Saturday in Livorno, Italy

Our last port visit was scheduled for Saturday, in Livorno, Italy. We had planned to take a shore excursion through the cruise line to Florence, but it was scheduled to last 9.5 hours, and we decided a few days ago that we'd prefer a more relaxing day.

The port was busy - a few different passenger ships -- Moby was interesting as they had Warner Brothers cartoon characters decorating the outside of their ships (there were two in the port). https://www.mobylines.com/

It seemed to be a more industrial port than others where we've stopped.

Carl captured me stepping off onto Italian land...

So... the way that this cruise came about is rather a tangled tale. We discussed, back in 2020 when we got married, that we wanted to be able to do some international traveling. We also have heard from many seniors to do the traveling you want to do sooner rather than waiting because later you may not be able to... 

But, COVID hit and we weren't able to travel for a couple of years.

Last November, we traveled to Dominican Republic. Carl suggested that we try to do two "trips" a year, so we started looking for a trip for the spring of 2023. 

Way, WAY back when I was in 8-10th grade, my Latin teacher would take some students from the school on a trip to Europe in the summer. During the school year, we would study about what they would be visiting on their trips. During the three years, the groups went to Italy one year, Greece another, and London another. The trips were a cost that we couldn't afford, but a dream to go to those places was born for me.

When I worked for IBM, I was sent to teach in London at one point. On the day that Dwayne and I arrived in London, sleep-deprived and jet-lagged, we dropped our luggage at our hotel and immediately went to the British Museum to see the Elgin Marbles -- which I had learned about in high school -- so one of those dreams was realized.

I've always wanted to go to Italy, it just has never worked out.

So, Carl and I started planning a trip to Italy -- I actually was considering it instead of going to Dominican Republic, but decided that spring would be a better time to visit. I was planning a train trip, starting with 3-4 days in Rome, then going to Florence for a few days before ending in Venice. I started looking to see if there were any interesting cruises, and found that transatlantic cruises were pretty cheap - so we decided to do that, still thinking that we would do the train journey. Then I looked into one-way airfares for us to return from Europe - yikes! they were 4 times the round trip fare (~$800 roundtrip, $3200 one way). We could get airfare through the cruise line for $750 for both of us (two tickets for $750) -- great! The only catch: you have to fly back within 2 days of the cruise end.

Oh well, we'd enjoy the cruise, and we'd enjoy as much as we could in Rome on the two days after the cruise!

So... that's why there's a picture of me stepping onto Italian land -- to document the beginning of the dream being realized -- though Livorno is not really a town in Italy I would have identified as wanting to go to.

We are welcomed to Livorno.

It was a LONG way from the cruise port into town through all sorts of industrial areas. Walking it was not allowed, so we took the cruise bus from the ship into town.

We didn't have a list of things we wanted to do... so we just started walking...

We saw the Cattedrale di San Francesco (1595) - but we didn't find a door unlocked to allow us to go inside.

We found interesting streets to walk down...

... and an outdoor farmers market.

Lots of people shopping.

There were also folks selling other things -- Carl could have gotten a cap had we not found his in Cannes! (Story of the lost-and-found hat can be found here: https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2023/04/if-its-friday-this-must-be-france.html)

There was also a large inside market...

... octopus...

... squid.

There were shops selling fresh pasta.

We took a picture of a French Bulldog for Carl's son Steve and wife Shay (who have one). We tried to take a picture of a French Bulldog in France, but were not quick enough to get a picture of either of the two we saw.

Outside the market, we found a canal.

Outside of the market.

Some of the apartments along the canal

When we were outside the market, looking at our map and a nice Italian man offered to help us. He suggested that we get to the Piazza della Repubblica.

From https://www.visittuscany.com/en/attractions/piazza-della-repubblica-livorno/:

Piazza della Repubblica, 190,000 square metres in size, is one of the largest piazzas in Livorno. It was built in the early 19th century based on a project by the architect Luigi Bettarini. In Antiquity, chariots would pass through this area, which is attested to by the pillars, used by owners to tie up their horses. Today, the piazza is a gathering place and hosts many local events.

On both sides of the piazza, one opposite the other, there are two statues that were placed here in the 19th century and which depict the Grand Dukes Ferdinand III and Leopold II, made by Francesco Pozzi and Emilio Santarelli, respectively. The Cisternino is also located in the piazza, a Neoclassical building erected in the early 19th century of providing water to the city.

One of the two statues...

... and the other one! (I don't know which is which...)

We stopped in a church...

We didn't take any pictures inside, but this information was on a sign outside.

Street cafes along a pedestrian walkway just down from the church...

... we thought this was a funny sign!

We decided to head back to the ship, so we made our way to the cruise bus stop - we saw a bus just pulling out, so had about 20 minutes to wait for another one. While we were waiting, we talked with another couple who were also there waiting for a cruise bus to their ship -- Holland America Oosterdam -- we had considered taking that transatlantic cruise (it left from Fort Lauderdale) but the Norwegian schedule worked better for us.

"Home" as we returned to the ship for the last time.

Our cruise will end on Sunday morning when we disembark in Civitavecchia (Rome). :-(