Pisa!!

May 4, 2012

Today I made a conscious choice to play tourist. The object of my interest was the town of Pisa in Italy. My approach was to take advantage of an opportunity we have available for crew while we are in Europe, the Tour Escort program. Due to the large number of guests that we have on almost every tour, the ship is allowed to send along a crew member or two for free to assist the local tour guide in ensuring the group stays together and no guest is left behind. While free and allowing you to learn about the sites, it can be a bit like herding cats.

I signed up for this tour at the encouragement of my friends in Shore Excursions. When I arrived on the dock 15 minutes before my tour I met our guide and discovered there would be another Tour Escort from our crew, Aleksandra, who is a casino dealer. The bus ride to Pisa from the port city of Livorno was approximately 45 minutes which allowed me the chance to get to know another crew member. Aleksandra is from Macedonia, a nation I knew little to nothing about (at least not in modern times), so we were able to chat our way to our destination.

When we arrived in Pisa there was approximately a kilometer walk from the bus parking lot to the piazza where the famous tower resides. This is a relatively short walk, except for the elderly, but it was fraught with far too many distractions for our 40 guests. Aleksandra and I positioned ourselves at the tail end of the group and found ourselves standing as much as walking as we ensured that no guest got behind us. One of our number was a charming elderly lady from Colorado who was using a walker. There were times when she brought up the rear, but frankly she was not the tardiest of the lot. Eventually, though, we traversed the scant 6/10 of a mile to the famous landmark.

They don’t call it the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Pisa. It is simply, ‘the tower.’ It is the bell tower for the cathedral (duomo) of Pisa. Almost every city that had a duomo had a tower. Also, it is not unusual for buildings to lean in Southern Italy. The water table is so high that when you build structures out of heavy materials like marble, they are bound to sink, albeit unevenly. Once you realize this you are astounded when a building in this part of the world appears to be essentially straight. We stayed with the tour through all the historical and architectural descriptions and then were given time to wander on our own.

The tower does not, of course, stand alone. Next to it, in this beautiful piazza, are the duomo and baptistery which are equally impressive edifices. The whole plaza is surrounded by gift shops and carts and countless restaurants and bars. But the most stunning part of the piazza to me was the beautiful and lush lawn that surrounded the duomo. Even better was the vast expanse of humanity who were taken advantage of this peaceful respite on this sun drench Italian day. I avoided the temptation to have my picture taken ‘holding up’ the tower, although I saw plenty of crew members who would have assisted me in this quest. Instead, I found a relaxing place on the lawn and people watched as tourists and locals intermingled in this grand plaza. Eventually the temptation for something savory did win out, but ‘no’ I did not have pizza in Pisa. Instead a gelato was the perfect complement to my moment of the dolce vita.

All too soon the free time ended. I hustled back to the bus meeting point at the edge of the plaza and was pleased to see that all our guests had made it. The most significant service I had to provide was in sheltering our guests from the overly aggressive vendors who decided that some of them were easy marks. We then reversed our previous trek to return to our bus. Unfortunately, several of our guests decided that they needed a picture of every building, every sign, and every vista that the city provided. One request I have to all my friends. If you are ever on a tour, don’t be ‘that guy/girl.’ Please stay with your group and don’t assume it is your inalienable right to delay others so you can get that perfect picture. Seriously. I don’t care how much you paid for the tour.

I don’t remember the bus ride back. After the relaxing two hour excursion in the warm sun of Pisa, the rocking of the bus knocked me right out. When we hit a bump near the port I awoke with a start and laughed when I saw that Aleksandra had also just been startled awake. What great Tour Escorts we were!

And the adventure continues . . .