Pizza in Pisa

Yes, you may have noticed I seem to have gotten half-way through my trip and then have gone quiet for two and a half years...

There are several reasons for this, mainly the rest of the trip was quite full on and had less down time on trains etc, but also in a couple of posts time I will deal with this further - there was another reason which will make more sense when I deal with it then.

My apologies if it is obvious from here on in that it has been written 2 years after the fact.

From memory the journey to Pisa was non-eventful.

Ah, the Joys of Southern Europe in Summer

Once I got to Pisa I worked out I had several hours - I got hold of a map and checked my luggage into a storage place and started the trek to the leaning tower. It turns out the Leaning tower is across town from the train station - across the river and at least a 15/20 minute walk - so I got moving. When I got close enough to be confident I was on the right track but not too close so I wasn't paying tourist prices I found a pizza shop and bought a couple of slices, from memory they were damn nice- I'm guessing my appetite was starting to come back.

Once I got to the park where the Leaning tower is, I found an empty piece of ground and sat down and finished my lunch. This was probably the first time this trip I made good use of  Rick Steve's Europe through the back door - by using it with the back door - using it to sit on. In his defence, it is a great book, especially the bit about the Cinque Terre. He can probably be accredited with making it the tourist spot that it is today. Since returning I have enjoyed listening to several of his clips on YouTube. It was a book I had picked up in a hostel book exchange my first time around Europe in 2009. Anyhow, as I was saying - I sat down and had my lunch and figured in the time I had I probably couldn't do/go inside all the things there, so I chose to do two, the Battistero di San Giovanni (The Pisa Baptistery of St. John) Dome, and the Cathedral. Of course I had the obligatory look at the Leaning Tower - but I decided against going inside it as I figured if there was any day it would fall, it would be the day I climbed it, that and the fact that I think the lean would mess with my balance especially near the top.

Credit to Google Maps for this picture

Anyway, the Dome was pretty cool - it had awesome acoustics. I don't remember a whole lot about the Cathederal - in the end they all blend into one. I did catch a  quick documentary on how they fixed the lean (or got it to a safe angle) on the Leaning tower which was also interesting.

Once I finished there, I headed back to the train station and proceeded onto La Spezia - which I recall was a nice trip - as we were most of the way there.