Benvenuto a Livorno!

@ Port of Livorno, Italy

"Ciao e buongiorno a tutti.  Benvenuto a Livorno!" *

Hello and good morning everybody. Welcome to Livorno!

Livorno is one of the main cruise ship ports.  Situated in the region of Tuscany.  Not a major tourists destination but it is where the tourists from the cruise ships or the ferries visiting Tuscany pass through to other major tourist destinations like Florence and Pisa.  It makes Livorno one of Italy's great seaports.  There were many ships,  ferries and boats at the port.

Upon arriving our tour buses are already waiting.  We were greeted by Elena the tour guide and Paulo the driver.  The first half an hour of introduction, Elena mostly talked about herself of why she took the job and so on.  Lesson learnt.... People do not like to hear us talking about ourselves!  So, because of that, I did not get much information about Livorno through her.  What a waste! 

Rows of buses waiting for us.

We were driven straight to Pisa which is 45 minutes away from Livorno.  Since my group and I (known as The Yunos ) were seated behind, most of us especially the men had a good nap.

A short nap.

Pisa is the capital city of the Province of Pisa.  It was founded in the 13th century.  It is situated by the bank of River Arno and 10 kilometers away from the Ligurians Sea and 80 kilometers west of Florence.  Those days Pisa was actually by the sea and was a port but because of the silt deposited by the river and accumulated, Pisa is now away from the shoreline.  So that is when Livorno came into the picture. 

The atmosphere in Pisa is very different.  It reminds us of the Arabic and the Byzantine style.  It was inhabited by the Lingurians and the controlled by the Romans as naval base in 180BC.

Pisa is most famous with the leaning tower (the bell tower for the city's cathedral).  Built in 1173.  The tilt happened during construction because the ground was unstable composed only of clay,  fine sand and shells.  The constructions stopped when the it began to tilt after completion of the second floor.  It was left for 100 years because of war.  Then the construction continued to the seventh floor and realized the tower tilt again.  They stopped the construction again.  They only completed building in 1370 but the tower still sinking on one side.

Since the completion, many engineers and architects all over the world monitored and tried to correct it.  After so many attempts of different ways and at last in 2008 they announced that the tower had been stabilized enough that it had stopped moving since the construction began.  It is said that the Leaning Tower of Pisa will be stable for the next 200 years!   Come to think of it, Pisa is only the  bell tower for the church and yet it is more famous than the church. Who is the boss?  Hahahahahhahhaha.

We have to walk quite a distance to the leaning tower from the parking.  The road is so narrow with so many tourists. The weather is so hot and dry.  So, the minute we got off the bus, surprisingly many Banglas and Africans came running to us to sell umbrellas.  But being Malaysians, we are so used to the kind of weather so we just walk .... in the hot sun ... sweating like nobody's business and deep inside cursing myself for not buying the umbrella.  Hahahahhahha.  Actually I should have bought it as a souvenir.  As we walked, we passed by many houses and buildings.  One that attracted me most was a house with Jasmine plants.  The plants acted as the fence to the house.  I love the smell of Jasmine very much.

Smell of beautiful Jasmine.

Before reaching the tower, you will pass through rows of stalls selling gifts and guess who is selling?  The Malay speaking Banglas .... hahhahahha.  It seems like they are all over!.  They are now the world travelers! 

Coconuts, which we use to extract the milk for cooking are sold as titbits.  I remembered my Arwah Mak scolded us when we grabbed a bite of the leftovers little portions of coconut.  She said we will have worms in our tummy.  I grew with full of imaginations. When I was a little girl, I love imagining things and sometimes it was scary.  Once I ate water melon and swallowed the seeds.  That night I was unable to sleep because I imagined that the plant will grow in me and out through my ear!  So, worms in my tummy! No way!  So because of that, no coconut for me.  But actually it looked very inviting and tempting to see how it was displayed here but Mak's words kept me away!  But Italian Gelato is a must for me ..... all sorts of flavour.... banana, nuts, mint, mango, coffee and many more!  I'm in heaven!!!!!

Coconuts anybody?  

Gelato of different flavours.

After visiting Pisa, we were driven to Florence. The famous statue David by Michelangelo is here in the museum. We skipped the visit because, there was a very long line to enter and we have too little time.  But some did ... not The Yunos. Elena took us on another long walk to the Piazza del Duomo or the Cathedral Square which is situated in the center of the historic Florence.  It  took 140 years to complete the Cathedral  with many architects who took turns after the death of the earlier ones. Humungous!

 There were so many tourists around and we were all very tired. The heat already took it's toll.  Tired, hungry and thirsty!  We found a nearby cafe with access to the internet. Again a Bangla served us.... We had Magarita Pizza and lots of drinks and enjoyed the free wi-fi. 

   

   

Resting while enjoying his pipe.

We ended our tour of the day in Florence by walking to the bus through the train station, Stazione Santa Maria Novella. It is a national and international train station in Florence, Italy.  It is one of the busiest station in Italy. 

The train station.

I kept thinking about Pisa and the Cathedral of how a long lasting building need to be completed not in a year or two but hundreds of years and many architects and engineers involved.  They are not only building structures but history as well.  We call it built to last.  

Another human structure which was built to last is Masjidil Haram in Makkah which started with the building of Kaabah by Prophet Ibrahim a.s  and his son Prophet Ismail a.s.  As he was building, Prophet Ibrahim made dua so Makkah will grow and prosper.  His dua was granted by Allah SWT.  Renovations are still going on until today.  MasyaAllah!  

@ Kaabah in Makatul Mukarramah

After visiting Pisa, it reminded me of our very  own leaning tower in Teluk Intan, Perak.  It stands 25.5meter tall and was built in 1885.  It tilt after four years of construction due to an underwater stream.  Originally it was used as a water tower supplying the area of the town. It is also as a beacon to guide ships into Teluk Intan Port.  It has a clock on top which rings every 15 minutes. 

@ The leaning tower of Teluk Intan, Malaysia

It was a very tiring day for us.  The basking under the warm Mediterranean summer can easily change a person's mood! After the long walking, suddenly you tend to lose your smile.  But things changed as we headed back to the ship.  From afar, we can see that the crew were waiting for us with ice cold drink and a refreshing cold towel and not forgetting the big smile on their faces.  It was a  very warm welcome indeed.  Phew..... 

Refreshing cold towel.

As we entered the ship, all our bags were scanned and x rayed.  No food,  fruits or alcohol from outside are allowed even if the fruit that you had in the bag was taken from your breakfast table. Very strict indeed!  I felt safe.  Now, we all are looking forward for the sun set and dinner!

Security

"Addio Livorno e arrivederci a presto Chivittavachia!"*

Goodbye Livorno and see you in Chivittavachia soon

*.....pssssst I used the translator from my iPhone5.  Everything is made easy for us now.... hehhehehheh

Ahoy ! Port of Toulon, France......

Updates on the cruise shown on screen in our stateroom.

"Bonjour tout le monde!"

Well..... a little French to start the day. It means.... Good morning everybody...... if I am not mistaken ! Hahahaha...  A very early start today.  So excited and so looking forward.  Anyway, I was so happy because I survived the first night at sea.  No sea sick in fact I slept like a baby but in my mother's tounge we say "tidur macam pengantin" (slept  like a newlywed ).... ehemmmmmm!

After a heavy breakfast with fruits, cereal, bread, hard boil eggs, slices of smoked salmon and ended with a cup of coffee, we were all ready to conquer Toulon!  Our first port of call.  This is the one and only port in France that this cruise is docking!

Port of Toulon, France

A busy port
 MV Norwegian Epic from our cruise MV Norwegian Spirit.

Upon reaching the port we were greeted by the many dull grey colors ships of the French Navy compared to our colorful cruise ship. Toulon is the principal port for the France Navy and home for their aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle and her battle group plus nuclear attack submarines..... in total more than 60% of the tonnage of the French Navy are here in Toulon.  Well, that explained everything!

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repair works??

French Naval Base in Toulon.

Toulon is situated in the Southeast tip of France and a large military harbour on the Mediterranean coast. Besides being the centre for naval, this city is important for fishing, wine making and manufacturing of aeronautical equiptments, maps, papers, tobacco, printing, shoes and electronic equipment. As we left the port, we past a multi-purposed stadium in Toulon known as Stade Mayol. It is home of RC Toulonnias, Toulon rugby team.

Stade Mayol

Most of the buildings in Toulon are new. What happened to the old ones? Well, most of the old buildings were destroyed in the World War ll with the bombings by the Allied Force when Germans occupied the south of France and planned to take over the French Naval base. Then French knew of the plan and  in order to avoid being captured, the French Fleet scuttled itself resulting the Germans  failed to capture the French fleet. The year was 1942.  Well a little bit of history is good!  Many died.  As many as 500 people and Toulon was devastated. Old buildings mostly are gone. What is left is preserve as memories of the past. War claims everything..... so sad!

@ The scuttling of the French ships.

New buildings in Toulon.

Preserving the old building  even if it is a small portion
 of what is left..

New buildings in Toulon.

We boarded the tour bus and with full of difficulties in pronouncing English words, the tour guide explained of the town that we are going to visit, Aix En Provence.  Aix was found by the Roman Consul Sextius Calvinus  in 123 BC.

The French tourist guide.

Aix is a university town. It is an educational center with many teaching and research institutes. It has several training college and a college of art and design. Besides that Aix holds hold two significant events yearly. It has several museums and art galleries like Museum of old Aix and Le Musee Granet which devoted to painting, sculpture and acheology of Aix.  Here and there you will see cathedrals which comes with their own history.

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@ Aix Cathedral

One of the exposition in Aix.

What drew the Romans to Aix  was the thermal springs containing lime and carbonic acid and they built the Roman Baths and Spa.  The rich Romans built their houses in Aix to enjoy the weather and the scenery of the famous Mount St Victory which extends to 18kilometers long. The mountain is most celebrated because of it appearance in most of  Paul Cezanne's paintings who lived and died in Aix. 

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@ Paul Cezanne and two of his famous paintings of Mount St Victoria.

 The Romans houses still stands, preserved and mostly used as hotels and shops that sells branded items.  We have to move around Aix by foot because the streets are so narrow for vehicles to pass through and furthermore it is made with cobblestone.... a nightmare for the cars!

The cobblestone street.

 It's location in south of France, by the river bank gives  it a warm climate.... a Mediterranean climate, not only attract the super power to concur Aix, but even produced many nobles like artists, musicians, architects, botanist, poets, and even attracted foreigners to be part of Aix.  Amazing to know how  surroundings played important part in producing such nobles.   Same goes to Pak Hamka, the famous novelist, a poet, a philosopher, a politician and an Ulama  from West Sumatera.  I visited his house which is now a museum overlooking the Lake Meninjau. With the paddy fields, chirping of the birds, the cool air and picturesque views. Ya Allah..... I can feel the peacefulness and calmness!  It must be those criteria that made him what he was.  Al Fatihah to Allahyarham Pak Hamka.  I was wondering what would I have been should I be born in such an environment.....emmmmmm just wondering but I love my country with all my heart.  Malaysia tanah tumpah darahku.....

@ Allahyarham Buya Hamka

@ Lake Meninjau

@ The house Hamka was born and raised and now a museum.

Walking around this beautiful small town with the summer heat is no joke....... tired, perspired but you see more.  Aix is known as the city of thousand fountains.  Among the many is a 17th century Fountain of the Four Dolphins which was designed by Jean-Claude Rambot.

Fountain of the Four Dolphins.

Resting at one of the thousands fountains in Aix.

As we were walking, we passed through an open air market place with lots of fruits, cheese,  fragrance sachets, beauty items, vegetables, decorations and so on - products of the locals.  I love the fruits especially the cherries and the berries most..... 

At the open air market.

In Aix, there were many beautiful Romans houses with big compounds and a beautiful gardens, scenery with rows and rows of trees, lots  more  fountains and many sidewalk cafes!  Well, time to get our feet to rest. We searched for cafes that have free wi-fi so we can connect to our love ones back home.  Everybody started loading photos and informing families about the feelings, experiences, expectations and hopes through different ways like Tango, Face time, Viber, WhatsApp, WeChat, LINE and just name it...we have it all!  As for me, my iPhone 5*** refused to get connected.  So I just sit at the cafe and imagining how the Romans built this town  and enjoyed their life to the fullest with the beautiful weather and the view of the majestic and famous mountain and not forgetting the Roman Baths. What a life it must have been! 

A house with big compound and garden
       

The roadside cafes and restaurants.

The main road with rows of  plane trees and cafe. It reminded me
of  our Taiping. The Roman houses are situated here. 

Do not get lost......where to? Mind your language!

See all of you in my next excursion in Port of Livorno (Italy). 

"Au revoir et merci"  (goodbye and thank you)...

hehehhehehe


***My iPhone 5.... the problem was my new housing casing covering the antenna which is all around the phone, making it not sensitive to connect!  That was what my son told me.  I laughed at myself!  Beautiful housing casing, but not practical ..... hahahhahahha.  So my friends, if you cannot get connected, do not change your phones but take off the housing!  I learnt my lesson well!  Thanks to my son Haji Azman.

@ whenever you see this sign @, it means I copied from google. Thanks Google!