Photo 1: Leaning Tower of Pisa
Photo 2: Baptiste - where children are baptised before being allowed into the church
Photo 3: view of Marseilles from the Basilica

Livorno - Pisa

On Thursday we docked in Livorno and took a tour to Pisa. After our exhausting day in Rome it was good to have a leisurely four hour tour spent mostly in a bus and then in a trolley bus. Buses are banned from the town area so the trolley bus was welcome as it saved us about 20 minutes walking – our feet and legs practically cried with thanks.

The leaning tower is very impressive even though we had seen photos of it hundreds of times. The white marble is beautiful. The tower was built as the bell tower for the nearby cathedral, which is big but a bit ordinary after St Peter’s. We took photos from different angles and will upload a couple once we get off the ship and get decent wifi. It was built in two stages – the base and first two levels before it started to lean (due to the sandy soil), then the last four stages a century later once the leaning had practically stopped. The last four stages were built with the pillars thicker on the side opposite the angle of the lean and you will be able to see the bowing effect in the photos.

Of course we were hounded by hawkers as usual but we were smart enough not to buy anything from them, especially as we were warned that their stuff is generally not locally made.

Toulon, Marseille and Aix En Provence

If this is Thursday this must be France J. We are just about toured out but really enjoyed our day on the Cote D’Azure. The weather gods continued to smile on our cruise as we had another perfect day of sunshine and temperature in the mid-twenties. This is certainly the time to visit the Mediterranean.

Toulon is one of the two biggest military bases in France and is quite modern having been levelled in World War Two. The port area is very pretty with marinas and yachts and the coastal mountains in the background. We drove from there to Marseille through the mountains and enjoyed beautiful scenery including farms, vineyards, forests and glimpses of the sea. Marseille is the more historic part of the port area (newish for the same reason as Toulon) and is the second largest city in France with around one million people. Marseille is actually a collection of what were originally separate villages, and this is reflected in the little village squares and fountains dotted through the city. Wonderful!

While we were sitting at an ice cream shop at the waterfront enjoying the view we saw an elderly woman begging. She approached someone from our bus and asked him for money and when he said no she made a grab for his wallet! He grabbed her wrist and squeezed it till she let go. That is the first time we have seen such an attempted theft and it was a good warning. She continued to hang around after that and accosted others on our tour (including us) so I suppose she gets full marks for persistence.

We drove up to the Notre Dame de la Gard basilica atop a hill and enjoyed sweeping views of Marseille and environs. After that we drove to the old provincial capital Aix En Provence for lunch. Another lovely town.