Livorno, Italy (Pisa and Florence)

For Livorno, you have to ask yourself an important question: How important is Pisa on your must see list? For that matter, how important is Florence/Firenze?

We chose to do both on our own and to tell you the truth, there was barely enough time. This was one port where we made it back to the ship by the skin of our teeth (read on).

Livorno
Princess provided shuttles for 10 euros from the pier to and from the center of Livorno (I don't think it was walkable especially with the time constraints). Before you go anywhere, find out when the last shuttle of the day is scheduled. From there, we conveniently saw a tourist booth where we asked where we could take the bus to the train station. The girl was very helpful and told us to walk down one block to a bus stop and take the #1 to the station. The bus ride was short (10 mins) and you can buy a ticket at any of the numerous newstands.

The station at Livorno (Livorno Central) offered transport to both Pisa and Florence. The trains are run by Trenitalia (which run all over Italy). Use the self-serve kiosks to avoid the lines at the tellers if you don't have any questions. Trains to Pisa were quite frequent (10-20 mins) while trains to Florence were less frequent (30-40 mins). Travel time to Pisa is about 15 minutes while travel time to Florence was around 80-90 minutes.

WARNING: some of these trains are not in great condition and often do not have air conditioning... so make make sure you sit at a seat where the windows can open.

Pisa
As soon as you get off in Pisa you should take the L.A.M. Rossa bus which runs from the airport the Tower and back. Make sure you head north! We took the bus going the wrong way and ended up at the airport. Your best bet is to ask someone at the newsstand in the train station while you are buying bus tickets (there are posts on the newsstand that tell you how to get to the Tower as well).

After a 10 minute ride you'll arrive at the Piazza del Duomo which is where the Tower of Pisa stands... err leans. It is also where you can find the Duomo, Baptistery and Camposanto which are all just as beautiful as the tower. Also in this area is quite the open market where they sell souvenirs to tourists. You will see a lot of tourists taking pictures pretending to push the tower... which was quite amusing to see. Follow the side streets and you will find some nice shops and cafes. This was also our first chance at tasting real Italian gelato (the first of many!).

You can spend lots of time here going into each of the buildings but there is an entrance fee. You can also go up the tower and have a slanted view of the area, but there is also a cover charge. But if you have a lot planned for Florence, you have to manage your time well.

Take the LAM Rossa bus back to the train station when you want to head to your next destination.

Florence
The train ride to Florence is quite nice, there is nice scenery of the countryside to enjoy on your way. Enjoy it on your way there because on the way back you'll probably be passed out from exhaustion... we were. Make sure to get off at the Santa Maria Novella (SMN) train station in Florence. There are multiple stations in Florence, but the SMN is the closest to all the sites. We got off the at the first station and found that it was the wrong one. Also, before you leave the SMN station, make sure you note the time of the train back to Livorno and buy a ticket... who knows if you have to run for it later.

We didn't leave much time for Florence which was unfortunate. The fortunate part was that there is lots to see in a tight area. Make sure you have a map, comfy shoes and a good battle plan for this area. Outside the station you'll immediately see the Santa Maria Novella church. We walked from the station to the Santa Maria del Fiore which is the large duomo (cathedral) famous in Florence. Beside it you will find the Baptistry and Giotto's Tower.

A must see is the Palazzo Vecchio, which is the old city hall of Florence. Out in the square where in front you will find some truly amazing statues as well as replica of Michaelangelo's David. The real David is at the Galleria dell'Accademia.

There are many shops, markets and cafes in this area as well. You can spend the entire day wandering just this area itself. We ate more gelato...

Mad Dash
Keep an eye on your watch and make sure you leave enough time to get back to the SMN train station. We cut this close and had to run to our train platform (the next train would make us miss the shuttle back to the ship in Livorno)... only to find that the Livorno train was cancelled! Since the next train to Livorno wasn't for another 40 minutes, we hopped on the train to Pisa that was leaving in 10 minutes. The stop over in Pisa cost us more time as we had to wait again to catch a train to Livorno.

By this time we were sweating bullets. We for sure didn't have enough time to make the last Princess shuttle from Livorno to the ship... we were already running 40 minutes behind schedule. Thoughts of having to catch the train to the next port raced through our minds... I was already trying to haphazardly plan out what we needed to do should we miss the boat. It was a long 15 minute train ride to Livorno.

After arriving at Livorno train station, we immediately jumped into a taxi with 15 minutes left to get back to the ship. This is where our next stroke of bad luck came. In Livorno (and maybe other places in Italy), the taxis do not have meters. You are supposed to negotiate your fare before you get in the taxi. After you get in the taxi and start to move, your negotiating leverage is non-existent. We paid 25 euros for a 10 minute ride... which is a total scam. I think a reasonable price would have been around 15 euros at most. But beggars can't be choosers and we were just glad to get going to the ship. When we got there, we breathed a sigh of relief and let the ship's air conditioning dry up our now sweat-soaked clothes... it felt like bliss.

Here's the icing on the cake: after we got back on the ship, an announcement came on the PA from the captain that explained that the ship wasn't allowed to leave the pier for another 2 hours. Yaaarg!

After we thought about it, it would have probably been a good idea to go to Florence first then Pisa. This way if you're running late you only have to risk a 15 minute ride from Pisa (which ran more frequently as well) to Livorno instead of a 90 minute ride from Florence to Livorno.

Hopefully you'll have better experience in Livorno/Pisa/Florence. It was definitely harrowing but we still enjoyed ourselves immensely when we were there. We made a promise that we'll come back to Florence one day and do it proper. In hindsight, we made a lot of time wasting mistakes on our adventure, which goes to show that anything can happen.

Please feel free to leave comments and helpful suggestions for other travelers.

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Resources:
* Pisa, Italy on Wikitravel and Wikipedia
* Florence, Italy on Wikitravel and Wikipedia
* Livorno, Italy on Wikipedia
* Trenitalia train lines