Saturday (10/03/2015)
We left from La Spezia, our base in Cinque Terre, and took a train to Step around noon, which took about 1 hour.
Read about our Cinque Terre tour here.
In front of the train station there were several bus stops and none of the ticket machines were working, so we had to buy the tickets from the driver himself (more expensive – 1.20 euros each, valid for 70 minutes).
Our accommodation
It took us more than half an hour to get to our accommodation, Cisanello Residence (45 euros, without coffee). This affittacamere It's an apartment in a residential condominium, with no doorman, but it's very tidy. We got a room that didn't originally have a bathroom, so the toilet they installed in the new bathroom is a VERY noisy makeshift. The room is comfortable, especially if you keep the windows closed, because there are a lot of mosquitoes there. If you want to save money and don't mind taking the bus and all these details, it's a good choice.
Having lunch in the city
We left our things in the room, rested a bit and went out to explore the center of Pisa. We used the same bus ticket to return to the train station and from there we walked towards the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa and its surroundings. We crossed the Arno River and decided to stop for lunch at the restaurant Tinti's Osteria, which had a good rating on TripAdvisor and didn't seem like a tourist trap. It's very hidden and very cozy. We were served by the owner, we only saw tables with Italians and we loved the dishes we ordered. We recommend it!
Getting to know the city
We continued walking and soon we arrived at Piazza del Duomo, which has the Tower of Pisa, Battistero di San Giovanni, Cathedral of Pisa and The Camposanto. It was a beautiful day and the place was packed with tourists, but we loved the tour. The tilt of the Tower is really impressive and because of that, it is quite common to see people doing funny poses with it. We even tried, but we were not successful. HAHAHA
We decided not to climb the Tower, but some people do and have to pay for it. In fact, practically all the attractions in this large square are paid for, with the exception of the Cathedral. We chose to visit only the Cathedral and to do so, we had to take a ticket with an appointment. You can't just walk in, huh... While we waited for our time to come, we took the opportunity to lie down on the grass and sunbathe, like many other people were doing. We just had to be careful because some areas were off-limits, so some guards kept asking people to leave.
The Tower of Pisa
For those who don't know, the Leaning Tower of Pisa It is the bell tower of the Cathedral, with almost 300 steps to its top, with about 7 floors. Because of the inclination, the highest part of the tower is 56.67 meters, while the lowest part is 55.86 meters. Its inclination was once 5.5 degrees, but after the restoration work, this number went down to 3.99 degrees. Its construction took 199 years (!!!!), having been completed in 1372.
The Cathedral of Pisa
Already the Pisa Cathedral Its construction began in the 11th century, but it underwent several modifications over the centuries, mainly due to fires that occurred there. It is impressive inside, but it was under construction when we went, so we had to overlook this detail. Take a look at the photos:
We left there late in the afternoon and walked back to the train station to catch the bus to our accommodation. We caught a wonderful sunset on the Arno River on the way and I felt that that was the perfect moment to end the trip. Another perfect trip with him! <3
We returned to Dublin the next day and I'm already starting to think about when we'll return to this enchanting country. Italy, see you soon!
Want to know more about THIS TRIP? See the posts below:
- Italy – Rome, Tuscany, Bologna and Cinque Terre (14 days -SUMMARY)
- Italy – Rome and Vatican (4 days)
- Italy – Bologna (1 day)
- Italy – Tuscany – Summary (4 days)
- Italy – Tuscany – San Gimignano and Volterra (1 day)
- Italy – Tuscany – Florence (2 days)
- Italy – Tuscany – Lucca (1 day)
- Italy – Tuscany – Monteriggioni and Siena (1 day)
- Italy – Tuscany – Montepulciano and Cortona (1 day)
- Italy – Tuscany – Pisa (1 day)
- Italy – Cinque Terre (2 days)
If you want to know more about our other trips around Italy, see below:
