Pisa and Lucca, Italy
On the last full day of our cruise we boarded a bus early in the morning for a trip to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower. I did not realize that we were also going to see another amazing cathedral. The tower is one of three structures in the Piazza del Duomo that includes the Pisa Cathedral, Baptistery, and the Campanile (tower). It's a beautiful example of Romanesque architecture. Construction of the cathedral began in 1063 and was finished in 1092. The cathedral was enlarged and a new façade was added in the 12th century. A massive fire destroyed much of the cathedral in 1595. We walked all around the Piazza and it was interesting to view the tower from different angles. From some angles it doesn't look like it's leaning too bad, but from other angles it looks like it could topple over at any minute. It was a cold wet day. Thank goodness Viking provides huge umbrellas to their guests. Passengers from the Norwegian cruise ship were scrambling to buy umbr...