Pisa: As Requested

We're going a bit out of order here but there was a special request for Pisa so here we go!

When my parents and little sister came to visit us (and...a lot of Europe), we ended up flying from Paris to Pisa and taking the train from there to our hotel in Florence.  Sure, we could have just flown direct to Florence, but 1) this was cheaper and 2) PISA!

So, it was a quick taxi ride from the airport to the Field of Miracles, where leans the famous tower - and a lot of other cool things that I had no idea existed.

First thing I need to say, though, is that the leaning tower of Pisa was just mind-blowing.  I fully expected to be a little underwhelmed, seeing as everyone knows about it and has seen pictures.  But really, to walk through the gates into the Campo and actually see it practically falling over...  And it's so tall!   And there are people on it!  And it's so...lovely!  10 out of 10, leaning tower of Pisa.

One thing I didn't know before we went was that the tower is actually the bell tower next to the cathedral next to the baptistery next to the walled and roofed cemetery (filled with dirt brought all the way from Jerusalem which, if you were buried in it, reduced you to a skeleton in one day! As the advertising went.).  And all are done in the same, unique architectural style: Pisan Romanesque.

We have the circular baptistery, cathedral, and (bell) tower.
(And the tiiiiny sliver of what looks like a wall to the left is the cemetery.)

Gonna be honest, we spent about forty-five minutes here, max.  So we aren't super experts or anything.  But, it was definitely a trip highlight even then.

Afterwards, we walked to the train station.  I think some of our tour group (aka my family) didn't particularly appreciate the fact that what was touted as a 25 minute walk (with our backpacks) was actually more like 40 minutes. But we made it and it was an experience, dag nabbit!

Tally and Mom Schlepping Their Packs Through Tuscany

It was a really fun, winding walk through the back streets and markets of a Tuscan town - and a great introduction to Italy for my family.  All those narrow streets and wooden shutters were such a contrast to the grand, wide boulevards of post-Hausmann Paris we'd been through just that morning.

And so ends my mini-review of our mini-stop in Pisa, Italy.


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I'm counting down the days until my third anniversary of living in Europe by recapping trips that I never got around to highlighting.  You can see the list of trips (and links to them as they are written) here.