Italy - Pisa and Livorno

Last evenings activities included our second visit to the roulette table. After playing for 20 minutes, we were still all squared so called it a night not having recovered a single dollar from our previous loss. Still, we are only half way through our trips so plenty of time yet! We then retreated to Club Fusion to watch the end of the karaoke and also to listen to the house (or should I say ship) band who continued to play a wide range of songs from artists as diverse as Dire Straits to Anne Murray.

Today was our visit to Livorno, and specifically to the city of Pisa. Thankfully the coach journey took no longer than half an hour and we were soon mingling with the vast crowds of tourists snapping pictures of the famous Leaning Tower. Our guide was extremely knowledgable and talked for what seemed like hours, but there is only so much information about 16th century architecture that one can take in at one time, so we sneaked away to explore the rest of the Field of Miracles on our own.

I make no excuse for the picture attached...yes it is corny...but who can see the Leaning Tower without attempting to push it upright?

We made it back to the ship in time for a late lunch and then hopped on to the shuttle bus for a very brief look around Livorno. It is obviously a very busy industrial port being the gateway to both Pisa  and Florence, but the city itself is well worth a visit. It parts, it has a canal network not unlike Venice or Amsterdam, it has large, open piazzas, old buildings and bell towers, and a fairly modern main shopping street boasting stores such as H&M, Zara, Timberland, Benetton and Swarovski. Obviously the Italians are coming to realise that there is money to be made from the less glamourous ports of their country.

A couple of hours was all we could manage before feet started to ache, so it was back to the ship again and just in time to join in the afternoon trivia. I am somewhat embarrassed to say that we achieved our second win for the trip and so, if any reader would like a very fashionable and much sort after Princess Cruises lanyard, please let me know as I am building up quite a collection.