Livorno port question

[midwestchick]

We would like to spend some time in the town of Livorno on one of our cruises. Does Azamara have a shuttle that takes you into town from the port?

[skluki]

I am not sure if there are more terminals in Livorno. But we had a nice walk from the ship to an area just outside. This included various shops, a nice marketplace, some churches etc. Nice relaxing walk.

 

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[midwestchick]

I am not sure if there are more terminals in Livorno. But we had a nice walk from the ship to an area just outside. This included various shops, a nice marketplace, some churches etc. Nice relaxing walk.

 

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Was it the Mercato Centrale? Do you remember how long it took you to walk?

[Azamarajunkie]

We would like to spend some time in the town of Livorno on one of our cruises. Does Azamara have a shuttle that takes you into town from the port?

 

When we were there last year a free shuttle was organised. You can walk into the town from the port which takes about 15 mins. Livorno is quite nice and has some interesting buildings and fort that you can walk around, but it's no Venice or Florence! We hired a driver that took us out into the Tuscan countryside which is lovely.

[skluki]

It is not far. My wife and I are not totally in agreement on the time. She means 10 - 15 .min. I think 15 - 20 min nice (not fast) walk. We enjoyed the walk in the area.

 

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[midwestchick]

When we were there last year a free shuttle was organised. You can walk into the town from the port which takes about 15 mins. Livorno is quite nice and has some interesting buildings and fort that you can walk around, but it's no Venice or Florence! We hired a driver that took us out into the Tuscan countryside which is lovely.

 

 

We loved the Tuscan countryside. We've done that several times and we have a tour scheduled in May and August. We're doing Greve in Chianti in August with a stop at a nice restaurant and Castellina. We've pretty much seen all of the popular places, which have been full of tourists. We are returning to Volterra in May and then a winery tour and a stop at another Commune in Tuscany.

Nice to know Azamara has a shuttle.

 

Thanks Skluki.

[marinaro44]

Not a whole lot to see, but Livorno does have a hop-on, hop-off bus. Go to the visitor center.

[midwestchick]

That's an interesting looking bus. ;)

 

Sorry, the image is not showing up properly.

Edited January 25, 2016 by midwestchick

[LEESRE]

Every time we are Livorno Azamara has NOT had a shuttle bus, but it is easy to walk into town

[Lottie A]

Midwestchick, it all depends which berth you are in. There is one that is a 10-15 min walk into the town centre and the further out berths require a shuttle bus. I have to say that Captain Carl on Quest usually gets the closer berth and we have met him walking back from buying family supplies in Livorno a few years ago. His family were due on Quest the following week and he was getting prepared.

 

Livorno has a few nice shops, a small market and some restaurants but the jewel of this area, apart from the obvious Florence, is medieval Lucca. A simply beautiful place and quite easy to get to on the train from Livorno but you do have to change at Pisa.

[midwestchick]

Hi Lottie. We spent a wonderful full day in Lucca in 2014. We've also visited Florence, Siena, Volterra, San Gimignano and another town I do not recall the name of, and had lunch there. We've also done Cinque Terre, but entertain the thought of returning at some point. In May, we're going back to Volterra, doing lunch and a wine tour at i Balzini winery and then spending more time at Certaldo. In August we're going to Greve in Chianti, having lunch at Ristoro di Lamole and then will spend the rest of our day visiting Castellina. Since we've seen much of Tuscany, I decided maybe it was time to visit the port town, since we are overnight at Livorno's port.

We loved Lucca, but there is something about Volterra that puts it on my list of favorites in Tuscany.

I'm also hoping Livorno will not be as crowded as some of the other popular Tuscan villages.

[Lottie A]

Hi Lottie. We spent a wonderful full day in Lucca in 2014. We've also visited Florence, Siena, Volterra, San Gimignano and another town I do not recall the name of, and had lunch there. We've also done Cinque Terre, but entertain the thought of returning at some point. In May, we're going back to Volterra, doing lunch and a wine tour at i Balzini winery and then spending more time at Certaldo. In August we're going to Greve in Chianti, having lunch at Ristoro di Lamole and then will spend the rest of our day visiting Castellina. Since we've seen much of Tuscany, I decided maybe it was time to visit the port town, since we are overnight at Livorno's port.

We loved Lucca, but there is something about Volterra that puts it on my list of favorites in Tuscany.

I'm also hoping Livorno will not be as crowded as some of the other popular Tuscan villages.

 

Wow....lucky you midwestchick! :)

Livorno is nowhere near as beautiful as Volterra or Lucca but I can see why you might want to just have a wander around it this time.

This is a useful little site for info on Livorno.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destination/italy/65132/Livorno-cruise-port-guide.html

 

I hope your Azamazing Evening is in Livorno because if it's the Three Tenors at the Goldoni Theatre then it's a wonderful occasion.

[midwestchick]

Wow....lucky you midwestchick! :)

Livorno is nowhere near as beautiful as Volterra or Lucca but I can see why you might want to just have a wander around it this time.

This is a useful little site for info on Livorno.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destination/italy/65132/Livorno-cruise-port-guide.html

 

I hope your Azamazing Evening is in Livorno because if it's the Three Tenors at the Goldoni Theatre then it's a wonderful occasion.

Thanks for the link, Lottie...I appreciate it.

We actually missed Three Tenors 2 years ago because we were just too tired from being on an all day tour and now I'm sorry we missed it. I believe our Azamazing evening is in Spain on this trip. I'll check again though because I certainly don't want to miss it.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

We will be on the May 17th Quest cruise calling at Livorno. Two years ago we joined a tour organised on our Roll Call and ended up with the lovely Paolo Bonetti on a Tuscan Tour. Sadly the person who booked the tour hurt her back and was unable to join us. We overnighted and Paolo came back the next day to give us a free tour of Livorno (the ladies back was much better). He took us to the Sanctuary of Montenero, a lovely church complex, which we accessed via a Funicular. The views were fantastic. There are some details on the Livorno tourist website - not sure if you could do this via public transport. He also drove us around Livorno telling us tales of his family and showed us the sites, the canals, fort etc.

His company was called Unforgettable Tuscany BUT I am not sure if he is still around. He told us he was moving to Teneriffe in the Canary Islands with his third wife (he had tried an American an Englishwomen and ended up with his current one - I think Italian this time). Lottie A also used him and may know better. We had a marvellous couple of days with him.

This time from Livorno we will probably go by train to Lucca although it I could find Paolo I might try to put something together on our roll call possibly visiting one of the many beautiful houses in the Lucca region.

By the way, in the afternoon of our second Livorno day, I easily walked into the main street of Livorno looking for a gift for my daughter.

[Lottie A]

Hi Mrs Miggins, I am glad to tell you that the lovely Paolo was still doing tours last summer and had not yet moved to Tenerife with his third wife! He took us to Lucca again and we had a wonderful day. This summer we are hopefully going to use him for a whole day tour of Siena and San Gimignano, depending on which cruise we book. We are looking at several options at the moment.

 

If you do want to contact him his email is:-

 

info@unforgettabletuscany.com

[Mrs Miggins]

Hi Lottie A,

Thanks, I had looked on his website and when I saw the dates on his Testimonial Page I thought he had gone! However have just read some great recent reviews on TripAdvisor.

Did you just go to Lucca or did you visit any of the surrounding Villa's? We would only want a shortish tour as want to enjoy the Azamazing evening which I believe you said was great.

Cost constraints may mean just taking the train to Lucca as we have done before - but I do have some great memories of our time with Paolo. I guess it depends on costs and if we could get any interest from others on our cruise.

Glad to see that you are still an Azamara cheerleader - we have had two wonderful Star Clipper cruises plus an OK Oceania - but we are looking forward to returning to a refurbished Quest plus a Viking Ocean Istanbul to Venice in September.

Pam

[midwestchick]

We will be on the May 17th Quest cruise calling at Livorno. Two years ago we joined a tour organised on our Roll Call and ended up with the lovely Paolo Bonetti on a Tuscan Tour. Sadly the person who booked the tour hurt her back and was unable to join us. We overnighted and Paolo came back the next day to give us a free tour of Livorno (the ladies back was much better). He took us to the Sanctuary of Montenero, a lovely church complex, which we accessed via a Funicular. The views were fantastic. There are some details on the Livorno tourist website - not sure if you could do this via public transport. He also drove us around Livorno telling us tales of his family and showed us the sites, the canals, fort etc.

His company was called Unforgettable Tuscany BUT I am not sure if he is still around. He told us he was moving to Teneriffe in the Canary Islands with his third wife (he had tried an American an Englishwomen and ended up with his current one - I think Italian this time). Lottie A also used him and may know better. We had a marvellous couple of days with him.

This time from Livorno we will probably go by train to Lucca although it I could find Paolo I might try to put something together on our roll call possibly visiting one of the many beautiful houses in the Lucca region.

By the way, in the afternoon of our second Livorno day, I easily walked into the main street of Livorno looking for a gift for my daughter.

 

Unfortunately, our roll call is very slow. I know from experience, that Azamara's roll calls are not as active as other cruise lines, but this one is particularly slow. I have one tour organized so far. I am still waiting to see if anyone will join. I'm hoping to do as much on our own as possible on this cruise. I don't mind organizing tours, but sometimes, it's less worrisome to do things on your own.

I did google unforgettabletuscany but got some crazy message. I will try again, just to see what he has to offer and what his prices would be for driving the two of us around for at least part of the day. Thank you for suggesting Paolo.