Stunned by Pisa

Bill and I started the day with breakfast at Taste restaurant. At 8:15 we met and disembarked to meet our driver for our tour. The tour guides were able to come right up to the ship, so we did not need to leave that early.... Humphrey!! 

Our driver Lorenzo drove us around in a stylish Mercedes van with forward and rear facing seats so we could chat or watch each other nap.

In Pisa we met out guide Elyria who greeted us near the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Maybe they should have chosen a different name to save themselves some trouble.

During the morning we were able to enjoy the Tower, the expansive lawns, the Duomo that they began in 1603, the largest Baptistry in the world -completed in 1284, the hospital, the old city walls, and the Campo Santo cemetery begun in 1278.

The tower was completed over 2 centuries and was finished in 1350. The reason for the leaning is trying to build a massive marble structure on marsh lands. The Arno river runs through both Florence and Pisa and in the past there was another river that ran beside the cathedral.

Unknown name of the first architect. Fled and now buried under the tower.

It was closed 1990 - 2001 due to fear of collapsing. They reinforced it with tones of lead, then removing earth underneath the higher side. Now only 50 people at a time are allowed to climb to the bell tower - 260 steps. Our group had no interest in doing the climb.

The Basilica was great and we would highly recommend it. The marble was in the romanesque style, but with many influences from Moorish, and other cultures that the city state of Pisa got from their trading and conquering during the height of their reign.

The inside of the church was beautiful with mosaics frescos and paintings. The highlights were the mosaics above the alter and along each side at the front, the impressive marble pulpit depicting the life of Jesus, and the controversial modern marble alter supported by two angels.

Other impressive features were some old frescos and the gold and wood ceiling (not the original, introduced after they were conquered by Florence and the Medici’s).

On the one side of the church on a block of marble from Rome there is a cool piece of folklore about the carved holes - that they were formed by a demon trying to break into the church. It must have been scared off by the lion statues or She Wolf gargoyles.

In front of the Basilica there was a statue of a She Wolf representing the Roman Empire and a modern statue of Icarus or the fallen angel.

We split up for 30 minutes and Bill and I headed to the car park area to have a beer and wine. Then we gathered under the Tower to meet as the bells tolled at high noon.

From there we were off to Lucca our first stop was lunch at a cafe, Zita, recommend by Sacha from Bill’s office. It was great, although the mini pizzas were not a hit with the adult crew. Barry is very accustomed to the North American versions of Italian food.

Bill and I had cod balls in a great chickpea sauce along with a bocconcini sandwich and some nice white wine. Bill’s mom took a stumble on the steps to the restaurant, and our waitress was very concerned, she made a quick recovery and was good to continue on.

From there we explored the Basilica of St Frediano, a pilgrim from Ireland. He was said to have performed miracles and changed the flow of the river to save the city from floods. Each June for more than two centuries, they memorialize him by lighting candles along the river, shooting fireworks and having a boat race between representatives from the four corners of the city.

On the exterior there was a beautiful mosaic of Jesus in the outside. Other highlights included the chapel of St Zita with a glad casket containing her visible remains.  One chapel contains a relic of the holy blood of Christ on a piece of the cross which was brought from Jerusalem in 935 and displayed behind a golden lattice (we think this may be more folklore than fact). There was a beautiful, massive baptismal font that depicted the life of Moses. There were also lots of paintings and frescos from the 12th century onward.

From there we had a great walking tour of Lucca including the top of the old city wall that has been made into a 5 mile public park with paths and trees. The one spot we were at overlooked a beautiful home owned by wealthy German family that introduced beer to this region.

 Next we viewed the former Roman amphitheater that has been converted into a “square” woh restaurants, shops and homes. I quickly purchased pink mywalit at one of the shops to keep my cruise keycard safe.

We saw some medieval towers, include one with seven oak trees growing out of the top of it. One tree was planted in the 17th century.

We walked by the music school and heard students practicing. This school is dedicated to a famous composer that died poor, Boccherini. The city is also the birthplace of another famous composer, Puccini, and we were able to see his childhood home.

We passed through the Piazza de Michele and the church at the center which was never complete and the roof did not align with the facade. It was very cool to see the exposed stairs leading to the peak of the facade.

In a small square nearby there was a kitchen shop and I bought a rolling pin to use for rolling out my sore muscles.

The final stop in our tour with Elyria was Napoleon’s square. It was massive and surrounded by a palace where his sisters had lived. Now it is a venue for the towns music festival which has had performances by artists like Elton John and Sting.

From there it was back to the boat. Bill and I had one or three drinks working on the blog and trying to download some of the travel books Norm shared with us - the wifi is not very good.

We planned to meet at Cagney’s for dinner at 8:30. We were a bit late and Lou and Barry were eating for us. They informed us that we were a day early for our reservation but that They could seat us this evening. Bill spent the next 30 min trying to find Marlene and Norm, but was unsuccessful.

So the four of us had a great meal at Cagney’s and enjoyed a maple bacon appetizer, tuna tartare, lobster bisque, and surf and turf.  Norm and Marlene were able to get in at the noodle bar and were fine without us

 We caught the last half of the performance of the duelling pianos before heading to bed.