Valencia, Spain

We went on a Mediterranean Cruise in March of 2025 and one of the stops on our cruise was Valencia, Spain.  We happened to arrive on March 15th, which is the first day of Las Fallas, a festival held each year in honor of Saint Joseph, the husband of Mary.  The festival lasts 5 days from March 15 to March 19 and includes parades and huge crowds of people.  Many paper mache sculptures are on display in the streets and are burned as part of the closing of the celebration on March 19th.  I have never been in such a large crowd of people as I was that day in Valencia!

We rode the shuttle from the ship to the old city center.  We were dropped off at Calle Guadalaviar no. 5.  We crossed a bridge and began our tour at the Towers of Serranos.  The towers were completed in 1398 and are part of the original medieval walls of the city.  It costs 2 euro to visit and they open at 10 am.  They originally were part of the defense system of the city, but have been used for a variety of purposes since then, including a museum.  My fear of heights got the better of me on these towers, although I was able to make it to the top.  On the second-to-top level of the towers there is a thin walk-way that you can cross from one tower to the other rather than going down the stairs and back up.  My daughter went across the walkway twice, and that was enough for her.  I opted to go down the stairs and back up the other side.  Climbing the stairs is more difficult than in other towers I have climbed, because there is not a handrail all the way up, or the handrail is very short and hard to hold onto while climbing the stairs.  The view from the towers is magnificent, however.  You can find more information about the towers at this website:  Towers of Serranos

They're located at Plaza de los Flores, s/n; 46003, Valencia.

Towers of Serranos

Next we headed for the Valencia Cathedral, or Catedral de Valencia in the middle of the old town.  The Cathedral opens at 10:30 am and we arrived only minutes after it opened.  It cost 9 euro to visit the Cathedral, which houses what they claim to be the Holy Grail, or Holy Chalice.  That was the main reason I wanted to visit the Cathedral.  

Similar to visiting the Vatican Museums with the intention of seeing the Sistine Chapel, you have to go on the entire tour before seeing the Holy Grail at the very end of the tour.  If you know ahead of time, however, once you enter the Cathedral, just turn to your right and you can go see the Holy Grail in its Chapel right at the beginning of your visit.  We went on the entire tour, with all 29 stops.  

The Chapel of the Holy Grail is at the end of the tour, and the Holy Grail is the focal point of the room.  It is encased in glass and lit up.  Only the top of the grail (the cup part) is the original relic, the rest has been added to the cup throughout time.  This BBC article does a good job of describing the cup's voyage to finally end up in the Valencia Cathedral: BBC: Is This the Home of the Holy Grail?

I don't have any idea if this is indeed the cup that Christ drank from at the Last Supper.  But, as I sat in the chapel admiring it, I realized that if it indeed is the Holy Grail, it is probably going to be the closest I'll ever come to anything that Christ touched.  

The Holy Chalice located in the Chapel at the right of the entrance to the Cathedral

Another unique thing about the Valencia Cathedral is that it houses the left arm of Saint Vincent in a glass case.  It is an actual human arm on display in the cathedral. He was martyred in Valencia in 304, so it is a very old arm.  It is known as the Incorrupt Arm.

Near the back of the Cathedral is a statue entitled "Virgin of the Choir."  It is tradition among Catholics that pregnant women come and pray before the Virgin and then walk around the church 9 times to represent the 9 months that Mary carried Jesus.  

The official website for the Cathedral is here:  Valencia Cathedral

Virgin of the Choir located at the back of the Cathedral

As part of your visit to the Cathedral, you can climb the bell tower for 2.50 euro.  It is nearly 300 steps, and we opted not to do it after the scary experience we'd had in the Serranos Towers earlier that morning. Our friends climbed the tower, however, and said that it was not scary because there was a grate above the rock wall at the top of the tower, so the fear of falling off was abated.

After leaving the Cathedral we headed next door to the Basilica of our Lady of the Forsaken, or Basilica de la Virgen de los Desamparados.  There was a program going on inside the Basilica and it was full of people. A beautiful youth choir was singing and a religions program was underway when we entered.  In front of the basilica was a huge wooden structure representing the Virgen.  This was placed there for Fallas and would be burned at the end of the celebration on March 19th.  The Plaza De La Virgen was completely packed with people.

Basilica of our Lady of the Forsaken

Parades were happening in the streets, so we sat at an outdoor restaurant and enjoyed watching them go by as we ate lunch.  As the many bands would walk through the streets, people would follow them and join in the parade.  After eating, we walked to Plaza Redonda.  This is a unique "square" because it is round like a colosseum.  

Redonda

We walked from the Redonda to the Central Market, which was packed with booths selling food, souvenirs, and many other things.  We did a bit of shopping at both the Redonda and the Market.

Central Market

We walked some beautiful streets and especially admired all of the paper mache structures for Fallas that would be burned in a few days.  We eventually made our way back to the shuttle and rode back to the ship.  Despite being the most crowded place that I have ever been, I still really loved visiting Valencia, and if anything, it probably made the visit even better for me to have such a large crowd.  I wish we had still been there on March 19th to watch the burning of the Fallas structures.  This is called the Crema, and perhaps someday I will be there to see it.

Pisa, Italy

In March of 2025 I went on a Mediterranean cruise with my daughter, and one of the days our ship stopped in Livorno.  None of the excursions the cruise-line offered included climbing the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  Some included visiting the Square of Miracles and admiring the tower from the outside, but I really wanted to climb the tower.  So we planned our day ourselves.

We took a taxi from the cruise ship to the Livorno train station.  From there, using the Trainline app, we purchased tickets on the next train headed to Pisa.  The train ride from Stazione Livorno Centrale (Livorno Central Train Station) to Pisa Centrale Train Station is only about 15 minutes and costs just over 3 euro each way.  It is well worth the money!

From the station it is only about a 25 minute walk from Pisa Centrale to the Square of Miracles where the Leaning Tower of Pisa is.  Make your reservations to climb the tower ahead of time so that you can definitely get in.  The square is open all the time, but the buildings on the square don't open until 9 or 10 am.  You can visit several different buildings in the Square of Miracles.  We arrived on the square before the first building opened at 9, and just walked around and enjoyed the outside of the buildings.

Here is the official website for the Square of Miracles:

Square of Miracles

Buildings to visit on the Square of Miracles include:

* Leaning Tower of Pisa

* Cathedral

* Baptistery

* Camposanto (cemetery)

* Sinopie Museum

* Opera del Duomo Museum

I recommend purchasing a complete ticket including climbing the tower, which is 27 euro.  We visited the Baptistery first, then the Camposanto, followed by the Sinopie Museum and the Opera del Duomo Museum, and finally visited the Cathedral before heading to our 11 am visit to climb the tower.  Keep in mind that you cannot have any bags at all - including a small purse or a cross-body bag.  There is a luggage locker storage that is free of charge for ticket holders directly next to the palace (the palace is not included in the Square of Miracles ticket).  You scan your ticket barcode at a small kiosk in the locker room and a locker opens for you.  Put your belongings in the locker and keep the receipt to be able to retrieve your belongings after climbing the tower.  The timing worked out for us perfectly to arrive just before 9 am and be finished seeing everything before our 11 am tower climb.

The tower was leaning much more than I expected.  I had seen photos of it many times, but seeing it in person and walking all around the outside of the tower leaves you so amazed that it could still be standing!  It looked like it might topple over at any moment.  Additionally, walking inside the tower was not unlike trying to walk through a fun house at an amusement park!  It is hard to keep your balance as you climb up the winding staircases to the top of the tower, feeling the tower leaning as you climb. The tower is hollow on the inside. Most of the winding staircase is enclosed between the walls of the tower. However, the two top levels of the tower are exposed to the air and you can view the surrounding area in all directions as you walk around the tower.  I am terrified of heights, and I admit that I was very scared at the top of this tower, both of the top level and on the second to top level.  But I knew that I would probably never be in Pisa again, so I gathered all of my courage and finished climbing to the top.  You can look down through the hollow inside from the second-to-top floor of the tower, as well as looking up from the bottom of the tower after you climb down.  On the top level of the tower are on display the various bells that have been housed in the tower.  Climbing the tower is a definite MUST when you visit Pisa!

The Square of Miracles has been known by other names, including Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square), Compo dei Miracoles (Field of Miracles), or Meadow of Miracles.  Its popular name, The Square of Miracles, originated from a novel written by poet Gabriele D'Annunzio.  The Cathedral was built in 1064.  Galileo created his theory of movement of a pendulum while watching the swinging of a lamp in the Cathedral's nave.  Over the years this building has also started to tilt slightly, although not nearly to the extent as the Leaning Tower.

Cathedral

The Baptistery, which is dedicated to John the Baptist, was started in the 1100's but not completed until the 1300's.  There is a statue of John the Baptist on top of it.  It is the largest baptistry in Italy, and if you count the statue of John the Baptist on top of it, it is actually a few centimeters taller than the Tower.

Baptistery

The Tower was the third building on the Square to be built.  They began construction in 1173 and spent 177 building the tower.  Only five years into construction and three floors up, the tower had already begun to lean when the south side sunk into the ground.  Construction was put on hold for a century and eventually the tower stabilized.  When they continued building again in 1272, the floors were built with the ceilings on one side of the building higher than the others, to try to adjust the lean of the tower.  In 1319 the tower was completed, and had a 1 degree lean.  In 1990 its lean was measured at 5.5 degrees.  And in 2010 the lean measured at 4 degrees.  It is 180 feet high and housed 7 bells, which are on display on the top level of the tower.  Climbing the tower includes 296 steps and is not for the faint of heart.  It threw off my balance a great deal, and my fear of heights was in full force at the top.  Still, I'm very glad I did it once.

Campanile

The Camposato is an old cemetery and was constructed beginning in 1278.  It wasn't completed until 1464.  It was damaged by bombs in WWII, and restoration has been in progress since 1945.  People were still restoring the frescoes on the walls when we visited in 2025.  

Camposato

The Sinopias Museum was originally a hospital, built in 1257.  It was converted to a museum in 1976.  

Angels on display inside the Sinopias Museum that once adorned the Cathedral 

The Palazzo dell'Opera was originally housing for the construction workers on the square.  It was built in segments beginning in the 14th century and concluding in the 19th century.  It has only been a museum since the 21st century - before that it was used as administrative offices.

view of the tower from inside the museum

After we completed our tour of the Square of Miracles, we went to the far corner of the square where we found the tower to access the ancient walls of Pisa, the Torre Santa Maria.  You don't need to leave the square to be able to access the tower to climb up onto the walls.  It only costs 5 euro to climb up the tower onto the ancient walls and then you can walk to the left for a short distance to reach one end of the walls, and then turn and walk to the other end of the walls, which is only a 1.93 mile walk all the way to the end.  The walls are 36 feet high.  Here is their official website, although you can purchase the tickets at each tower except the last one closest to the Arno river:

Ancient Walls of Pisa

While the Leaning Tower was my favorite part of Pisa, my daughter's favorite part was walking on the ancient walls and viewing the city from this high perspective.  My fear of heights didn't prevent me from enjoying this walk.  It is perfectly safe.  They do close it during times of rain, but luckily we were able to get up onto the walls during a break in the rain and, although it did sprinkle on us while we were up there, we were fine and completed the walk without incident.  This is another MUST when you visit Pisa!

The Ancient Walls of Pisa

After climbing down from the ancient walls, we headed in the direction of the train station, and along the way we happened upon a great little pizza place called Pizzeria da Nando.  The pizza and service were both great, and it was crowded!  Here is their website:  Nando's Pizzeria  We grabbed some pizza and then made our way to the train station, purchased tickets using the Trainline app, and rode the train back to Livorno Centrale, another 15 minute ride.  We rode a taxi back to our cruise ship and headed back on board.  It was a great day in Pisa!  

Livorno Centrale Train Station

Pisa Centrale Train Station

statue of three cherubs holding a shield, near the tower at the entrance to Square of Miracles