I woke up at like 01:00 all hot and bothered because the air con had turned off. Eventually it came back on and was getting comfortable again but I didn't want to put the blanket on because it would turn off again and I'd get hot. Sigh. So I was all stuffed up and awake for hours. Then woke up at 5:42. Sigh.
Had a fairly leisurely start, and out the door at just after 08:00. Breakfast at BurgeRy again.
Then hopped on a train to Pisa!
Crossing the Arno River on the train into Pisa
We dumped our luggage at the Left Luggage office (5 euro each bag for the whole day).
We walked to the river first and had a bit of a look, and walked through town.
Palazzo Blu (Blue Palace)
Ponte di Mezzo
Buildings along the River Arno
Borgo Stretto
Statue of Galileo
Buildings in Pisa
Then decided to go see the cathedral and tower in what remained of the morning light.
And it was all glorious!! And hordes of tourists of course posing for silly photos. We joined them.
Cattedrale di Pisa
The Leaning Tower of Pisa
Top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa
Battistero di San Giovanni
Me and the Leaning Tower of Pisa
Photo by Mum
The rules don't apply to some people
Had a look in the Camposanto first while we waited for our allotted tower time.
Camposanto courtyard
Camposanto frescos
Camposanto chapel
Camposanto frescos
That's a bit disturbing..
Camposanto sculptures
Camposanto sculpture
And the Baptistery too.
Interior of the Battistero di San Giovanni
Interior of the Battistero di San Giovanni
Then put our bags in the cloakroom for the tower. They won't even allow small handbags, but you can take cameras, so I unloaded all my cameras and carried them all which was a bit annoying. They do a half hearted metal detector scan with a wand but that's it.
So then you wait around at the bottom of the tower for everyone to be ticketed in (it's just an empty cylinder) and then up you go!! I quickly took some photos around the lower level, then headed up to the upper level which is higher and has better holes in the fences for taking photos.
Looking up the Leaning Tower of Pisa showing the incline
Looking out the door of the Leaning Tower of Pisa showing the incline
View over the cathedral from the tower
Balcony of the tower
View north from the Leaning Tower of Pisa
View west from the Leaning Tower of Pisa
View east from the Leaning Tower of Pisa
View east from the Leaning Tower of Pisa
Bell in the Leaning Tower of Pisa
Top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa
Mum in the stairwell of the Leaning Tower of Pisa
Centre of the Leaning Tower of Pisa showing the incline
Entrance of the Leaning Tower of Pisa
Bucket list item: ticked!
The Leaning Tower of Pisa
Eventually headed down (you can stay up as long as you like) then had a look in the cathedral afterwards.
Interior of Cattedrale di Pisa
Battistero di San Giovanni from the cathedral
Cattedrale di Pisa and Torre di Pisa
I continue to get filled with rage at having to pay for toilets in Europe. It's uncivilised. At least with the Cinque Terre ticket it covered the toilets on the stations. But here, after paying them 27 euros each, you'd think the least they could do would be to let you use a toilet for free. But noooo, there goes another euro each just to go to the loo. Bastards.
And suddenly it's quarter to three!?!?! How did that happen? I wanted to have a piece of pizza in Pisa, so on the way to the way to Piazza Santa Caterina we saw a pizza place (Pizzeria Le Mura) opposite "Nero's Baths" and had a super cheap (very late) lunch there. 7.50 for a small pizza and 250mL wine for 2.50! Normally you pay like 7.00 for a wine at the tourist trap places and don't get as much.
Statue of Moses in Arcidiocesi di Pisa
Bagni di Nerone (Baths of Nero)
Continued onto Piazza Santa Caterina.
Then back to Piazza del Cavalieri which looked better in afternoon light.
Palazzo della Carovana
Chiesa di Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri
Then back to the river, and along to Chiesa di Santa Maria della Spina which was also very pretty in the afternoon light.
Rubbish bins for all different sorts of rubbish
Palazzo Blu (Blue Palace)
River Arno
Chiesa di Santa Maria della Spina
And finally back to the station. Picked up our bags and hopped on a train to Florence.
Our hotel is right next to the station which is handy, and has a lovely view over to the cathedral. Which was shining in the sunset. I thought we should make a mad dash for it to see if we could get it before the sun set. But it took like ten minutes to cross the square in front of the station with multiple pedestrian lights that just wouldn't change (in the end we crossed against the lights cause after *minutes* of waiting it was all getting a little ridiculous). The sun had well and truly set by the time we go there. Oh well.
View over Florence from our hotel balcony at sunset
Catterdrale di Santa Maria del Fiore
Mum was fading fast, and we'd had a very late lunch, so didn't feel like much, so just went to the Scottish Restaurant opposite the station for a light dinner.
View over Florence from our hotel balcony by night
I am SO. TIRED. Sigh.. And I haven't done any research whatsoever on Florence. What should we do for the next two days?
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