Italian Trip Not Complete Without Visiting Pisa

There are a few places in the world that are identified by a famous structure in each such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Opera House in Sydney.  Well, everyone knows about the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  Again, George and I went there a few years ago, but it is always such a fascinating place, that we loved going back.

 

Walking along the street going toward the Cathedral Square.  There were plenty of little souvenir stands. 

George and I aren't big into souvenirs, but we did get this little Leaning Tower--it is a whole six or seven inches high, but brings back many fond memories!  Also, this is where we got some little leather purses for all the granddaughters.

We passed by this gorgeous flower stand with this beautiful dog standing guard.  Joyce took this perfect picture!

We then reached the gateway to the Cathedral Square.  This is known as the Porta Santa Maria.

 Immediately you see four structures:  (L to R)  The baptistry, the Cathedral, the bell tower (Leaning Tower), and the burial place for the upper class which isn't shown in this picture.  Everyone has to stop and take a picture of them trying to hold up the tower.  George makes it look pretty easy even with his Coke Light in his hand.

The tower was just beginning to be built in 1173 when it started leaning due to poor foundation and the soil beneath.  Through the years, many ideas have been used to keep it from toppling over.  As you can see, it has been shifted due to the ingenious efforts of many engineers and is now going straighter.  The people of Pisa said, "Don't straighten it too much!  We don't want to lose our tourists!" 

 

 The huge cathedral wasn't opened until later that morning, so we weren't able to go inside, but we walked around the outside.

Doors to enter the cathedral with a guard standing there.  The door was made of bronze in 1180 by Pisano while he was working on the tower.  It depicts different events in the life of Christ.

 

Just in front of the cathedral is the baptistry (the round building to the left), which was open, so for a fee, we got to go inside.

Joyce discovered in her research that the baptistry, also, leans, but not much is mentioned about it.

The baptistry building was huge!

 

 Inside, we had to walk through this narrow hallway up quite a number of stairs to get to the top to see down below.

Now you can see how far we walked.  That little tiny figure in the lower right is Doug.  The baptismal font was for immersing the adults entering the church, and the four little round areas inside the font were for immersing the babies.  After their baptism, the newly baptized people would walk the short distance over to the cathedral to take their first sacrament.  Our guide told us it is no longer done that way--immersion, that is--and this building is only a museum piece. 

The very ornate and raised pulpit.

Six marble columns hold up the pulpit.  Three of them are on lions which symbolize the triumph of Christianity over paganism.

Yes, it was a beautiful day in Pisa.  (From here you can see the burial place in between the bell tower and cathedral.  We didn't have time to see it either.  Always something more to see on the next trip!)

From here we took a bus to Florence.  Oh my, that city is loaded with so much history and artistry!  That will be my next blog.

To see more pictures and understand more of the history of Pisa, go to my sister's blog at:

http://sixgirlsoneboy.blogspot.com/2012/03/day-11-pisa-italy.html