ONWARD and Upward.. our Azamazing "Italy Intensive" Week - April 22 to April 29, 2023. Full Trip Report With Tons of Pix.

[Sleep7]

☀️Good morning Portovenere!  We have been here before on a previous Azamara cruise.. not a ton to do but enough to spend a few hours pleasantly.  The water was still rough so I think all of the Cinque Terre excursions were cancelled again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sleep7]

First a stroll along the seaside and then a hike up to the church..

 

 

 

 

 

 

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😳Then a very slippery visit to Byron's Grotto..  be careful if you go!  Yikes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Finally a nice stroll back to the marina through town.

 

 

 

 

And a stop at Conad supermarket to pick up a few of these one euro reusable bags. I had bought them on a previous trip to Italy and love them! Very sturdy and just the right size.

 

[Sleep7]

Back to the ship!🛳️

 

 

[Sleep7]

5:00 and it was party time again.🥳

 

 

 

Met up with our old pal Tony Markey who was the cruise director on our first Azamara cruise way back in 2010.  He is now the Hotel Director of the Onward.

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHEERS! 🍾🍷

 

 

 

A warm hello from Captain Sanguineti.

 

Edited May 1, 2023 by Sleep7

[Sleep7]

Besides Discoveries our dinner choices tonight were the Italian buffet in Windows or the Patio menu.

 

 

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Finished dinner on a very Italian colored note..

 

[Sleep7]

WEDNESDAY - APRIL 25

 

 

 

 

 

[Sleep7]

BIG day today!  An 8 hour "Florence on your own" ship's tour and then the Azamazing evening tonight.

🌅Good morning Livorno..

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sleep7]

Met in the lounge at 8am and boarded our bus to Florence soon after.  Make a 20 minute stop at a leather factory on the way.  Very pleasant.. no hard sell and plenty of bathrooms.

 

Actually did buy a little pink pouch for my pocketbook.

 

[Sleep7]

The bus dropped us off at around 10:30 along the river about a 10 minute walk from Piazza Santa Croce where we would be picked up at 3:40.  There were also bathrooms to use at the jewelry store which was our meeting point.

We have been to Florence many times before so we really had no specific agenda.  We just kind of wandered around.  The weather was sunny and perfect.☀️

 

 

 

 

 

[Sleep7]

Sam had just listened to a book about Leonardo Da Vinci so we decided to visit one of the two Leonardo Da Vinci museums.. both located a few blocks from the Duomo.  We chose the "interactive" one for no other reason that we came across it first.

Well worth the 8 euro per person entrance fee.  There was a lot to see!  And nice bathrooms!

 

 

 

 

[Sleep7]

Sam and Leo.

 

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More from the museum.  Great place to bring children too as there were loads of interactive activities.

 

 

 

 

A 500 year old Peloton machine!

 

 

The mockups were made from the drawings of his original notebooks.

 

 

 

 

[Sleep7]

After our museum visit it was just about lunch time so we walked through the markets over to the second floor of the Mercado and shared a pizza and an Aperol spritz for lunch.😊

 

 

 

[Sleep7]

Lovely weather and a lovely city.  What a day!

 

 

 

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We sought out the Petit Bateau store which is a fabulous place to buy a gift.  They have beautiful cotton clothing for babies and children as well as cotton basics for women.

 

[Sleep7]

More from Florence..

 

 

The face you make when the very nice lady who is taking your picture looks like she might get hit by a car.. 😳

 

 

Don't worry.. no photographers were harmed during the taking of this picture.😉

I took a ton of her family too.📷

[TERRIER1]

Morning. I love following your trips. They are very enjoyable and I thank you for taking the time to share. I notice that you fly in the day of departure. Have you ever had any problems with delays? I too leave from JFK.

[RedBlu]

I’m loving reading your trip report & seeing your fabulous photos. We did B2Bs on Onward last June & although there a few minor niggles it didn’t put us off booking another cruise for June 2023. Reading your report is making me excited about our trip & helping to take my mind off the catastrophe that is the new Azamara web site! Looking forward to reading the next instalment 🛳️😀

[Sleep7]

44 minutes ago, TERRIER1 said:

Morning. I love following your trips. They are very enjoyable and I thank you for taking the time to share. I notice that you fly in the day of departure. Have you ever had any problems with delays? I too leave from JFK.

👋Good morning TERRIER1!

Thank you so very much for following along and for your sweet compliments.😊

Yes.. we have always flown in the day that the cruise begins and fly home on the day the cruise ends.  In all these years (knock wood!) we have never had an issue with cancellations or delays or lost luggage so I feel very lucky about that.

Most of the flights we take are nonstop from JFK which does cut down on unexpected things happening so that is a comfort.  As a fellow New Yorker we are so lucky about the availability of flights to Europe.

Sam still works so there isn't too much wiggle time around adding extra days to either end of a cruise.  I wish there was but not at this moment.. someday though.😊

[Sleep7]

6 minutes ago, RedBlu said:

I’m loving reading your trip report & seeing your fabulous photos. We did B2Bs on Onward last June & although there a few minor niggles it didn’t put us off booking another cruise for June 2023. Reading your report is making me excited about our trip & helping to take my mind off the catastrophe that is the new Azamara web site! Looking forward to reading the next instalment 🛳️😀

👋Good morning RedBlu!

Aww.. thanks so much for your kind words.😍

Yes.. even though the website redo has been extremely frustrating for just about everyone.. once you get on board it all disappears.. only smiles.. no worries. 

So glad that my report is getting you excited for your cruise in June! Coming up so soon!!👏

[Sleep7]

At 3:40 we were all present and accounted for and met at the jewelry store in Piazza Santa Croce for our ride back to the ship. Being Jewish I noticed the Basilica has a Jewish star on the top.. very unusual.

I googled more about it.

"The Jewish architect Niccolo Matas from Ancona, designed the church's façade, working a prominent Star of David into the composition. Matas had wanted to be buried with his peers there but because he was Jewish, he was buried under the threshold and honored with an inscription."