Pisa

Ciao everyone,

This was exciting trip for me because I have wanted to go to Pisa for as long as I can remember. It had become difficult for me to find someone last semester who hadn't already been to this tiny city during a previous trip to Europe, so I had not yet gone. Luckily, my friend Jessica (my traveling partner) and her boyfriend (who is visiting from the U.S. for his spring break) shared their interest in going and so, about 3 days ago, I found out I was finally going to Pisa!

Blurb about train travel: 
Italian trains are incredible because you can go on the day that you'd like to travel, walk up to a kiosk and just purchase a super affordable regional train that leaves every hour. This was something that would have come in handy last semester, but I am glad that we learned this with time this time around. So, we paid 14,35 each way for our trip to Pisa. It cost a little more than most regional trains because there were 2 connections and you are paying for each individual train you ride. There are no direct trains to Pisa from Bologna, but being in the Tuscany region, it is not that difficult to get there.
We caught a train at 8:10am and made it Pisa by 11:30am. It was a long trip and a connection may have been missed, but thankfully, another train to our next connection would arrive in 20 minutes. This is another advantage to buying tickets from the kiosk and not having something printed out from home. You can catch any R/RV train headed toward your destination for the day that you validated it. Also, the ticket from the kiosk (without validation) can be used up to 3 months from the time it was purchased. So, you can buy a ticket today and take that trip anytime you'd like within 90 days. It's very efficient! These regional tickets also never change price. It's really great.

Now, how was Pisa?
Pisa was such a beautiful little city. And when I say little, I mean tiny. It did not take us long to make it from the train station to the other side of the city where the famous leaning tower stands. La Torre pendente di Pisa, or the Leaning Tower of Pisa (literal translation) is an incredible sight to be seen. This trip to Pisa was always a dream of mine, as previously stated, so I knew I'd be excited to see it, but I was amazed by how thrilled I really became.

While walking toward Piazza dei Miracoli, where the tower stands alongside the Duomo and battistero (baptistery), you could see the tower peaking from the top of another building. I turned to Jessica at that moment and said: "Oh my gosh, is that it?!" and her lovely response was: "It's leaning, so I am going to go with YES!" We were so excited and our anticipation only grew stronger as we reached the pleasantly grassy piazza and stood completely still in admiration. From the south (picture on the right), the direction you're walking from, the tower is leaning toward you, so it is clear that it is not straight, but the degree of its leaning is not quite clear. But if you look at it from the west (picture on the left), it is quite dramatic. 

Once again, we were blessed with a beautiful sky during our trip and we spent the next hour or so lying in the grass in the piazza. It was so incredibly soft and cool under the burning sun, that my friends even said it was fake grass. It was obviously not, but we relaxed, tanned our faces and people-watched. While lying there, we heard numerous different languages and witnessed the funniest photoshoots with the tower as the protagonist of all of them, of course.

Unfortunately, there is not much else to do in Pisa than this tower and the Duomo and baptistery had a fee to enter, so we merely dealt with lunch, gelato, snacks and leisure strolls through the residential and commercial parts of the city.

One of my favorite sights, aside from the tower of course, was this little church: 

Chiesa Santa Maria della Spina is standing right by the river Arno. It is kind of oddly situated, but it has been standing much longer than those roads or apartment buildings, that is for sure. Built in 1230, this little church has such incredible detailing that I probably stood by it for far longer than necessary. I cannot imagine very many people could fit inside this small structure or if they even hold masses here, but it is an excellent representation of the quaintly pleasant, yet extravagant city it stands in. This little church was also just another structure with striped-marble detailing. Something found also in Florence, for example the very famous Duomo, and so seeing it here in Pisa as well, was a lovely surprise. I suppose it must be tied back to architectural history of the Tuscan region. All I could find was that it type of architecture is known as "Romanesque." 

If you take a look at the photo to the right, you will see the incredible detailing in the tiny church from above. To think of how long it takes to make one statue, imagine making dozens of them to place on the face of a church that also has detailed windows, columns, walls, etc. Sometimes I wonder how long these structures must have taken to make and that on its own is enough to appreciate it for what it was and is, whether you are religious or not.

Finally, because Pisa is on the coast, I had a sea food risotto, called a risotto alla marinara (which should not be confused for marinara sauce found in southern Italy. Marinara in this context is for marine or fish! It was quite delicious. I always take advantage to eat fish whenever I am in a coastal area/region/city because Bologna is land-locked.

Overall, Pisa was beautiful and I doubt I need to recommend it because I feel like it is an obvious one. It is a tourist destination for even other Europeans and Italians. It is definitely a half-day trip, but keep in mind that it might take up your whole day if you include travel time. Luckily, it all works out well.

Here are a few more photos of the city:

Fiume Arno

Piazza dei Miracoli: my view while laying in the grass 

Il Duomo

Il Battistero

Ciao for now!