A visit to Lucca and Pisa

On December 8, 2025January 3, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn Vacation3 Comments

It was nice to visit another quiet town while we were in Tuscany. We spent a morning in Lucca. We got there fairly early and the streets were quiet. We could walk down the street without bumping into people and look into the windows of the shops.

We stopped for a while in the Piazza della Cittadella. Giacomo Piccini, the opera composer (notable works include La Boheme and Madame Butterfly), was born in a home in the far right corner. There’s a statue of him on the other side of the piazza.

Our 8th church to see was the San Michele in Foro.

Built in the 8th century and renovated in 1070. St. Davino Armeno is buried under the cross from the 11th century.

The Torre Guinigi (the red tower in the back) was built in the 14th century and is famous for the trees that grow on top. Since we were having a big dinner that night Brett and I opted for a quick snack for lunch and spend the free time wandering the streets instead of sitting in a restaurant. We stopped in a local market to get some fruit and they had a case with home made pasta salads and those great arancini rice balls so we got that instead and ate on a bench while watching the locals go about their day.

We spent the afternoon in Pisa. We entered through the Lion’s Gate wall, built in the 12th century.

The Battistero di San Giovanni is the largest baptistery in Italy and was completed in 1363. There is a statue of St. John the Baptist in the center. There was a lot of scaffolding around the sides so I didn’t take a lot of pictures in here. Since it’s built on the same land as the Tower it also leans but only slightly.

Our 9th church to visit was the Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary, completed in 1092. We spent quite a bit of time in here looking at all of the details. It was jaw dropping. There were several alters besides the main one and each one was amazing. The ceiling in front of the main alter (last shot) had stairs up high that led to a secret door. St. Rainerius is buried here (in the glass coffin in the 2nd to last shot) in 1689. Also buried here is Pope Gregory VIII and Holy Emperor Henry VII in 1315.

An obligatory shot of the Leaning Tower.

Caper plants were growing wild all along the outer wall.

We passed by the village of Collodi, birthplace of the author of Pinocchio on the way to dinner.

We had a cooking class and dinner at a Tuscan winery and farm in Montecarlo, near Lucca. After learning to make ragu and pasta, we toured the vineyard and then had a wonderful long dinner with many courses and wine.

Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) at Image-In-Ing.

Reflections

On December 6, 2025January 3, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

At the end of August I went to Honeymoon Island to look for a fairly rare bird. A Wilson’s Phalarope had been sighted there two days before. There have been sightings of them a few times before in the area and I keep missing them. Their range is west of Mississippi but occasionally one ends up here for a short time. The above are not it, although they are the same shape and size. These are dowitchers and are common here. They were posing nicely for me in a puddle in the parking lot.

Roseate spoonbills were napping in another pond near the bushes and created a pretty reflection.

Another bird that looks like the one I was hoping for but also not it is the lesser yellowlegs. He was feeding along the sand and also created a nice reflection.

There were several kildeer nearby.

After waiting about an hour with several other people looking for the rare bird I took a walk down the beach to get some exercise in.

It was a hot day and soon the beach would be filled with people.

I did not get the rare bird and it wasn’t seen again so it stays on my list of “birds I still haven’t gotten”. I stopped by the nature center before leaving the park and stood out on the elevated deck enjoying the slight breeze up high.

A day in Cinque Terre

On December 3, 2025November 18, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Vacation8 Comments

This was the day I was waiting for. We were up early and on our way to Cinque Terre (meaning “five lands”), in northwest Italy. It’s part of the Italian Riviera, just south of Genoa and is included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. We were going to visit 3 of the 5 villages that dot the coastline. Above are some villages we passed on the bus ride over from our hotel in Monticatini Terme.

We drove through La Spezia on our way and from the hillside as we were entering Cinque Terre you could see the port.

The first village we visited was Manarola, considered the oldest of the 5 villages. The primary industry here is wine-making and the vineyards are on hillsides. The tour bus dropped us off at the top of the hill and we walked down towards the water. We stopped about halfway and I noticed the guy sitting on the balcony on the top left in the above picture. What an amazing view!

We took our time going down and noticed all of the little details of this small town. I could see the ferry coming into port.

Our 5th church was the Chiesa de San Lorenzo which was completed in 1338.

The water comes down from the mountain and runs under the street here. We could here it running at certain spots.

As soon as we got down to the water we all ran over to the other side to admire the village and take pictures (we were all typical tourist).

The town was very festive but was a little crowded this morning.

One last look as we took the ferry to the next village.

We arrived at Vernazza on the water and this was our first view. After having yummy gelato we headed over to the church (the 6th one we visited) on the far left in the above picture.

The Chiesa di Santa Margherita di Antiochia was built in 1318 and was fairly simple but the view from the windows was amazing.

One last look at Vernazza as we left on the ferry to head to our last village.

Monterosso was our last village to visit and the largest of the 5. It’s also the flattest and was easy to get around. We had the afternoon here and got some pizza for a late lunch and tried the farinata di ceci (chickpea pancakes) that were amazing.

The streets were colorful and many of the buildings had stripes.

The 7th church we went into was the Confraternita dei Neri Mortis et Orationis and was built in the 17th century.

The views here were amazing and from the far end of the beach you could see the other villages across the water.

We did not have to walk back up the mountain to get back to our bus. We took the train out of Monterosso and our bus picked us up and drove us back up and around the mountain to get back to our hotel later that day. The above is the view of La Spezia from the bus as we left.

Dolphins and a manatee in the calm water

On December 1, 2025January 3, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights1 Comment

It was a calm morning on the water in late July. Not a hint of wind as I walked at the Safety Harbor waterfront.

Far out in the bay I could see dolphins cruising by.

I stopped at the Oldsmar pier before heading home and noticed that they had opened the pier almost to the end. It was still closed about a third of the way from the end and I could see the damage from last fall’s hurricanes. The end was missing and a great blue heron was enjoying the railing all to himself. It’s taking a long time to fix damaged piers and docks and some are just now getting fixed.

A few days later I was walking on the Dunedin causeway and watching the summer clouds roll in. I was hoping for some rain but that wouldn’t happen until the end of the day.

An osprey sits on top of the drawbridge arm. He has a great view up there.

The next morning I had a quick walk at the Dunedin marina. I could see a snout of a manatee coming up for air (in the 2nd shot). I waited a while hoping he would come closer but he was heading out into the open water.