Today we stopped in the port of Livorno, Italy. We had two plans for today, either go to Lucca, a small walled city about an hour away by train, or go into Pisa, which we have done three previous times while visiting Livorno. Unfortunately, we were both tired, and I have developed a little bit of a cold. I have no idea how that happened, we have been getting plenty of rest (not), have been in really warm and dry weather (not2), and have seldom been around any crowds on public transportation (not3). Other than having a really dry and sore throat in the mornings, it has not been that bad, just enough to be annoying.
This led us to Plan #3, sleep in late and not really do anything today. We both slept in and did not even hear the announcements that the ship was in port and cleared for disembarkation. By the time we got up around 9:00 AM, most people were already off of the ship doing their tours.
After showering and getting ready, I went to the International Cafe to get us some yogurts with granola, and a Cappuccino to easy my throat. Stephanie was still sleeping, so I headed back to the room and enjoyed my breakfast appetizer and coffee, while working on the blog posts.
Since this was Sunday, we had really wanted to go to Mass in either Lucca or Pisa, but the fatigue and sniffles was more than we wanted to deal with today, so here we were on Plan #3. When Stephanie finally got up and got ready, it was probably close to 11:45 A.M. by the time we got to the buffet for food, and of course, lunch was being served. It was really nice, the buffet was just about empty, there were not that many people still on the ship since this is a really popular port stop. Livorno is the gateway to Pisa, Florence, and other towns in Tuscany, probably the most visited area in Italy. Although there were not many people in the buffet, we were actually surprised with the number of people still on the ship.
After lunch, we decided to get ready and go ashore and take the shuttle bus into the town of Livorno. We had never actually visited the town, it had always been just a taxi ride to access the rail station for travels to other places nearby. There is nothing really notable about Livorno itself.
The shuttle was Euro 5.00 per person, and ran every 15 minutes. We purchased our tickets and boarded the bus. The port of Livorno is NOT walkable by any means, it takes almost 10 minutes by car just to maneuver around the port facilities. The town center is not that far away, but it is an extremely winding road to get through all of the old port facilities and cross over many small canals where small boats are moored.
Once at the city center, we walked along several blocks os small storefronts, many closed for Sunday, but a few were open. We saw where the public buses stopped to pick up passengers, and looked over the routes. We had read that it was pretty easy to get to the airport from the city center to get a rental car for touring, and after going there, it was easily comprehended. We had thought this could be an alternative to taking a taxi from the ship to the airport, especially just for the two of us. If were were able to split the cab fare with one or two other couples, the taxi would be much more efficient from a time perspective, and cheaper. However, this could be something we try the next time we visit here, just to check it out, and to learn how easy or hard it actually is. A rental car may make it easier to get to some of the nearby cities than the train, which always connects through Pisa, and can be difficult to schedule getting to other locations.
We walked around the town, but many of the stores were closed since it is Sunday. We stopped in a Gelato bar and I have three scoops of chocolate and Stephanie had three scoops of Oreo, both served in a small bowl. It was really good, and soothing on my dry throat.
We spent less than an hour walking around, it was a little cool, and it was cloudy. It actually sprinkled a little as we neared the shuttle bus stop. We boarded the bus and rode back to the port. They had free, but really slow wifi at the port terminal, so we sat in the building trying to catch up on the info posted on Facebook from Hurricane Matthew.
We boarded the ship and went back up to our room. We decided to head to Vines wine bar and have a couple of glasses of wine before we headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. I worked on the blog posts and Stephanie read her book. We decided not to really go and do a lot for dinner, we were both too tired. We did change a little, but not that much. We had seen some good things on the dinner menu for the dining room, so we had already made the decision to eat there tonight. We headed over to the Bellini Bar to visit with Nemo, and have a couple of glasses of wine before dinner. Nemo was not there at first, he was on his break, but he showed up before we went to dinner in the dining room. We also met a nice older couple who live half the year in Canada, and the other half in Greece. We talked with them for a little while, and then they headed to dinner. It was about 8:00 P.M., so we headed to the dining room, and still had to wait on a table, even though the dining room was mostly empty.
The service was great, and the dinner was good, but not spectacular. It had not been worth the wait time to get into the empty dining room. We always struggle with the wait time to get inside and then see empty tables. We do not know if there are for reservations, and people are coming later, or if there are no shows. Each ship seems to handle the reservations differently, some make it really easy, while others seem to have more restrictions. In any event, we often hear the same comments about waiting and there being many empty tables when you finally get seated. Maybe it was a staffing schedule issue.
After dinner, we headed back to the Bellini’s Bar for a nightcap. We did not want to stay out late tonight, we have to get up early tomorrow so we can get off the ship as soon as possible to take a taxi to the rental car office in Toulon, France.