I have had lots of time to read about our ports of call and about Florence and Rome which we would visit before and after our cruise. Lots of time. If I had done my reading in advance. I would have known about the wonderful paintings by Domenico Ghirlandaio in the Santa Maria Novella church. Of course, I did not; so, now that I am home and reading about many of the buildings that we saw, I am discovering that I missed out on seeing wonderful treasures.
The line of people to go into the basilica or Duomo was always extremely long but there were no people rushing to visit the inside of either of the other two churches that we saw.
The reality was that two days is really not enough time for Florence. We did not have the extra two or three hours to wander in the Uffizi Gallery or to stand in the long line to purchase tickets at the Accademia Gallery.
The Professor had done an excellent job of scheduling travel and booking rooms but I definitely needed to do reading about what we would see so that I would have known that we definitely needed to make time to visit particular sights. Will I do the studying in advance that I need to do before we go some place else? Probably not. I am an ostriche with my head in the sand. Any challenge or change in my life is threatening and I avoid thinking about it as much as possible. My impossible attitude has definitely made me the loser this time.
I hope that you enjoy the pictures.
The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore is the cathedral of Florence, Italy. The Duomo, as it was ordinarily called, was begun in 1296 and completed in 1436. The exterior of the basilica is faced with marble panels in various shades of green and pink bordered by white.
The cathedral complex, located in Piazza del Duomo, includes the Baptistery and Giotto's Campanile. The basilica is one of Italy's largest churches, and until development of new structural materials in the modern era, the dome was the largest in the world. It remains the largest brick dome ever constructed. Today it still remains as one of the largest basilicas in the world. There are only about three cathedrals that are larger than it is.
Giotto's bell tower (campanile)
Baptistry of John the Baptist - dates from the 11th century, with three sets of amazing bronze doors.
Santa Maria Novella is a church in Florence, Italy, situated just across from the main railway station which shares its name. Chronologically, it is the first great basilica in Florence, and is the city's principal Dominican church. The church, the adjoining cloister, and chapterhouse contain a store of art treasures and funerary monuments.
The birth of Mary painted by Domenico Ghirlandaio.
The Church of San Lorenzo
When we first saw this ancient church in Florence we immediately thought of the Alamo. It is not impressive from the outside, but it's probably the oldest religious structure in Florence. They say it was probably founded before year 400 AD.
The Ponte Vecchio - The Old Bridge looks from the outside as if it were still crowded with the crammed blacksmith and butcher shops of the medieval period, but it's all glittery gold and tourist baubles today. Spared from bombing in WWII, it used to be built of wood but a rebuild in the 1300's made it mostly stone.
Piazza della Signoria and Palazzo Vecchio
Florence's most famous square is Piazza della Signoria, the heart of the historic center and a free open-air sculpture exhibit. The Loggia della Signoria holds some important statues including a copy of Michelangelo's David. The piazza has been Florence's political center since the middle ages and Florence's town hall, the medieval Palazzo Vecchio, sits on the piazza.
Crown of thorns
Copy of David. The original is in the Accademia Gallery.
Amazing pictures, as always. I never made it to Florence, and I'm very sad I didn't.
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