Pisa

The Leaning Tower of Pisa was one of those things I was really looking forward to seeing. We had docked at Livorno and had to take a bus to the town of Pisa. The anticipation of seeing the leaning Tower of Pisa was building.

As we near the town, our guide tells us to look to the right and in the distance we see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Even from a distance, it was breath taking.

As I have mentioned in earlier blogs, buses are not allowed in the middle of the old sections of town. Pisa was no different. As we walk to the old section, the new parts of town look nice.

Then, we notice that all the sidewalks are stone and some are even marble.

We turn a corner and there is the wall of the old city. It is massive.

As we near the gate, the anticipation is at its highest.

The number of people has grown and everyone is excited. As we enter the gate, you can feel the awe of what we are seeing. It is almost unbelievable. We are here!

As we enter, we are greeted with a huge area that is enclosed within the walls, which is called Miracle Square. Located within the Miracle Square is the Baptistery, the Cathedral, and the Bell tower. People are everywhere just standing in awe.

As it so happens, the local US military base is hosting a marathon and the finish line is within the old city.

The first building we go to is circular and quite amazing. This is the Baptistery for the Cathedral and it is not what we came to see, but it is obviously a bonus.

When we get in, we find the building is more amazing inside than it was outside.

One of the tour guides demonstrated the acoustics of the building. The tones produced by here were beautiful as they were naturally amplified.

Next we went to the cathedral.

Again the building was designed with the same beauty as what we had just seen.

The front of the cathedral is striking. Notice how big the doors are. They are 100% metal.

Inside is just as amazing.

We have a few minutes before we are going to be allowed into the Leaning Tower of Pisa. During this time, we explore the area. The area is amazing (I seem to keep using that word).

Like all tourist areas in Europe, we have our vendors. At least here, the vendors are legal and probably are selling legal goods as opposed to knock offs or goods from China. I found several t-shirts that seem to fit perfectly with the area.

Of course, even Rexie decided she had to have a picture with her holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We would have done a better picture, but the local police were running everyone off the beautiful lawn. So, we settled for this.

As we waited to climb the steps, I took several shots of the Tower. Are you aware the Leaning Tower of Pisa was built strictly as bell tower? The reason it leans is because originally the Town of Pisa a port on the Mediterranean Sea. Anything near a sea is normally a soft or marsh land because of the water nearby.

The base of the tower has beautiful pattern marble.

They only let so many people in every 15 minutes because the tower is solid with steps. It is hard to tell from the pictures, but the marble steps have been worn down and slant forward. Now that in itself is a problem, but just as soon as you start up the steps the whole building is leaning. Duh, but it took me a second to realize that going up the 294 steps to the top was not going to be a walk in a park.

Here is the picture I took from the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

OK, I confess. I didn’t get all the way to the top. By the time I got to the second window I knew I was not going to make it. I was already having problems with my heels (I had been off my cane for only about 5 weeks) and going down the steps was going to be a killer. We only had 15 minutes to get from the bottom to the top and back because our bus was leaving. Had I had more time, I would have tried to get all the way to the top, but at least I was in it and walked about ¼ of the way to the top.

Before we started up, we were standing in line behind the guard. I noticed the set of keys hanging on his radio. It really looked different and I told Rexie that I bet it was the key to the Tower. Of course, she didn’t believe me. So, I asked the guard. He then pulled it off his radio and showed it to us. What you see here is the ONLY key to the Leaning Tower of Pisa and is passed along to each guard on duty at the door. While many people may visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa, very, very, few ever see actual key!

When reviewing my pictures, I found these two that I had taken one after the other. Is it the Tower or the Cathedral that is leaning? I did not take these intentionally showing the Tower as being straight. My eye and mind played tricks on me and I actually filmed the Tower to be straight.

So I ask you, which is leaning?