Private Pisa And Puccini's Lake
Puccini's Lake and Pisa Private Excursion
After meeting your driver in Livorno, you will set off on the approximately forty-minute drive to Pisa. En route, you will have an orientation on the fascinating town from your tour escort. Upon arrival in Pisa, your escort will walk with you to the Field of Miracles, the most popular attraction in Pisa and one of the most famous places in the world. They will then give you free time to explore on your own on this Livorno excursion.
The square is situated right by the oldest early Medieval city walls, built in 1155 and perfectly preserved. It took decades to build. This seems pretty obvious given the magnificence of the buildings. It is interesting to note that not even the change in artistic taste of the period managed to affect the overall quality of the complex (from Romanesque to Gothic), probably due to the Pisan Medieval culture, which meant a plan extended beyond the lifetime of an individual man to be handed down from father to son.
The Cathedral or Duomo is a good place to start. It is the oldest building of the complex, founded in 1063 on the remains of old Etruscan and Roman temples.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa was built between 1173 and the end of the 14th century. It took so long to build because it started to lean as soon as the third floor was completed, and the works were stopped. A century later, the works started again. In fact, if you look closely at the tower, it is not a straight tower leaning, it is slightly bent, in the attempt to straighten it up and prevent its fall.
The Baptistery was started by Diotisalvi in 1152 and it was finished in the 14th century. The interior has a diameter of 116 feet and features astounding acoustics. You can whisper on one side of the corridor, and a person on the opposite side can hear you perfectly. At the appointed time, you will meet your escort and return to your transportation.
Next on your Livorno excursion, you will drive approximately 30 minutes to Torre del Lago, which is ideally situated between Lake Massaciuccoli, the Tyrrhenian sea, and in close proximity to the Apuan Alps. Here you will tour the villa where the composer Giacomo Puccini lived. The home is now a museum and houses documents and mementos of his life.
In the summer of 1891, Puccini sublet two rooms in the modest tower house from a gamekeeper for the Borbonis estate nearby. Following the success of "Tosca," Puccini purchased the house and set about having it completely restructured. Inside are delicate decorations by Nomellini and Pagni, a fireplace by Galileo Chini, Bugatti and Tiffany furniture, and the Maestro's Foster piano. A small chapel inside the villa treasures the composer's remains and those of his wife Elvira and his son Antonio. Mrs. Simonetta Puccini, the composer's granddaughter, directs the museum. After the visit to the villa you will have some free time before the 30-minute drive back to the port.
Please Note: The local guide at the Puccini Museum may or may not speak English. Your escort will translate if necessary. Vehicles available for this tour accommodate groups of up to 2, 6, 8, 19, 25, 40, or 50 guests maximum. Groups with more than 30 guests may be accommodated upon request. Please take this information into consideration when booking.
Shore Excursions Group was created with one goal in mind: to provide exceptional travel experiences to cruise passengers in the ports they visit around the world. To accomplish this, we have compiled an exceptional array of tours delivered by local experts with decades of experience serving travelers and delivering excellent tours. Our owners and management team are comprised of seasoned travel industry executives who leverage their considerable experience to deliver memories of a lifetime.
We are experts in providing exceptional shore excursions. We understand that in today's fast paced world, vacations have become an increasingly important way to relax, reconnect with family and friends, and experience new and interesting places. With this in mind, we provide the highest quality tours by performing extensive research, and detailed reviews. While other companies also offer excursions, we strongly believe our expertise and approach set us apart. The large cruise lines sell shore excursions - typically in very large groups visiting high traffic sites. We focus on smaller groups visiting more interesting and authentic locations using more personalized local operators. While the cruise lines are experts in delivering cruises, we are experts in delivering shore excursions.
Our Approach
We believe quality service is not only highly valued by customers, but ultimately leads to better experiences and higher satisfaction. Unlike the cruise lines and other tour companies that rely almost entirely on websites, we encourage customers to call us. We want to invest our time answering your questions, providing input, and selecting the excursions that best meet your needs.
Our Tours
Our goal is to provide customers a wide array of exciting, appealing, and enriching tours. For those customers who prefer to travel in smaller groups with more personalized service, we offer a wide variety of small group tours around the world. These tours generally range in size from 2-12 people compared to larger tours which can number up to 50 people. While exploring the destinations and ports on this website, feel free to search for these "Small Group Tours". For those customers interested in private tours, we offer many outstanding excursions that allow you to travel with your party alone and, in many cases, to fully customize your tour. Search for "Private Tours" if you are interested in this experience. Our "Scenic" tours provide up close and personal access to some of the most spectacular natural environments on Earth from majestic glaciers in Alaska to spectacular reefs in the Caribbean. Our "Cultural" tours allow customers to experience local customs, entertainment and culinary delights ranging from tribal dances in Alaska to an outstanding local meal in Santorini, Greece. Our "Active" tours offer a multitude of exciting and adventurous ways to experience our destinations. Our customers can kayak the turquoise waters of the Caribbean, hike to a spectacular waterfall in Hawaii, or bicycle through quaint villages in France. Our "City" tours allow travelers to see the highlights of great cities around the world with unique insights provided by our expert tour guides.
Our People
In our experience, exceptional travel experiences are almost always delivered by exceptional people. With that in mind, we utilize a comprehensive approach to select and employ the leading tour guides and tour providers around the globe. We hold our people to very high standards which we measure by our comprehensive Quality Control process and, most importantly, by our customer feedback, which we will actively seek from each of our customers.
Our Owners
Shore Excursions Group is owned by seasoned travel executives possessing extensive experience across many sectors within the travel industry.
Bradford J. Miller
Mr. Miller is the former Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer for Abercrombie & Kent, the World's leading luxury travel company. In that role, Mr. Miller was responsible for contributing to Abercrombie & Kent's international growth through the development and acquisition of tour products and travel experiences around the world with a specific focus on cruising and land based experiences. Prior to joining Abercrombie & Kent, Mr. Miller held a variety of executive positions with Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises for more than a decade. These positions included Vice President of Guest Sales & Service, Vice President of Brand Development, and Vice President of Onboard Revenue (which included shore excursions). Mr. Miller also led Celebrity Expeditions, a collection of outstanding and unique tours around the World.
Michael Bonner
Mr. Bonner has over a decade of experience working in the cruise industry in a variety of roles for both Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and Viking River Cruises. Most recently, Mr. Bonner was the Chief Operating Officer for The Scholar Ship, a Royal Caribbean program aimed at providing college students onboard educational programs in conjunction with enriching shore excursions around the world. Mr. Bonner also helped co-manage Viking River Cruises U.S. Operations, and he ran the corporate, strategic, and deployment planning functions at Royal Caribbean. While at Royal Caribbean, Mr. Bonner was responsible for forming Royal Celebrity Tours, Royal Caribbean's land-based tour operation in Alaska, which takes cruise passengers on multiple day tours through the interior of Alaska either before or after their cruises. Prior to working at Royal Caribbean, Mr. Bonner was a consultant for Booz Allen & Hamilton.
$64.00 USD
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