Pisa (Part 3)
PISA, (March 13)
(For parts 1 and 2, see Florence and Bologna below.)
Sunny Weather
Let me just say that I LOVED Pisa. Maybe it was because there was no train ride drama, maybe it was because Pisa wasn't Bologna, or maybe it was because, for the first time on any of my trips, the weather was gorgeous! Bright, beautiful sunkist skies shined over this happy little Tuscan city all day long.
Another wonderful thing about Pisa: everything worthy of seeing is all in one place, which means no walking from one side of the city to another trying to devour all the sites. The piazza Campo dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles) is where it's all at! Flanking the sides of this square are two museums and the camposanto, and in the middle, the duomo, the baptistry, and the leaning tower.
The Sights
The piazza, which is surrounded by wall, hits you suddenly. When I passed through the gate, I walked out of a nice, normal Italian town into a white porcelain city! I was stunned. I had thought Pisa's only claim to fame was that it had some silly tower a bad engineer screwed up on. Not so. The tower isn't just leaning, it is actually a lovely work of white marble art in and of itself.
But the tower is most impressive because it sits amidst two other white marble buildings - the duomo and the baptistry. The tower is only the first part of a three-course visual feast. And when you're actually standing there, you realize that even though the tower gets all the attention, it is really only a minor building second in importance to the majestic cathedral standing next to it. In combination, these three buildings may make up the most beautiful and stunning set of monuments in Italy.
Although you have to buy tickets to get into all the sights, to future travelers, I say go for the combination ticket package and hit them all. The duomo is beautiful - okay so I've seen so many churches that I can't actually remember what the inside looked like, but I do remember that it was massive and it was stunning. The museums are...well...museums. The camposanto is a nice little place with over a hundred Egyptian sarcophogi. And the baptistry is an impressive two stories.
Climbing the Tower
It took me awhile to talk myself into climbing the tower. It wasn't that I didn't want to, it's just that I remembered how much freakin work it was to climb/scale the dome of the cathedral in Florence. After a lot of I'll-only-be-here-once and if-I-don't-I'll-regret-it self-brainwashing, I bought my ticket. I'm glad I did. Anytime I have an opportunity to get an aerial view of a city, I'm going to take it. There's something especially spiritual about looking down at creation from above it, from a vantage point a little closer to God's skybox.
But before I knew it, an Italian woman was ushering me back down the stairs, telling me my time was finito. My fifteen euro only bought me fifteen minutes, and it was over in what felt like about fifteen seconds.
Climbing up the tower wasn't exactly easy, but going down was far worse. The problem is two-fold. First, so many hundreds of thousands of feet have clamored up those marble stairs that each step now has a sleek downward scoop carved into it, like a little foot-slide ready to receive a low-traction shoe and send its owner tumbling to the bottom. Second, the spiral path of the stairs, combined with the changing degree of the lean makes for a dizzying rocking motion that a sensitive equilibrium and a tender stomach will have difficult time weathering. This is exacerbated by the fact that the staircase is contained completely inside the tower, so it is impossible to see what part of the lean you're walking around. It's like being spun and rocked while blind. My advice, eat afterward, not before.
Aside from this mild episode of queasiness, my time in Pisa was perfect! It was a wonderful way to end a three-city weekend.
Now, back to Rome, and then onto Venice the following week.
(For parts 1 and 2, see Florence and Bologna below.)
Sunny Weather
Let me just say that I LOVED Pisa. Maybe it was because there was no train ride drama, maybe it was because Pisa wasn't Bologna, or maybe it was because, for the first time on any of my trips, the weather was gorgeous! Bright, beautiful sunkist skies shined over this happy little Tuscan city all day long.
Another wonderful thing about Pisa: everything worthy of seeing is all in one place, which means no walking from one side of the city to another trying to devour all the sites. The piazza Campo dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles) is where it's all at! Flanking the sides of this square are two museums and the camposanto, and in the middle, the duomo, the baptistry, and the leaning tower.
The Sights
The piazza, which is surrounded by wall, hits you suddenly. When I passed through the gate, I walked out of a nice, normal Italian town into a white porcelain city! I was stunned. I had thought Pisa's only claim to fame was that it had some silly tower a bad engineer screwed up on. Not so. The tower isn't just leaning, it is actually a lovely work of white marble art in and of itself.
But the tower is most impressive because it sits amidst two other white marble buildings - the duomo and the baptistry. The tower is only the first part of a three-course visual feast. And when you're actually standing there, you realize that even though the tower gets all the attention, it is really only a minor building second in importance to the majestic cathedral standing next to it. In combination, these three buildings may make up the most beautiful and stunning set of monuments in Italy.
Although you have to buy tickets to get into all the sights, to future travelers, I say go for the combination ticket package and hit them all. The duomo is beautiful - okay so I've seen so many churches that I can't actually remember what the inside looked like, but I do remember that it was massive and it was stunning. The museums are...well...museums. The camposanto is a nice little place with over a hundred Egyptian sarcophogi. And the baptistry is an impressive two stories.
Climbing the Tower
It took me awhile to talk myself into climbing the tower. It wasn't that I didn't want to, it's just that I remembered how much freakin work it was to climb/scale the dome of the cathedral in Florence. After a lot of I'll-only-be-here-once and if-I-don't-I'll-regret-it self-brainwashing, I bought my ticket. I'm glad I did. Anytime I have an opportunity to get an aerial view of a city, I'm going to take it. There's something especially spiritual about looking down at creation from above it, from a vantage point a little closer to God's skybox.
But before I knew it, an Italian woman was ushering me back down the stairs, telling me my time was finito. My fifteen euro only bought me fifteen minutes, and it was over in what felt like about fifteen seconds.
Climbing up the tower wasn't exactly easy, but going down was far worse. The problem is two-fold. First, so many hundreds of thousands of feet have clamored up those marble stairs that each step now has a sleek downward scoop carved into it, like a little foot-slide ready to receive a low-traction shoe and send its owner tumbling to the bottom. Second, the spiral path of the stairs, combined with the changing degree of the lean makes for a dizzying rocking motion that a sensitive equilibrium and a tender stomach will have difficult time weathering. This is exacerbated by the fact that the staircase is contained completely inside the tower, so it is impossible to see what part of the lean you're walking around. It's like being spun and rocked while blind. My advice, eat afterward, not before.
Aside from this mild episode of queasiness, my time in Pisa was perfect! It was a wonderful way to end a three-city weekend.
Now, back to Rome, and then onto Venice the following week.
posted by Amy at 12:50 AM
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