A Day In Pisa

I WENT TO SEE THE TOWER

I was only in Pisa for a day and a half, but it was enough to get a good feel of the city. It's quite a compact city anyway and it's very seeable on foot. Perhaps not a practical thing to do in mid-summer though, with temperatures reaching for 40ºC. Mind you, it meant that the main tourist attraction, the leaning tower, wasn't as busy as it could be. More on that later.

My main destination was Florence, on my way to a wedding, but I saw the proximity on the map and planned to fly into Pisa instead of Florence, and later make my way to Florence by train. That way I'd get to see the famous bell tower.

I stayed bang in the middle of the old city in a building with the most amazing spiral staircase. Thankfully I never got to take the stairs thanks to the slightly scary elevator. It looked like it was going to stop working at any time, but I was willing to risk it all to avoid having to go up 500+ steps to my room.

The town itself is so charming. Waling through it, and crossing the Arno River, made me wish I'd planned to stay longer. In fact, I think I will return one day for an entire week to truly enjoy the town. The view for the bridge is so picturesque with such magnificent buildings that no doubt hold some interesting stories.

Pisa is in the Tuscany region of Italy, a very culturally and agriculturally rich part of the country. It's one of the only regions of Italy I'd never been to until now. Italy is quite interesting. Even though there's generic "mediterranean" look and feel; stone paved roads, narrow alleys, wooden windows, clay roofs, etc., if you look close enough, each region has it's own unique character. For example, I noticed the windows in Tuscany were ever so slightly different in the way they open. The design of the arches of the windows were also slightly different from, say, Venice.

It was very hot. Flying into Pisa was quite turbulent due to strong winds blowing in from North Africa, carrying some brownish tint with it. No doubt the brownish tint was none other than the airborne sand of the mighty Sahara. It was also why the had a heatwave across southern Europe with temperatures reaching 15 year highs in some parts.

Tourists from Northern Europe and Scandinavia were visibly struggling. I had a giggle to myself when I saw some people of Indian and West African heritage walking around in light jackets and wooly hats. 40ºC is an average day in parts of India or Senegal I suppose 😂

I love the sun and a bit of heat but, I'm not going to lie, I like it a little cooler than 40ºC. I'm most comfortable in the 28-35 range.

The Cathedral square was even more magnificent than I anticipated. To be honest, I don't know much about the bell tower or the cathedral square, or that there was even a cathedral square at all. I was quite surprised by how close I could get to the structures. I could virtually touch the tower. I was also surprised that people are allowed to go inside and up the tower. I don't know why I had the impression that the tower was about to fall over. Probably too many cartoons and super hero movies I guess. The tower was also remarkably clean and well looked after. I'd be shocked if there hasn't been extensive renovation done to it over the centuries.

You can imagine my awe when I saw the other buildings I didn't even know existed. The Piazza dei Miracoli, formally known as Piazza del Duomo, has three buildings; the free-standing bell tower (The Leaning Tower Of Pisa), the Cathedral itself, and the Baptistry. Of all three buildings it was the Baptistry that took me by surprise and the one that I was most in awe of. What a magnificent structure! To thing the thing is between 700-900 years old!

I didn't go into any of the buildings. I didn't know you could enter the tower, and didn't even know the other two existed haha. I didn't plan or budget for that so I only admired them from outside. To be fair, that's good enough for most people. I got to look in through the grand doors and both the cathedral and Baptistry look absolutely breathtaking inside. Maybe when I do return to Pisa, which is likely, I'll plan a proper visit. There was just not enough time to rush through all that stuff.

The touristy market beyond the walls of the complex, on the other side, wasn't as crazy as usual with these popular places. The merchants there weren't as imposing as other places too. Perhaps it was the time of the day or the heat. Maybe it was too hot for them too. I took a break at McDonalds of all places. I picked McDonalds because it was a very nice building. They always have the best spot in any city. I keep telling people that McDonalds, and Starbucks for that matter, are real estate companies first. The food and coffee are fronts for their real business. That's a post for another day.

On that same day, in the evening, I jumped on the train to the Tuscany capital of Florence. Story to be continued in another post...

Peace & Love,

Adé