8d5n Italy Tours (final part)

Day 6 – 10th Nov.2011 Pisa
After breakfast we checked out and proceeded to Pisa, Miracoli Square, the location of the famous Leaning Tower, Cathedral and Baptistery.

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Cathedral + Baptistery + Leaning Tower

We spotted the statue of the legendary twin founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, as babies being suckled by a mother wolf.

Mother wolf suckled Romulus and Remus

There were a lot of souvenir stores near the square. We then continued our journey along the west coast highway to Milan. It was a very pleasant journey with scenic view of farms and hills dotted with residences on the slopes. The highway was built on a mountainous region but a comfortable gradient was always maintained by good engineering with countless bridges across ravines and tunnels going through ranges. It was nice feeling to look at vegetation in autumn manifesting various shades of green, yellow, orange, red and brown in the process of senescence.

Vegetation in Autumn + farm

A town on hill top

We arrived at Serravalle Designer Outlet park where one could find stores retailing A to Z brands of shoes, bags, sports wear, garments, etc. Surprisingly, most of the products were made in China, Vietnam, Indonesia, etc. After 4 hours of shopping we proceeded to Milan arriving for Chinese dinner at Imperial Restaurant. We checked in at our last hotel of the tour – Novotel Hotel near Malpensa Airport.

Day 7 – 11th Nov. 2011 Flew from Milan to Abu Dhabi
Not long after the plane took off from Milan one could have a good view of the Alps covered with snow.

The Alps viewed through the window

on transit for 6 hours at Abu Dhabi Airport.Day 8 – 12th Nov.2011 Flew from Abu Dhabi to KLIA and back to Ipoh by bus – home, sweet home.

8D5N Italy Tour (continued)

Day 4 – 8th Nov. 2011 Florence - Rome
After breakfast we checked out and proceeded to Rome which took 4 hours, and reached at lunch time. We had a simple lunch of plain spaghetti, pizza, salad and ice cream.

Plain spaghetti

In the rain we toured the Vatican City, St. Peter’s square + Basilica, Coliseum, Constantine’s Arch, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps and Fountain.

St. Peter’s Square + Basilica in Rome

Constantine’s Arch

Coliseum – outside view

The younger group went shopping for branded handbags instead of seeing the Trevi Fountain. We had Chinese dinner before checking in Idea Hotel in Rome for the night.

Day 5 – 9th Nov. 2011 Rome – Florence
After breakfast we travelled back to Florence. We had a photo stop at Michelangelo’s Square where one could enjoy a panoramic view of Florence City.

Panorama of Florence City

We had a good Italian lunch at Fantasia Restaurant – a generous helping of pasta and spaghetti, a big chicken drumstick and baked potato, salad and fruits.

Pasta + spaghetti + minced meat sauce

Chicken drumstick + baked potato

Then we had a guided tour of popular tourist spots of Florence City – the Arno riversides, Holy Cross Cathedral, Santa Maria Dei Fiore Cathedral. The striking feature of the construction of that Cathedral was the colour schemes of the walls and floors were formed with pieces of marble cut to the exact size and shape. Admirable workmanship !

Santa Maria’s Cathedral

After some shopping for souvenirs, handbags, ice cream, etc, we proceeded to Pisa, 2 hour journey from Florence. We had dinner at Peking Restaurant and checked in at Tulip Inn for the night.

(to be continued)