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Published: November 10th 2006
Campo dei Miracoli
"Campo dei Miracoli" with the Baptistery in the foregroundDay 11 - Florence to Pisa to Lucerne
This was a big travelling day. We got off reasonably early and it didn't take long to get in to Pisa. The main attraction there of course, is the Leaning Tower of Pisa. This can be found in the Campo dei Miracoli ("Field of Miracles") which is a walled square in the heart of the city of Pisa. Not only does it contain the Leaning Tower, but there is also the Duomo (the Cathedral) and the Baptistery.
The sun was out and we had struck another beautiful day. While there were a lot of people at Pisa, I get the feeling we had missed the rush as it was quite relaxed.
The first building you see when you enter Campo dei Miracoli is the Baptistry which is dedicated to St. John the Baptist. This is made from marble with a mixture of styles. The lower part is Romanesque with its rounded arches, while the upper part is Gothic with more pointed arches. It's quite stunning and looks like a giant wedding cake decoration.
Next is the Duomo which is a medieval cathedral (started in 1064). This building is also
slightly tilted although it's not that obvious. Infact I didn't even notice.
The tower itself (or the Cathedrals Campenile) wasn't actually meant to lean. The foundations were laid badly and it stands on dodgy ground. We were really lucky though as it no longer requires scaffolding to hold it stable so our view of it was not obscurred. The story of its construction cracks me up. Apparently they noticed the problem with the lean after only the third level had been built. So they stopped, and nothing was done for nearly a century. Instead of knocking it down and restarting, they then decided to build another four floors but at an angle to compensate for the tilt. Realising it was still tilting, the work was stopped again. Finally after yet another century, they just popped the bell chamber on the top and called it a day. Maybe they had great foresight though, as it has made Pisa a major tourist attraction!!
We had a long trip to Lucerne from Pisa so we were back on the bus just before lunchtime. We then made our way along the Italian Riviera, passing on the way, Carrara. To the untrained eye,
Giovanni holding up the Bell Tower
You can't go to Pisa without this shot! this just looks like a scarred hillside. Fortunately, my untrained eye had started to read about Michelangelo so I recognised that this was the place where the white marble has been quarried for centuries to create such things as David, Marble Arch (in London) and the Duomo in Siena.
We whizzed past Carrara, through the outskirts of Milan and into the Italian Lake District before crossing Lake Lugano to enter Switzerland. Switzerland reminded me very much of home, well the South Island anyway. It is very mountainous with beautiful lakes. We stopped for lunch where we re-christened Giovanni to Gliebenhoff. No idea where we got that name from! Then we carried on our journey through the Alps via the St. Gotthard Pass. The tunnel running through the pass is over 15km long and connects the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland with the northern (German-speaking) part.
It was a lovely clear evening when we arrived in Lucerne. The group dinner was a Cheese Fondue deal, so with both me and Amy not being able to eat cheese, we abandoned the group taking along with us Georgia and Gliebenhoff and went for an explore in the city. It was such a
contrast to the cities we had been in in Italy. There were a lot less people and the pace was far less frantic. We also appreciated the cooler weather. We wandered through the town and found a really nice restaurant alongside the river-front. We had a lovely meal outside and enjoyed a few wines. It was a very relaxing evening and I think we even managed to get back to the hotel before midnight!
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