Pisa (Livorno), Italy


Day 23 – Pisa (Livorno), Italy  Tuesday, November 25

Arriving in the Port city of Livorno, we woke to a strange site.  One of the ferries for a company called Moby was across from us and covered withh picturs of the Looney Tune Characters.



This a commercial port as well as where the cruise ships and ferries come in. They were off loading bulk materials (sand, volcanic ash, wood chips, etc.) from a ship on the other side of the pier.  

We started with a scenic drive through Tuscany to Pisa. The origins of this ancient city are unclear, but the presence of an Etruscan necropolis points to a long history. Our tour was listed as a Tour of Italy’s "Square of Miracles"


After entering the gates of the walled city, we expected to see the leaning tower, but insteadthe first thing that we encountered was the Baptistero di San Giovanni
An incredible circular building sitting at the west end of the Piazza dei Miracoli, or the Square of Miracles, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

. 


Across from the Bapistery is the Pisa Cathedral 


One of the most beautiful cathedrals I have seen.  The face of the building is gleeming white Carrara Marble.  The mosaic's above the doors were done in gold and Lapis Lazuli (blue stones from Afghanastan). It is said that Galileo formulated his theory of pendulums here by observing an incense burner swinging from the ceiling. 


We proceeded around to the back of the cathedral where we came upon the Bell Tower. Leaning more than I imagined. The tower took 177 years to build because it started leaning just after the first two floors were built and no one wanted to take on the challenge of fixing it for 99 years.



At this point the tour guide gave us free time to explore the buildings as we liked.  They do charge 8 Euros to enter one building or 11 for entering all the buildings.


Our first stop was the Bapistery. Only the columns facing the cathedral are ornate all the others are smooth.


Since we arrived at the end of teh tourist season, they had already started  project cleaning the stone. so there was a lot of scafolding one one side of the interior.



In the center is a statue of John the Baptist


From there we walked across to the Cathedral which was Beautiful




The interior of teh dome was lit by natural light making it seen to glow


The alter surrounded by frescos was stunning.



Panels of frescos surrounded the interior of the church




In one of the side alters is the tomb of te Bishop that had the church built.

Inside  the main doors.


The other side alter 


As we were heading back to the bus, the sun was setting and the tower was lit up.

Comments

  1. DanNovember 26, 2025 at 3:09 PM

    Amazing that the workmanship has maintained itself all thes years, what’s great about Europe is the wonderful detail that was used so many years ago without modern scaffolding and tools. I could live in any of these countries and be happy. I would like warm weather year round if possible.😇

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousNovember 26, 2025 at 7:41 PM

    Love all the pictures! Thanks for sharing. Glenda Staples

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousNovember 29, 2025 at 5:26 PM

    Beautiful!! -Russ

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Please leave your name so we know who is commenting.

Popular posts from this blog

The Trip Starts - Viking Ocean Cruises - Iconic Mediterranean Shores

Image
  Viking Ocean Cruises - Iconic Mediterranean Shores on the  Viking Vesta - Istanbul, Turkey to Barcelona, Spain Started with a long trip from home to Istanbul. Flights from Knoxville to Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte to London, England and London to Istanbul.  Flight Time 12 1/2 Hours plus another 9-10 hours in Airports. Finally got to the ship at about 9 PM the next day (local time). 
Read more

4/14/2024 Final Day of our Tour - Kutna Hora, Czech Republic

Image
Kutna Hora and Sedlec (a small suburb of Kutna Hora) is a unique site about an hour outside of Prague. In the middle ages it was a site of pilgrimage. Legend has it that the Abbot at the time Abbbot Heidenreich had travelled to Jerusalem and brought back a fistful of soil from Akeldama (Field of Blood) establishing the first holy field in Central Europe.  After a monk at the monestary here discovered silver in the second half of the 13th century, the population grew to about 80,000 making it one of the largest cities in the world at the time. With the black plague, mining accidents, etc. the cemetary grew to an unmanagable size of 3.5 Hectares (almost 9 Acres). At the time the solution was to build an Ossuary (a repository for the bones).  Since tradition mandates that remains must be buried below ground the Church od All Saints was built with the bones carefully stored in the basement "Below Ground". Records show that are over 500 Ossuaries in the Czech Republic, but this on...
Read more

The Full Acropolis Experience

Image
  Day 7 – Athens (Piraeus), Greece   Sunday, November 9 Driving out of the port, you com upon this beautiful Greek Orthodox Church. We drove past the ancient harbor of Zea, its dock dating to the 5th century BC although it is hard to tell where the old harbor ends and the new one starts. This is a bustling harbor.  there were three Viking cruise ships at the port and at least 15 ferries that travel to the surrounding islands. The tour description said "Upon arrival at the Acropolis, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, climb 80 steps through the Propylaeum, the grand entrance that delivers you to the plateau of the rock"  This was a lie they did not tell you about the six sets fo 20 steps each followed by hills to climb  to get to that 80 steps.  Once you get to the top, you can look down into the conservatory, an ampatheter where music venues are held. and that can seat approximately 2000 people. Then you look up and realize there is more stairs to...
Read more