Saturday 9th October Firenze Day 4

 Another blue sky day, perfect, as today we are back across the Ponte Vecchio Bridge and visiting the Pitti Palazzo and the Giardino di Boboli and Giardino Bardini.

Another fantastic ceiling over a fountain in the courtyard area of the palace

 One of many sculptures in the courtyard of the palace 







Splendid view of the Duomo and Vecchio Palazzo from a terrace of the gardens




Oh happy days more steps !!
The city of Firenze is quite flat but across the river at the Pitti Palazzo the gardens are set into the hillside and so we walk up and down and up and down but we are happy to work off the calories !! 

 View down to the "Little Island" and moat

The heron is real......they have an amazing capacity to stand still for great lengths of time, unlike me !!!!

One piece of modern art amongst the old

Our tickets for the gardens also included entrance to the Porcelain Museum and part of the palace that houses an exhibition of costumes through the ages.

 Again a spectacular view of Firenze from here

Neptune catching fish

Pavillion in the gardens

An obelisk in the ampitheatre. Can anyone out there (Jim B ?) tell us why the obelisks in Florence rest on turtles ?
Stone for the palace was quarried here and the hollow was turned into an ampitheatre and stage for the first ever opera performances

 The Grotto Grande
Absolutely awesome !

 Part of ceiling of Grotto Grande

Paris and Helen of Troy

Absolutely fantastic

Outside view of Grotto Grande

A really good leisurely day, lots of walking but some of it on softer terrain !

Tomorrow we move on for the next part of the adventure