Trips

Sun., 7/19/15 – Florence to Pisa to Santa Margherita
            We left Florence this morning at 9 AM and arrived in Pisa by 10:30.  We rode one of the sightseeing choo-choo wagons from the bus parking area to the Miracle Square where the Cathedral, Baptistery, and Leaning Bell Tower are located.  It was hot and crowded, with very little shade.  The museum was closed so we went back to the new area and sat through several videos about the building and restoration and fixing of the lean of the tower.
            The construction of the tower began in 1173 and when only four of the seven stories were completed, it began to sink and lean because of the unstable ground underneath.  When the top section of bells was erected, they angled it some to lessen the slant for the bells.  The tower tilts at a 5° angle with the top edge four meters outside the base.  The tower is still sinking and is 4 meters below the ground level. 
            We walked to a bar (which means cafe in Italy) and bought gelato to have for lunch.  It was too hot to want anything else.

 

Leaning Tower of Pisa	Top section set at an angle to appear straight
Baptistry	Cathedral and Leaning Tower
Tower detail	We rode the choo-choo back to the bus and drove on to Santa Margherita Ligure.  On the way, we passed through Carrara and saw from the bus the mountain of marble and piles of cut marble blocks.
The white in the mountains is the Carrara Marble	Carrara Marble
We checked into our boutique hotel.  We are on the fourth floor (room 410 is 5 flights up) in a large, but strangely configured room.  We have a two-sided balcony, two beds and a couch but no place to hang towels or anything in the bathroom and of course there is only one luggage rack.  It is a quaint hotel but not a practical room.             At 5:30 we took a little walk around the area and found the Coop, ATMs, restaurants, bakeries, etc. with our whole group.  We walked down to the sea at the beach I swam in in 2011.  We watched men getting ready to play water polo in the sea off of the pier.             We had an included dinner at Da Michele.  It was very hot in the restaurant.  We had salad, pasta with pesto, sea brim, and pineapple cake dessert.  We withdrew money at an ATM on the way back to our air-conditioned room.
Santa Margherita Ligure - getting ready for water polo	Santa Margherita Ligure
Santa Margherita Ligure	Santa Margherita Ligure
Santa Margherita Ligure	Santa Margherita Ligure
Mon., 7/20/15 – Santa Margherita and Portofino             This morning we could sleep late.  Breakfast did not start until 7:30 and we did not meet until 9:45.  We took the 10:15 ferry to Portofino with Valentina. The ferry ride lasted only 20 minutes and was very picturesque with colorful villas and houses on the hilly land and the sea is full of very large ultra-expensive yachts.  Some have hot tubs or helicopter pads.  They all have many crew members and young women in bikinis.                      Portofino was originally a small fishing village with a secure natural harbor.  Then it was a Roman fortified town and later a castle was built on the hill looking down on the small town.  Marge and I walked up the hillside to the Church of San Giorgio and the overview of the town and harbor.  It is very quaint and scenic.             Marge took many pictures including one of the purple mercats at the botanical garden, which was closed.  We walked a little along the street looking at the very expensive jewelry, clothing, and leather shops and then took the 12:00 noon ferry back to Santa Margherita.
Portofino	Portofino
Portofino - Church of San Giorgio	Portofino - Church of San Giorgio
Portofino - Church of San Giorgio - door	Portofino - Church of San Giorgio - cemetery
Portofino	Portofino - purple mercats at the botanical garden
Portofino - Interesting statue	Portofino
Portofino	After a rest, I got Marge to go with me to the public beach so I could go for a swim.  The beach is all small pebbles and I had to wear my Teva’s into the water.  The water was clear and a perfect temperature and I floated, swam, and bobbed around for a half an hour.  It was not crowded and the scenery of boats and hillside houses was very pleasant.  Marge read on a bench in the shade – no beer available.  I rinsed off at the outdoor shower at the beach and then we walked until I was semi-dry.  On the way back (2 blocks) we stopped for a yummy gelato (dark chocolate and coffee ice cream), wandered through the markets and up through some of town and stopped in the Coop supermarket for bananas.  (They had no cold beer.)
Santa Margherita Ligure - Gale wading into the water	Santa Margherita Ligure - Gale floating
At 6 PM we went down to our hotel dining room for a cooking lesson by Valentina.  She showed us how to make nine aperitivo snacks (like hors d’oeuvres) and a spritz drink.  It took her 3 ½ hours with several of us helping to make enough for the 24 of us who attended. I took notes and pictures and helped organize some of the assembly lines.  I may try making some of the things at home.

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