click on any image below to view large size slideshow and my tips & commentary

Pedestrian walkway and market over River Arno in Florence

Spectacular view of Florence’s Arno River drive. The Medici family was the most powerful back then. However no survivors left today due to inbreeding. Too bad they did not get to watch the American horror slasher flick Wrong Turn

Our extremely well read and knowledgeable tour operator Ferdinando from privatetourinitaly.com who provided all the great insights mentioned in here

Leaning Tower of Pisa. City of Pisa was big power back in the medieval times before Florence came to power and later became the capital (no longer) of Italy.

Basilica di Santa Croce

Tomb of Nicolai Machiavelli inside Basilica of Santa Croce {Money Saving Tip: It is FREE! And all major historic people of Italy you read about growing up are buried here. Must see}

Basilica di Santa Croce

Basilica of San Lorenzo in the centre of Florence

I wanna dance dance dance (in front of leaning tower of Pisa)

Tomb of Galileo inside Basilica of Santa Croce {Money Saving Tip: It is FREE! And all major historic people of Italy you read about growing up are buried here. Must see}

Dome of Basilica of San Lorenzo. It is largest dome with no scaffolding and third largest cathedral in the world

Dome of Basilica of San Lorenzo

Basilica di Santa Croce

Tuscany’s wine country hamlet

Front facade of Basilica of San Lorenzo

Tuscany’s wine country hamlet

Basilica of San Lorenzo

I wanna dance dance dance (in front of leaning tower of Pisa)

The Pisa tower involves three buildings. It was the biggest cathedral in world when built and was in fact leaning right from the beginning. The trinity buildings represent circle of life – baptist church = birth, main cathedral = present life, Pisa tower = ascension to heaven.

Basilica di Santa Croce

Tomb of Michelangelo inside Basilica of Santa Croce {Money Saving Tip: It is FREE! And all major historic people of Italy you read about growing up are buried here. Must see}

Basilica of San Lorenzo

I wanna dance dance dance (in front of leaning tower of Pisa)

Basilica of San Lorenzo. This wall is barren because the Church had rejected the wall mural proposed by artist Michelangelo! This was before he became known for his work in the Sistine Chapel. {Shopping Tip: Right around the corner from this Basilica is the famous San Lorenzo outdoor and leather goods market. Its a great place to go shopping for famous leather products of Italy without the price tag of designer wear. Do go check it out. And haggling is acceptable. Visit more than one shop}

Because I was in Florence and Pisa for only for 7 hours as part of port of call of the cruise ship, it was a rush job getting through so much. The port town of Livorno is located about 1 hour from Florence so that gives you only about 6 hours of time for tours after taking off commute time. I would not recommend doing a rush tour of Pisa and Florence all by yourself. I used the service of privatetourinitaly.com for all three port of call shore excursions in Italy during the cruise. I highly recommend their service.

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