Epic Honeymoon - Day 13 - Pisa

Our last full day in Florence was actually not in Florence – we took a train across the countryside to visit Pisa and its infamous Tower.

From Florence, it's an easy train ride across to Pisa, arriving in about 1 hour. There's no need to pre-book tickets for this one: just roll up at Santa Maria Novella and buy a ticket from the machine. It will only set you back about €8 per person.

Pisa's main station, about 30 minutes' walk from the tipsy Tower.

Arriving at Pisa Centrale station, we took a pleasant stroll through the heart of the city, punctuated by Avy saying “where’s Pisa?” every 50 metres or so before we found the Tower at the north end. 

Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, just north of the Centrale station.

Some thought-provoking graffiti found in a side alley (photo credit: Avy)

Crossing over the Arno to the north side of Pisa.

Stopping off for some lunch before taking our time with the visit, we each enjoyed some pizza and wine at a little place called Pizzeria Kiste. The staff were very friendly and the food was great.

A little white wine, and our friend Gudetama.

Bruschetta and salad for entree.

Two kinds of pizza for mains.

Of course, we spent some time trying to do the stock-standard Pisa poses, trying to push over the tower. It’s a remarkable piece of architecture, along with the Basilica that stands next to it. Avy had read about some carvings over one of the doors of the Basilica that are supposed to bring luck if you touch them all; a frog, a lizard and an old man are reportedly there somewhere, but after several laps of the Basilica, we failed to find any of them.

It's actually quite difficult to photograph the angle of the tower.

It might be due to the brain's internal sense saying "hey, that's supposed to be vertical, move the camera".

The Tower's neighbour.

We wandered our way back through town, taking a different route back and stopping for a gelato to beat the heat. Il Gelato Di Toto served up a delicious couple of flavours, but we unfortunately chose ones that were all the same colour (they weren’t on display as with most other places). Toto’s Cream was not particularly noticeable in the mix, but Pineapple and Ginger has a great kick to it (as ginger tends to), and the Eggnog with chocolate chips was quite nice, too.

Tastiness ensued at Il Gelato Di Toto.

Om nom nom nom!

Happening across a flea market on the way back, we browsed through some trinkets with no real intention to buy before arriving at the mural: Tuttomundo di Keith Haring. I’m not familiar with his work on the whole, but the style of drawing does look like something I’ve seen before. At the end of the day, it’s a nice decoration and something different.

A quaint flea market in Pisa.

Tuttomodo di Keith Haring.

We made our way back to Florence for a quiet evening of packing and playing with Salvatore’s cat, ready to move along the following morning. And so, we bid farewell to the Renaissance and set our sights on where all the proverbial roads lead...

Make tracks for the Capital on Day 14!