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Today we said good by to Spain. There is so much more to see in the great country but it is always good to save something for the next trip.
This was to be a travel day in a big way using just about every mode of transportation except boats. We were driven by car to the train station by the father of our landlady. Then we rode the fast train (approx 200 miles per hour) to Barcelona. There we rode another train to the airport. But the train did not go all the way to the airport so we had to ride a bus to the actual airport. Then the plane to Pisa, Italy. At the airport we rented a car.
And now the story gets more interesting. We were mentally prepared for the short drive from the airport to the hotel in downtown Pisa. We had a map which we had printed months ago from mapquest, we had directions from the car rental guy (which looked a bit like hieroglyphics) and we had another map. This should be easy. But of course it was not. And we quickly determined we were lost. One way streets, no turns
where the directions showed there to be turns, signs in a foreign language, traffic jams with police yelling and directing traffic, and no street names on the streets -- all of these things added together to spell LOST! But I knew our hotel was near the Leaning Tower - somewhere. There were lots of signs directing us to what I thought was the tower. So we kept following those signs. Still not seeing any of the street names on my maps and directions I looked around to see if I could see the names of any hotels. And sure enough, right there on the very corner we were heading to was our hotel! And Jerry thought we were lost!!
The Hotel Cecile is not the best we have ever stayed in but I am pretty sure it is the oldest. But then it seems like everything in the town of Pisa is old and expensive. But we were only there for the night so we quickly got our stuff in our room and headed to see the town before it got dark.
It really is an impressive sight. To see in real life a structure that you have
heard about and seen pictures of since you were a kid is really an amazing thing. We were really surprised with how much it really does lean. It was so impressive that we went back again the next morning before leaving town. We spent about an hour walking around the tower, the cathedral, the Baptistry, and the old city wall.
Pisa has some interesting sights and worth seeing but not enough to stay for any longer than a day. So once again it was time to head on down the highway.
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