watch an ice show. Yes, there is an ice rink on board, and 10 ice skaters who perform all kinds of routines, lasting about an hour! This was called "Strings" and there was a bit of a story about a violin, which was played through the ages, starting with the 18th century, and Mozart. Ice skaters in pseudo-court costumes, pannierss, breeches and all, are quite a sight I can tell you! However the young lady solo violinist was superb, and brought a lump to my throat as she played a favourite Mozart melody! There was gipsy music, and all sorts - a very entertaining show.

Tonight was formal dining, so out came the glad rags. I don't have photos of these, but of our semi formal outfits.

My favourite top, a mass of colour, loose fitting over a singlet, taken in the deck with the shopping mall (!)

I know I think my husband is a saint sometimes, but did he really have to bring his halo?

Pure accident, I assure you. Below is what it should have been - no wait, perhaps not.



Day 7 Barcelona, continued

Oncve we had all clambered back on the coach - boy,  those steps were steep! - the driver took us oast various places, tthe names of which I didn't catch as I was too busy snapping pix out of the window, and loving the wide streets and the amazing architecture.

 Las Ramblas, the main boulevard, with hundreds of motor scooters everywhere.




  If I remember right this was designed by the famous architect, Antonio Gaudi, who designed several building in Barcelona, including the cathedral, the next place on our tour.

The whole of the face that we saw (I think the West), was covered with sculptures depicting the life of Christ. Many of them were beautifully done, and some of the detail was extraordinary.

However, the decoration between the figures was bizarre, to my mind, as it looked as though the stone had melted, and dripped down the wall.

The pictures doesn't actually convey the impression it gave me, but quite honestly, I think it is one of the ugliest buildings I have ever seen, and no amount of people saying, "Oh, but it means this or that" will make me change my mind. Yuk!!  So we got back on the coach and drove back to the boat, for our usual evening's entertainment.

Day 7, Barcelona

This was our first view of the famous "Gaudi" designed cathedral, "La Sagrada Familia"or "The Holy Family". It was begun in 1882, and is still unfinished. As usual we were taken on a tour round the city to get an idea of the place, before driving back into Barcelona itself. From "Montjuic"hill, originally a Jewish area, we could see right across the city - it was the main site for the 1992 Olympics, although little is left now. It is a rather pretty park, with  a chair lift down to the post. Apparently there is a museum there, with 12th and 13th century frescos on display, but needless to say... no museum for us.

We then drove on to "Pueblo Espanol on Montjuic", a mock spanish village,  representing architectural styles from all over Spain - this was fascinating, and we spent a decent amount of time there. It is built like a proper town, but there is nothing behind the facades, although on the ground level there were an amazing sellection of boutique type shops. We walked as far as we could through the village, but the steps up to the side of the church defeated us, and we walked slowly through the lower and flatter levels, along with several other people, I was relieved to see! The church, below, is decorated with amazing tiles - I could not get a decent picture, unfortunately.

The colours of the buildings were really interesting, with a lot of different stones and colours, and patterns.



Eventually we drove on, having relieved some of the shops of some of their goods - we can shop for England! There was hand blown (I always think that should be "mouth blown!) ceramics, and an art shop where I bought a print of a charming sketch of a cat. More about the city in my next blog.

DAy 6, ashore at last! Palma, Mallorca (picture heavy)

We arrived a little before lunch, in Palma, Mallorca. We had signed up to take a coach tour round Palma, guided by a local man, with an excellent command of English. (We later found out he had lived not far from our home in London, and worked in the same area as my husband - small world, as ever.)

The weather was glorious, warm and sunny, as we were driven to the highest point of the island, where there was a much restored castle. It had been knocked about a lot during various wars and skirmishes, but the local council had obviously spent a lot of time and money restoring it to its original state.

We continued round the island, and ended up close to the cathedral and palace. Originally the cathedral was built right on the water's edge, but new road and public works mean that it is no longer that close, so a small lake, which you can see in the picture, was dug to give the impression of being next to the sea. It is very high up, and we decided against climbing up that far, given the limited time we had there.

The Royal Palace is very close to the front of the cathedral, and on the same level. It is used by the Spanish Royal family as an official residence in the summer. There is a big Moorish influence on the architecture, which you can see from the arches.

This gives a good idea of how close the two buildings are, and a better view of the lake. There were flowers and shrubs everywhere - easy to see why it is a very popular holiday place.

A bright bottle brush tree, or similar. I mean to go back to my plants books and check it out - I have a closeup of the "flowers."

Finally we were taken to the inevitable shop, where we saw pearls being made by hand. They have a very good reputation, and there were displays of very expensive jewellery throughout! However, there were some more affordable ones as well, and needless to say we parted with some money, quite happily!

Back on the coach, we returned to the boat, and had a rest before a casually dressed dinner, and a drink in the cocktail/piano bar before bed. We left Palma at about 9.30 that evening, heading for our next port of call.

Days 3,4 and 5 sea days

The weather gradully became rougher, and one felt a bit like the drunken sailor, staggering along corridors and across dining rooms. My sea bands worked very well, however and I didn't feel even queasy.

During this time, Keith went and had a massage with the same strong young lady I had, although he didn't have the facial - she gave him a longer massage. He felt better for it, but it soon wears off, unfortunately. We also attended a destination talk, but the speaker was a disappointment, and we felt sadly let down, as we knew no more at the end than we had at the beginning! There were plenty of things to do, actually, like bingo, line dancing and tap dancing classes, jewellery, napkin folding, but none of them really inspired either of us. We were enjoying being busy doing nothing.

Our Captain gave us regular updates on the weather, as he was monitoring it very carefully, and had bad news, regarding Lisbon, our first port of call. There is, apparently, a sand bar across the entrance to the port, and the Captain was not prepared to risk his pretty ship, and of course the passengers, by trying to cross it in bad weather. This meant that instead of visiting Lisbon, we had an extra sea day, sadly. We had brought a lot of books to read, and I  had my sewing, but found the extra day doing little just a bit wearing, although Keith went to the shows most evenings, and I had my usual "feet up" rest after my strenuous day!