City 6, Pisa and that leaning tower
Pisa - nice tower, quite a lean
Pisa was the last stop in this trip. Train from Florence with a change in Empoli. The train journey was great. I'm surprised Pisa isn't larger. It's a compact city with two highlights. Firstly the Duomo complex with the famous leaning tower and secondly the nearby Vespa scooter factory. Q was less impressed than me by the latter but there is a Vespa museum there which is pretty good and also free.
The Duomo is impressive but not quite in the same league as others we have visited on this holiday. The famous tower is of course the bell tower for the cathedral. I was surprised by just how much it leans. The book said 13ft and 5 degrees but it looks more than that. So much so that I refuded go up it. I don't think it would be too difficult to fix. Take it all down marking all the bits, put in a decent foundation and build it back up again minus the lean. However, as it is the no 1 tourist draw for Pisa, I can't see them doing that any time soon.
We had booked the hotel for two nights so, having seen most of the stuff worth seeing on day 1, we found ourselves looking for something else to do on day two. We got our guide books out
out and discovered a train journey from Pisa to the Chinque Terre, https://www.lonelyplanet.com/italy/cinque-terre a group of 5 fishing villages accessible pretty well only by train. The system is that you get a train to one of the 5 and then buy a ticket which allows unlimited travel between these villages. The trains are frequent so we did the hop on hop off thing. The villages are pretty special, something like Gamrie or Pennan in Scotland. We had a splendid seafood lunch and returned to Pisa in the evening.
On the final day I dragged Q to the Vespa museum which was just great. There is still a Vespa factory there and the museum is housed in a now closed wing of the complex. https://www.museopiaggio.it/en/
So Pisa wasn't the most interesting part of the tour. Plenty to do for one day, not enough for several days touristing.
Our Ryanair evening flight back wasn't the best. A long delay in a crowded departure hall. When we landed in Edinburgh the passport control took the best part of 30 minutes. That kind of contradicts the Brexiteers claiming that we have no control over our borders. I felt pretty controlled in that queue.
Great trip but so very hot and busy. Next time we will go off season! Q has already been in touch with Guido in Venice to book the apartment again.
John
Pisa was the last stop in this trip. Train from Florence with a change in Empoli. The train journey was great. I'm surprised Pisa isn't larger. It's a compact city with two highlights. Firstly the Duomo complex with the famous leaning tower and secondly the nearby Vespa scooter factory. Q was less impressed than me by the latter but there is a Vespa museum there which is pretty good and also free.
The Duomo is impressive but not quite in the same league as others we have visited on this holiday. The famous tower is of course the bell tower for the cathedral. I was surprised by just how much it leans. The book said 13ft and 5 degrees but it looks more than that. So much so that I refuded go up it. I don't think it would be too difficult to fix. Take it all down marking all the bits, put in a decent foundation and build it back up again minus the lean. However, as it is the no 1 tourist draw for Pisa, I can't see them doing that any time soon.
We had booked the hotel for two nights so, having seen most of the stuff worth seeing on day 1, we found ourselves looking for something else to do on day two. We got our guide books out
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| Bradshaws |
out and discovered a train journey from Pisa to the Chinque Terre, https://www.lonelyplanet.com/italy/cinque-terre a group of 5 fishing villages accessible pretty well only by train. The system is that you get a train to one of the 5 and then buy a ticket which allows unlimited travel between these villages. The trains are frequent so we did the hop on hop off thing. The villages are pretty special, something like Gamrie or Pennan in Scotland. We had a splendid seafood lunch and returned to Pisa in the evening.
On the final day I dragged Q to the Vespa museum which was just great. There is still a Vespa factory there and the museum is housed in a now closed wing of the complex. https://www.museopiaggio.it/en/
So Pisa wasn't the most interesting part of the tour. Plenty to do for one day, not enough for several days touristing.
Our Ryanair evening flight back wasn't the best. A long delay in a crowded departure hall. When we landed in Edinburgh the passport control took the best part of 30 minutes. That kind of contradicts the Brexiteers claiming that we have no control over our borders. I felt pretty controlled in that queue.
Great trip but so very hot and busy. Next time we will go off season! Q has already been in touch with Guido in Venice to book the apartment again.
John
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