Friday, June 14th
Today we docked at Livorno, Italy, and took the shuttle bus to town. From there, we took a bus to the train station and then a train to the town of Pisa. From there, we followed Rick Steves' walking tour to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. While there, we also checked out other sites in the area: the ‘Field of Miracles’, the Baptistry, Camposanto (cemetery) and the Pisa Cathedral. On the way back to the train station, we bought a yummy gelato which we devoured on our walk back. The entertainment tonight on the ship was another dose of 'Comedy Showtime with Doug Funk' - we found out tonight that he’s Canadian - and he was again hilarious!
Steps for the day: 15, 934
Camera di Commercio (Chamber of Commerce)
Palazzo Comunale (Town Hall)
Sign at the bus stop to catch the bus to get to the train station (Stazione Centrale - Central Station)
Chiesa di Sant'Antonio Abate - Romanesque-style Roman Catholic church - founded in 1341 with an adjacent convent
In Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II - the building is the Regione Toscana - Ufficio Territoriale Di Pisa (Tuscany Region - Regional Office of Pisa)
At the beginning of Corso Italia - a pedestrianized street - Pisa's main shopping street for locals, not tourists - on the very right is the Chiesa di San Domenico (the church of St. Dominic - a Roman Catholic church - great architecture going down the street
Fancy window security bars on a store on Corso Italia
More fabulous Italian architecture - in the background is Palazzo Pretorio - URP Comune di Pisa (District Government office of Pisa)
Mike sitting at Caffe Siena
Sit-in protest in front of the Logge dei Banchi - built in the early 17th century upon the order of Fernando I, a Grand Duke of Pisa - when it was built, it housed wool and silk markets - today it is used for markets of various kinds - the upper floor was added later and now hosts a part of the state archives
View up the Arno River from the Ponte di Mezzo (Middle Bridge) - this modern bridge, the site of Pisa's first bridge and therefore its birthplace, marks the centre of Pisa
From the centre of the bridge, you can see the elegant mansions that line the riverbank - nobles preferred to live in stately residences along the river
Kayakers and people in a motorboat enjoying a day out on the river
Chiesa di Santa Caterina d'Alessandria (Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria) - a Gothic-style, Roman Catholic church - built in the 13th century
Piazza dei Cavalieri ((Knight's Square) - around 1500, Florence conquered Pisa and made this square the training place for the knights of its navy - with Napoleon, this complex of grand buildings became part of the University of Pisa - the university is one of Europe's oldest, with roots in a law school that dates back as far as the 11th century
Statue of Cosimo I de' Medici - shows the Florentine who ruled Pisa in the 16th century - he was an Italian banker and politician, the first member of the Medici family which effectively ruled Florence during much of the Italian Renaissance - with a foot on a dolphin, he reminded all who passed that the Florentine navy controlled the sea - at least a little of it
Chiesa di San Sisto (Church of San Sisto) - was consecrated in 1133, but previously it had been already used as the seat of the most important notary act of the Pisan commune - built in a Pisane-Romanesque style in stone
More beautiful Italian architecture in Pisa
Cattedrale Pisa (Pisa Cathedral) - one of the four monuments on Cathedral Square - a medieval Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary - the magnificent Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral towers above the Pisa skyline - it is a large Gothic structure, the 4th largest in the world - construction began in the 13th century and was completed in the 15th century
Fontana dei Putti (Fountain with Angels) - a beautiful marble fountain in the Piazza dei Miracoli - first erected in the 17th century - provided a source of water for local citizens before the days when every home had running water
Battistero di San Giovanni (the Pisa Baptistery of Saint John) is one of the buildings on the Piazza dei Miracoli - the present structure replaced an earlier baptistery - the building was started in 1153 in the Romanesque style, continued in the 1200s using the Gothic style and completed in 1363 with the addition of a Gothic dome - the building is made of marble - the baptistery is the largest in the country reaching 54.86 metres surpassing the adjacent leaning tower
Torre Pendent di Pisa (Leaning Tower of Pisa) - located in the Piazza dei Miracoli with three other monument buildings - construction began in 1173 and continued over the course of 200 years - it was constructed to stand vertically, but because of unstable ground, it gradually began to "lean" to one side - the tower began "sinking" into the ground during construction probably due to the fact that it had been given only a three metre foundation - to try and compensate for the lean, architects built one side taller than the other so that the tower is actually curved - the tower leans approximately 4 degrees - this medieval structure stands approximately 60 metres tall - it has Romanesque architecture and is clad with grey and white striped marble - the tower has 207 columns circling eight stories with a bell chamber at the top
Mike and Sue with the Leaning Tower of Pisa in the background
The obligatory photo - Sue 'holding up' the tower
The obligatory photo - Mike 'holding up' the Leaning Tower of Pisa
The Leaning Tower of Pisa - here you can see the lean of the tower as opposed to the straight wall of the cathedral on the right
The top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa - this is the bell chamber - there are seven bells tuned to the musical major scale - the bells were originally cast between 1262 and 1721 - they weigh between 661 lbs and 7,981 lbs
The entry to the Pisa Cathedral
Check out the line-up we had to wait in to get into the Cathedral
Camposanto Monumentale (Monumental Cemetery) - a cloistered cemetery with frescoes - this sacred burial ground was established in 1277 and completed in 1464 - rather than an open graveyard, this ornate site consists of a holy field of land surrounded by monumental cloister buildings - the buildings surrounding the holy ground form an oblong cloister built in the Gothic style
More photos of the attractions in the Piazza dei Miracoli
The cost of using the toilet at this site (about $1.20)
More photos of the attractions on the Piazza dei Miracoli
Inside the Pisa Cathedral
Giovanni Pisano Pulpit (inside the Cathedral) - this pulpit is one of the most iconographically dense works of art in the history of art in Italy - Giovanni Pisano sculpted it between 1301 and 1310 by himself - he crowded it with figures from the Old and New Testament, to the point that every structural or ancillary element seems to have the sole purpose of featuring more characters - Pisano represented the whole theme of salvation - from the Annunciation of the birth of John the Baptist to the Judgement Day; there, are Jesus Christ, Mary, the Prophets, the Apostles, the Evangelists and Michael the Archangel.
'Christ Enthroned with the Virgin and St. John' - a mosaic in the apse of Pisa Cathedral - it is famous for the depiction of John the Evangelist - Francesco da Pisa began this work, completing the figure of Christ - Italian medieval artist, Cimabue, worked on the mosaic for 94 days (until 19 February 1302) completing the figure of St. John - the whole mosaic, including the figure of the Virgin, was only completed by the third artist, Vincino da Pistoia in 1321
Sarcophagus in the Pisa Cathedral
Inside the Pisa Cathedral
Close-up of the figures on the Pulpit in the Pisa Cathedral
The Tomb of Henry VII - holy Roman emperor - lived 1275 - 1313 - the original tomb was built in 1315 and was placed behind the High Altar in the apse, so as to show the devotion of the city to Henry VII - but, for political reasons, it was removed and, until 1985, it remained in the right transept of the cathedral, near the tomb of the Patron Saint of the city, Saint Rainerius
Inside the Pisa Cathedral
The door of Saint Rainerius - cast about 1180 by Bonanno Pisano - is the only door not destroyed by the fire of 1595 that heavily damaged the cathedral - the door is decorated with 24 bronze relief sculptures showing stories of the New Testament
One last shot of the Leaning Tower of Pisa before we made our way back to the ship
Sue and Mike enjoying some yummy Italian gelato on our way back to the ship
Mike walking towards the Stazione Pisa Centrale (Pisa Central Station) to get on the train to go back to Livorno where our ship is docked - to the right of Mike, in the background, are armed guards
