Pisa and Luca

It's our last day of touring and we are off to Pisa and Luca but as the Italians would say,we are off to peesa and looka. Our friendly tour company is used to us by now having taken a few tours with them. This time our guide is Sara a diminutive thing but with a voice that s strong enough to get everyone going. She starts our tour introducing herself first in English and then in Spanish. The husband for the life of him can't figure out when the English stops and the Spanish begins. To be fair to him it's a pretty task,I have to leesen very carefully to understand what she says. Of course I am getting the hang of it.

It takes us an hour and a half to reach peesa (in keeping with the Italian way of speaking English some words will have to be read the way they are written....I know my spellings aren't good but this is deliberate). It's a small town with a few houses dominated by the leaning tower,the Pisa cathedral and the baptistery.

The Italians like I mentioned earlier are quiet unlike the Germans,time keeping isn't their finest virtue so the guide ees late. Sara is on her phone for a while and we are handed over to our new guide ( a doctor Spock lookalike). He arrives in blue jeans,tight t shirt,muscles bulging ,flat stomach and all . Rather a fit man one would imagine and then he tells us his name is Roberto (big emphasis on the r). He is obviously a veteran tour guide,quickly sizes up the group,talks in Japanese ,German,French and English with a bit of double Dutch thrown in. When it's our turn he tells us of all the places he's visited in the south of India ( did he read it off a brochure we will never know ) and we are suitably impressed. Roberto is hilarious he keeps us in splits and also has enough knowledge to explain it all. Most cathedrals in Italy have three elements,the cathedral,the bell tower and the baptistery. I didn't bother seeing previous guides what the baptistery was for but Roberts tells us that in the olden days,people who were not baptised and hence considered non Christian couldn't enter the church. So during the festivals they would have group baptisms in a large font kept in the baptistery after which they were free to walk into church. Roberto has a word with all the security personal,hugs all the women on duty and is generally in the know. Even the security guards with guns have to break into smiles when he is around....his favourite phrase is ....'I beg of you". By far the best guide we have had. We move on to the leaning tower of Pisa which I must admit is a wonderful sight. To think that an architectural mistake can bring people all over the world to see it is truly amazing.the tower itself is worth a climb. 296 steps to climb and I am determined to huff and puff my way to the top and we do it. A good photo at the top and we get a 360 degree view of the city.  We are told that the tower was a watchtower in the old days as all the provinces in Italy were at war with each other and they had to see the enemy coming. We have climbed many such monuments but this ones marble steps are worn out with the millions walking on it. Half way down we can feel the tilt of the tower and are wondering why we are tilting but realise soon enough the lay of the land. Back on the ground and we are off  to Luca.

Luca is a walled city and is called the city of a hundred churches but actually has only some seventy odd churches. It's a quaint place but by the time we reach the husband is tired and refuses to walk. He is done with walking and here I am all ready to go all over the place. My map reader then issues an ultimatum. He is planning to sit it out and I can be off with a map and do whatever it is that I have to do. Good plan indeed except that if you leave me with a map and all the time in the world then it's no problem I will find my way but expecting me to come back in an hour is all too much. Quick action is required and after years of practise I know the ropes. A quick salty bite from a nice little cafe where the English speaking Italian who quickly figures my dilemma ,and a gelato kind of puts some energy into the husband. There is one pLce he wants to visit so we walk at a real slow pace to reach it. An espresso and objective achieved. We reach the walls of Luca and the sight is so beautiful,the husband forgets his fatigue. Thank god for patience ( was in danger of loosing my cool). We take the mandatory pictures find a nice park bench for the husband and I am on my way walking on the walls. The sight is serenity itself . Large expanses of green lawns below the walls. Trees that stand like sentries on the horizon and ancient walls that protect a city within. Who ever thought up all this. And how well they preserve it. I am sure we have beautiful places like this in our country but we don't even have clean public toilets so when will we learn? Our trip is over and we are back in Florence . Our Tuscany adventure is all but over and the decision to visit this beautiful part of Italy was well worth it.