Today’s included excursion was called “From Tuscany to Pisa”:

You will join your guide for 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. Upon arrival, walk to the Piazza dei Miracoli, or the Square of Miracles, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Admire the Pisa Cathedral, its marble-clad Romanesque facade decorated with Byzantine-inspired mosaics. It is said that Galileo formulated his theory of pendulums here by observing an incense burner swinging from the ceiling. Also in the square, you will see the grand circular Baptistery, the Leaning Tower, which took 177 years to build, and the walled Camposanto Monumentale, said to be the most beautiful cemetery in the world. After your tour, you will return to your ship.

A challenge with some of the port calls is that the main places of interest are not necessarily near the port. Today and tomorrow are good examples of that - if you want to visit Pisa or Rome, you’ve got a longish coach ride ahead of you.

And I’m not sure I’d quite agree with the drive being described as “scenic”. It was OK but nothing really to write hone about. The biggest conversation seemed to be that there was a circus in front of an IKEA store and it had the same blue/yellow colour scheme!

Anyway … the drive was pleasant enough and there was a bit of a walk from the coach park to the Square of Miracles. I didn’t envy the guide, herding 30+ guests of various levels of mobility, making sure we all got across roads and level crossings safely!

Coach and walking tour route
Click for full size image.

The guide also warned us most carefully about pickpockets and the risk of buying fake goods. According to her, there isn’t just a penalty for selling fake goods but also for buying them. We apparently passed a group of girls while walking to the Square and she said that they were a group of pickpockets but there was also a group of police nearby, so the girls dispersed.

Enough of that, though … what about the Square of Miracles?

The Square of Miracles
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There are three buildings in the Square: the grand circular Baptistery, Pisa Cathedral and the leaning Tower.

The Baptistery
The Cathedral
The Tower
Close-up of the Baptistery
Close-up of the Cathedral
Side view of the Cathedral
The leaning Tower
Side-view of the tower
Click for full size image.

Some things I remember from the guide:

  • The Baptistery had multiple architects; she wasn’t sure why the roof was made of two different materials but believed it was probably cost.

  • The Cathedral started sinking while the ground floor was being built. If you look at the side view of the Cathedral, you’ll see that the left-hand end of the ground floor is taller than the middle and right-hand ends.

  • Several attempts were made to stabilise the leaning Tower, including pouring concrete into the foundations. This attempt really didn’t work so they ended up loading lead weight onto the North side of the tower then digging under it to allow the tower to sink backwards towards the North. This allowed them to correct the sinking from the extreme of roughly 5 degrees that it had reached back to 3 degrees.

  • There are bells at the top of the tower but they do not swing because that would make the leaning worse. Instead, the bells are hit with hammers.

The Tower has now stabilised and the public are now allowed back in to climb it.

We had a nice lot of free time to look around the buildings and take whatever photos we wanted.

After returning to the ship, we had lunch in the World Cafe and then sat in the side section by the pool for fresh air and sunshine while I “relaxed” catching up on writing this blog!

There was a poolside barbeque for dinner (Vinologist Cabernet Sauvignon again for my wife) and we rounded off the evening by watching Cary Grant in “People Will Talk”.