The weather was rough until the early hours of the morning; in fact, my Fitbit could tell me exactly what time things calmed down. It said I got just 2 hours 54 minutes of sleep starting around 3:30am, but, in actuality, that was just the time we stabilized a bit. You can imagine what a shock it was to see sunshine(!) streaming in our cabin first thing this morning. Our experience yesterday did not prepare us for that! In fact, though it was partly cloudy and we even had a few drops of rain, the weather today had us feeling worse about the Cinque Terre tours being cancelled. This turned out to be a prettier day than the one we’d experienced on our visit two years ago. But that area of northwest Italy has been hard impacted by this storm, and it’s understandable that some roads are simply not passable.
I was most interested today in seeing the sights of Livorno, but G really wanted to climb the bell tower in Pisa, and, to that end, we read Rick Steves’ book about how to get from the port to the Field of Miracles in Pisa, the location of the leaning bell tower, the cathedral (aka the Duomo) and the Baptistery through a combination of shuttle bus, walking, city bus, train, and more walking. We walked off the ship around 10:10am or so, and went to a counter in the port terminal to buy shuttle bus tickets (€5 round trip) into the center of Livorno. When we mentioned taking the train to Pisa, we were assured it was not possible (right...) and referred to a desk across the terminal for a bus to Pisa.
Over we went to that desk, where we learned that, yes, we could take a bus to Pisa but we had to first buy the shuttle ticket for €5 and then add another €15 for a bus from the center of Livorno to Pisa. The problem was that the next bus wouldn’t leave Livorno until noon. The shuttle bus-city bus-train combo that Rick Steves laid out was looking better and better...
...until G noticed a small group of passengers recruiting two more to share a taxi to Pisa. The driver, Lorenzo, would take us directly to the Field of Miracles, wait for us, and return us to the ship for €20 per person. His Mercedes van comfortably held 8 of us, and within minutes we were on our way. It’s a short drive, probably not more than 30 minutes from the port to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the day was looking sunny, and, for once, I was able to leave behind my wool headband and gloves.
Once in Pisa, we arranged to be back at the van in 2 hours. The first thing we did was buy a ticket to climb the bell tower. The bell tower dates back to the 12th century, and, built in marshy, multi-layered soil, it started to lean almost immediately. Corrections attempted while it was still being built, and also during the 19th century actually worsened the situation. In 1990 it was closed for repairs for over 10 years. The tower was shored up, cleaned up and straightened up...a little. After all, the fact that it leans is Pisa’s claim to fame; just another straight Italian bell tower would cease to attract the millions of visitors a leaning bell tower does.
The Cathedral (Duomo) of Pisa
The Duomo
It still leans!
It still leans!
People taking the requisite ‘holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa’ photos
The Field of Miracles in Pisa
The Baptistry is the round building on the left
But the now open bell tower was not the only change since we were last here. The whole Field of Miracles looked so much better than it used to. The beautiful green grass areas were striking against the stone of the Baptistery, Cathedral and bell tower. Twenty years ago, those areas were filled with vendors’ canopies, each one hawking some kitschy souvenirs. Now those vendors have all been relocated down a side street. And we didn’t have anywhere near the crowds today that we had on our previous visit. We had been packed into the different buildings then, and several in our group had been pickpocketed in the Cathedral (which must result in a sure ticket to hell for the perpetrators). The fact that the Sapphire Princess was the only ship in Livorno today certainly helped. Tomorrow there will be three ships in port.
Our ticket to climb the bell tower was for 11:30am, and it didn’t take long at all to climb the roughly 280 steps to the top. The stone steps were uneven and very worn, and a little tricky to walk back down, but we had no trouble. In fact, the climb reminded me a great deal of climbing to the top of the dome in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, though much less strenuous, of course. And the views from the top made it all worthwhile.
The €18 ticket to climb the bell tower also included admission to the Cathedral (which is actually free, but a ticket is still required), so that was our next stop and, honestly, I don’t remember a lot about that from our last visit, so it was like seeing it for the first time. The 320 foot long nave was the longest one in a Christian Church when it was built. The immediately eye catching 15 foot pulpit was intricately carved from stone by Giovanni Pisano. We lit candles and took photos and, by the time we were done, it was nearly 1pm and time to meet up with our group.
Duomo ceiling
Giovanni Pisano pulpit
Baptistery of Pisa
We were back on board the Sapphire Princess shortly after 1:30pm. Though there was free WiFi in the port terminal, our free data and texting has greatly reduced our reliance on mediocre WiFi (but high speed WiFi is always a welcome thing). We have been able to text and Snapchat photos to friends and family in each of our ports for free.
We returned to Alfredo’s for another pizza lunch and then started to do some packing in our cabin. G had the very smart idea to place the items we won’t need until we are on the Pacific Princess in one of our suitcases, as NCL doesn’t have formal nights. I suspect we will also be more casual due to no Captains Circle obligations, an extremely port intensive itinerary, and, as G likes to say, “We don’t know any of those people anyway!” We will definitely be “freestyle cruising”.
Our departure time of 7pm was delayed for a late-returning ship’s excursion, but we have plenty of time to make the short trip overnight to Civitavecchia, the port city for Rome. We said our goodbyes to our waitstaff Alma and Boonta, and headwaiter Adrian. They will all be here when we return to the ship in Singapore (but won’t be our waiters), but Maitre d’ Generoso and Assistant Maitre d’ Godwin will be returning home.
The entertainment tonight was a variety show (which is akin to a seafood medley entree at the end of a cruise), but we were so fortunate to be treated to new performances by violinist Michael Bacala and vocalist Phillip Browne. It was the best ‘last night of the cruise variety show’ I’ve ever seen.
We are completing our final packing, and will be early to bed tonight. Wake ups on disembarkation days also come early. We will be among the last guests off the ship around 10am, and, in a perfect world, our hotel shuttle will be waiting for us after we claim our luggage. Our hope is to do some sightseeing tomorrow afternoon...provided we can secure our valuables in a safe at the hotel.
And the second part of the first segment of our around the world adventure begins the next day.
Life is good. :-)