Italy Traventures : 7 Things to do in Pisa

Italy has always been in my bucket list but I never had the chance to go there until this year. I made it there during the Easter Break. I spend 7 days in Italy, exploring Rome, Florence, Pisa and Milan. One thing that I've learn about travelling in Europe is that you do not rush trying to see as many things as you can in a short while. Instead, spend at least two days in each city of a country. My Europe trip in 2016 was a rush so we did not get to see much. This time round, I made sure we did :)

Well, Pisa is a city in the Tuscany region. Its where the famous Leaning Tower is located as well. We were planning to spend a whole day there but we finished pretty early and got back to Florence by 4pm. Oh. I forgot to mention that we were staying at Florence and decided to take the day trip to Pisa. We bought the tickets on the spot at the train station costing us about 17 euro round trip. The journey took about 1 hour.

Things to Note :
PLEASE VALIDATE YOUR TICKETS WHEREVER YOU TRAVEL IN ITALY!
They have punch card machine everywhere for you to validate your tickets. They won't not care if you are a tourist and will fine you despite you paying for the tickets. This is because most of the ticket doesn't have time stamp or day so some people may reuse. Hence, its really important for you to validate.

We left early in the morning and arrive there at about 10am in the morning. We started our journey from the train station and walking slowly all the way to the Pisa Tower. Along our way, we pass by few landmarks and shopping streets as shown below.

Piazza Vittorrio Emanuel II

This is a bronze status which is also a tribute to the King of the United Italy. This monument is right outside the train station. Right at the area, there was also a local market selling food, flowers and accessories.

Walking Along the Street Heading to River Arno

As you are walking toward the river, you are definitely to pass by these street with so much happening. There's cafe and restaurant and the whole design are the classic European style. Feels good to walk through it and observing all the activities happening. There was even an art competition going on when we were there.

River Arno

We walk along River Arno and cross over the other side through Ponte di Mezzo. This is a beautiful view that you can get from the river. I loves cities who has their own beauty to offer. There is definitely a correlation between Europe city with colourful office. They all have the same theme but yet they have their own unique views.

Borgo Stretto

This is a shopping street heading towards the leaning tower of Pisa. If you notice, the house look really old and the paints has come out. That's the beauty of a city. These wall tells you a story and it look amazing when you capture it as a photo. I am probably not the best photographer and definitely did not do justice to this shopping street. I can't remember the name of the Gelato I had but it was so good. Its right after the river and a corner shop before heading into this street.

Leaning Tower of Pisa

After 20 minutes of walking, we are finally here at the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The tower is actually tilted due to the inadequate foundation on a ground that is too soft. It was already tilting when the construction began and hence they built it to height enough to have it stabilise. You can actually climb up the tower for 18 euro. At this point, we have already spend so much on the museums in Rome and Florence that we decided to sit this one out.

Quick tip : If you are planning to visit and skip the queue, do buy your tickets online. Otherwise it'll be a long queue. And if you are planning to spend the entire day there and planning to visit the museum, baptistery and the cathedral, get a package which include those. If I am not mistaken, the cathedral is free admission with any ticket you bought for other landmarks on the site.

Everyone else were doing a pose so I thought I should do it too!

I went close up to the tower to look at the architecture and design. As usual, these design are so fine and yet so beautiful.

Pisa Cathedral

Right on site, just beside the tower, you have the Pisa Cathedral. This cathedral use to be the biggest when it was built at its time. Its huge and I heard its absolutely stunning so do go and visit. I did not manage to go in as the entrance is only free if you bought tickets to other sites. I did chill and lay on the grass for the sunlight. It was the day where I finally can chill and lay on the grass after so long. London is always so cold and gloomy that I won't get to do any day.

Baptistery

Another beautiful landmark would be the Baptistery which all in the one area. The city is so easy to move around as its not that big and everything is in one place. Apparently, this is one of the largest Baptistery in Italy. Also, this is an example of a transition from a Romanesque style to the Gothic style.

Too much sky in this photo but hey, what a nice tone of blue. 

After spending almost 2 - 3 hours chilling at the grass and taking photos, we finally decided to leave and catch the next train back to Florence! If you are looking for more things to do, these are the few places I would suggest going around to :-

1. Santa Maria Della Spina 
2. Piazza Dei Cavalieri 
3. Camposanto Monumentale
4. Knight's Square

What happened this time?

There's isn't one trip that things always go as plan. So, we got on the train and there was a local football team there sitting the same train as us. They were singing their team song happily. I felt so weird that we were on the same train and ask my friend to check if this was the right one. He insisted it was. And HA! next thing we knew we were on the train to Livorno. 

Part of me wanted to go all adventurous and continue to travel there but I did not. That was because we weren't going to be in Florence the next day and had to take the train to Milan at noon. There wasn't many train back to Florence as I checked the timetable and decided not to take risk. We decided to not explore Livorno and took the next train back to Florence. I did wish I had the guts to just live on and explore the cities to wherever the train took me. Sadly, I didn't. 

We arrive at Florence at about 5.30pm and head on to another part of Florence for dinner. Will be posting all my other trips to the cities in Italy soon. I thought I should post something more recent and take a break from writing about my throwback trip in 2016. 

So yeah, you can choose to follow my route if you are spending a day there to explore the city with additions of the few places I suggested to go as well. I hope this would help in planning your trip when you are there. :) 

If you wish to read up more on my Italy Traventures, feel free to hop on to my Rome & Vatican City , Florence and Milan travel diary! :)