Monday 2nd November

Arrived in Cittavechia at about 6.30 & left after breakfast to queue for a shuttle bus to the port gate for 20 minutes. At the gate there were a horde of touts trying to sell day tours to Rome so we chose one for €25 & hopped in the minibus. Here again we waited for about another 20 minutes before acquiring a bunch of Italians to fill the bus.

Cittavechia must be at least 40 km north of Rome & it took about an hour & a half to arrive in Rome near to St Peter's in the Vatican. To our surprise we were able to join a queue & walked around inside the basilica & be back at the minibus in less than an hour. The next stop was to see a fountain in a fine square where we had a drink & watched the world go by. Here we were late back to the bus before we were taken on to the capitol where Jane led our friends to see a couple of buildings whilst d*** waited. Then on again, to stop at the end of a road tunnel to visit the Trevi fountain & the Spanish Steps. The former we found Ok but with barriers around it as it was being repaired but the latter remained elusive. Eventually we found it only to see the stairs were also barricaded off & the church at the top was covered in scaffolding, which was disappointing. Finally we went to the Colisseum but again it was partially covered in scaffolding & Jane led off again while d*** worked on emails etc as the bus had wi-fi as his knees were complaining very loudly.

From there we returned to the port passing through some beautiful countryside & back to Cittavechia. We caught the next shuttle back to the ship passing 3 more cruise ships. Had an early night after the Pub Quiz at 8pm.

Tuesday 3rd November

Arrived in Livorno at 7.45 & after breakfast left the ship & negotiated for a minivan taxi to go to Pisa, about 30 km east, with 5 other passengers. The journey went well but the big surprise was that we passed a huge US Military base Ft Darby which stretched about 2km along the road. On arrival it was agreed we had 2 hours to look around & meet again at the minibus.

We walked a few hundred metres to the walled cathedral precinct where the leaning bell tower dominates the area. To our surprise however the precinct has 3 other wonderful buildings, the Cathedral itself, the Baptistry & the cloisters with a museum on one face. As the cathedral didn’t open until 10.00 we walked outside the walls chasing a loo, into a lovely piazza & had our obligatory coffee etc. Returning to the precinct, we bought a ticket for the Baptistry & went in. It is a circular tower like building with an altar & a very finely carved pulpit built in the 1300s with staircases in the walls up to a gallery from which we had fine views of the interior & the walls outside. d*** did the stairs as a penance, although he doesn’t quite know for what.

From there we crossed into the cathedral itself, a truly beautiful one almost austere in its design. The internal walls had some huge paintings on them & below these there were some rather poorly lit but finely made marquetry inlaid wooden panels. The ceiling was covered in ornately carved & gilded panels. Although the centre of the cathedral was under repair we marvelled at the carved pulpit from the 1300s which was one of the most elaborate we have ever seen.

The whole area was truly great to behold & we were very impressed with the whole precinct.

We returned to the street to find the minivan where 4 of the others had already gathered but we then waited for nearly 20 minutes but the 7th person had disappeared so eventually we left her behind in Pisa. This annoyed everybody because we had negotiated a rate for the van not the individuals so we each had to pay more.

After returning to the ship we had a quick lunch & took the shuttle into Livorno, which took about 10 minutes. The city was controlled by the Medici family for several hundred years but was devastated in WW2 & has been extensively rebuilt. It is a very busy port & there were 3 other cruise ships in, several huge vehicle ferries & many freighters. We wandered around & completed the compulsory Wi-fi work before exploring the complex network of canals & the fine buildings which had survived the war. Somewhat tired we took the shuttle back to the ship at 5.15 & had an early dinner.