Day 15 - Saturday, 11/23/24 - Livorno - Day 1
Livorno is the port that ship passengers typically use to travel to Florence or Pisa. And we've done that before. So this time we joined two other couples (the Kemps and the Kleins) and did something different, really different. It was so different that it truly amazed me and I'm super glad we did it. Today's account is of that journey.
I should start out by sharing that we couldn't get to sleep until after midnight as our stateroom smoke alarm kept beeping indicating a low battery. A call to Guest Services brought a repairman to change the battery.
After breakfast we met up with our group on deck 4 in the Atrium and exited the ship. It was a short walk the length of the ship to the small terminal which had a number of vendor booths but many were not staffed. After a short wait, we met our guide for the day, Rosella, and we followed her to her very nice diesel Mercedes van which unbelievably has 400,000 km's on it (240,000 miles). She briefed us on the day's activities which included a drive north, a short detour along the coast through a little town noted for yacht building (Viareggio), and up to a small town called Pietrasanta where we had a morning coffee or chocolate before walking around the little village. The cathedral was all done in marble as that's the local building material and was quite nice. We strolled down a local shopping street noting that Christmas decorations were starting to be put out. Given that it was a Saturday, many people were out shopping in the brisk fall air. I'm really glad I purchased a fleece in Ponto Delgada. Angela was able to find some Lidocaine patches for her slowly healing injured leg.
From Pietrasanta we headed up to Carrara for a nice lunch at Restaurante Venanzio where the specialty item is lard. Angela and I ordered the mixed antipasta dish featuring lard items and they were very good plus we sampled others menu items and they sampled ours. After lunch we headed for what turned out to be the highlight of the day for me.
At this point we are in the mountains that overlook Livorno. Those mountains are famous for their marble quarries which are owned by the Italian government and leased out to concessionaires on long term leases. These quarries can be seen from many miles away and now we were in the midst of them. We boarded the back seat of a Land Rover Discovery with all but one person sitting on bench seats installed parallel to the direction of travel in the back of the Land Rover. Our driver, a German lady who married a local Italian, then proceeded to drive us up the side of the mountain on single lane, gravel, potholed, sharp & steep switchback road to the top of one of the mountains and into an actual quarry site. As it was Saturday, there were no workers so we had the site to ourselves. She then gave a detailed description of how the marble is mined using fairly low tech methods involving a core drill, essentially a large chain saw with diamond tooth blades, and lots of water. It was a fascinating discussion. And the views were terrific!
Here's our track up and down the mountain.
She then drove us back down the mountain at what seemed to be at too high of a rate of speed such that several of us were bouncing around hitting our heads on the ceiling. Our leader had to shout to her to slow down. Keep in mind that the grades were up to 45%, there were no guard rails and numerous sharp turns, one of which was a two point turn as it couldn't be turned without backing up and completing the turn. Rosella even commented that her (Rosella's) driving would be much milder! And those of us in the back seats had no view of what bumps or curves were about to happen. We were just like rag dolls being tossed to and fro with any movement of the vehicle whether it be left or right or up or down.
Back at the bottom we enjoyed some wine and transferred back to the Mercedes for the journey back to the ship. It was pretty dark by 5pm and we were at the ship around 6pm and scanned back on board.
Angela and I then ate dinner in the LIDO and were joined by Pam who had returned about the same time from her excursion. It had been a long day and we were a bit cold, so we skipped the evening movie and returned to our stateroom for hot showers. It was a really good day and I still marvel that the marble used in all of the famous statues and other uses in ancient times came from quarries on these mountains and were quarried by very primitive tools and transported long distances without the conveniences of modern transport methods.
Tomorrow we head south from Livorno (the ship is overnighting here) to do something entirely different. Stay tuned.
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