Blogs from Pisa, Tuscany, Italy, Europe - page 7

Sorry. Learning how to blob and missed a few clicks. so they should be more regular now. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were spent inside churches and museums where no pictures were allowed so not too muchg to say. Went to San Lorenzo church, Uffizi (about 5 hours! Lots of pictures in 50 rooms on 2 floors), Accedemia (David), and the Palazzo Piti with the Boboli Gardens. We are pretty tired so taking the day off museums tomorrow.... read more

Pisa is a must for every traveler's itinerary. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is one of the true icons of travel. Its very image means "travel". I have traveled extensively over time and I had been to Italy before, but I had never been to the Leaning Tower. Actually beholding this icon in person was a "wow" travel moment for me. Our tour bus parked at the Parcheggio Via Pietrasantina north of the historic district. This is an intercity bus station and parking area for motorcoaches and cars. (Motorcoaches are not permitted into the historic area.) One then boards a tourist trolley for the trip to the Pizza del Duomo. The tram let us off at the Pisa city wall, then we walked to the Porta Nova entrance to the Piazza del Duomo. As I walked ... read more

After leaving the hostel in Corniglia, I had lots of time to make my way to La Spezia for my train to Pisa. I got on the bus to the train station, got a ticket at the train station, and took a train to La Spezia. I met three Canadians along the way; a girl in her 20s and her parents were traveling to Florence. It's really nice having the Canadian flag on my bags, because it starts so many conversations that way. I've only been mistaken for American once or twice, when I didn't have that Maple Leaf showing prominently. ;) In La Spezia, I had two hours to kill. There was a McDonalds there, so I got a meal, and made myself comfortable. More than an hour later, I made my way to the ... read more

Up again nice and earlyish to get our train to pisa to explore. We had a very average breakie at the hotel this am so were awaiting a good coffee when we arrived. So we wandered to the train station and met ben and kate at the station to catch our train. Took us a while to figure out how to actually buy tickets there but good ol be had it sorted eventually and on we hopped. It was only an hour to get there which flew by, literally with the speed of those trains! When we arrived we had no idea where we were headed cos we expected to see this giant leaning thing in the sky! We did not...so we found coffee! Potentially the most expensively not nice coffee wev had all trip but ... read more

The bustle of Pisa is in the background of my current hostel, cars and horns and italians talking and occasionally a bird tweeting. My hostel is five minutes from the big square of miracles where you will find the Tower, the church and so on. The Tower is quite impressive, the architecture giving me goose bumps. Or maybe that was just the 50 vendors selling their same products within the square! I don't know if I will ever become accustomed to that sight. Beyond the Tower though, there isnt really much. I had been given a bit of advice to not stop overnight, to leave my luggage at the train station and stop over for about three hours or so. However, with my hostel booked and my recent digestive disaster this week, I thought Pisa would ... read more