The first stop on our 24 day Holland America cruise after leaving the port city of Civitavecchia, Italy would be Livorno, Italy which is more or less another port city. The two main excursion destinations from Livorno are Florence and Pisa Italy. On this leg of the journey we would be visiting Pisa and the nearby city of Lucca.

San Michele in Foro is a basilica in Lucca.

Landry hanging out to dry in the Piazza dell’ Anfiteatro.

It’s a good bet they were never thinking about delivery trucks making these tight turns when they built the streets of Lucca.

Leaning Tower of Pisa Review

Just a couple days before visiting Pisa and the leaning tower of Pisa I got a review from another couple that had just visited there. I can still remember the husband’s disappointment with the leaning tower because “it wasn’t very tall”. I don’t know what if anything else the couple visited when they were in Pisa, but being something of a “travel expert”, I thought Pisa was certainly a worth while stop.

Certainly the big ticket item when you visit Pisa is the leaning tower. But once inside the Medieval walls of Pisa there were several interesting buildings to visit. There was a charge of about 8 Euros to visit these buildings. They certainly were worth the extra fee. You can also spend 18 Euros or so the climb to the top of the leaning tower. Those tickets must be purchased in advance and a time must be scheduled. Given that our tour only included 20 minutes of wondering around time, we weren’t able to visit the many shops and city area that is right next to the tower. I don’t know if they were worth a visit, but they looked interesting. If you don’t get a chance to visit the shops inside the wall, there are many vendors with booths outside the wall trying to get your money before both coming and going. Long story short, you should visit Pisa and the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

The Field of Miracles and the Pisa Baptistery inside the Medieval city walls of Pisa

Inside the circular Pisa Baptistery with visitors looking down from 2nd story.

Columns, statues, candles and more inside the Cathedral of Pisa.

While not as famous as the leaning tower of Pisa, the Cathedral of Pisa is also sinking.

It’s the reason you come to Pisa, to see the leaning tower.

If you come to Pisa to see the leaning tower, I think it’s a law that you have to take the most unoriginal photo, that being your hand holding up or pushing over the Leaning Tower Pisa.

Pulling out of the Livorno port at sunset captured with a fisheye lens from the balcony.