Day 6 – Sunday – 26 May – Pisa – Florence

We had a early start and a filling breakfast in the dining room on the ground floor just off from the lobby. The place was almost completely packed with other Europeans and Americans, I think we two were the only Asians, we managed to find a table for two which we booked by dumping our bags on the chairs. The spread was not as diverse as our Innsbruck one but decent enough, I took juice and croissant and a slice of pie. There was bread, cheese and cold cuts. The pie was yummy. The day outside looked bright and sunny.

Off to the station and we purchased return tickets to Pisa. Our train was in half an hour so we hung around the station waiting for the platform number to be displayed. Since it was a local train it was in the small annexure to the station, we had to validate our tickets at the yellow boxes on the platform and as we had no seat number allotted on the tickets it was a free for all. Florence was the starting point so we boarded an empty train and chose seats on the right hand side with Mansi taking the window seat; these were seats of two facing each other, no tables. Soon the compartment filled up with a Sri Lankan family in the front seats and various European and American couples around us. People kept pilling into the train even when all the seats were taken opting to stand in the aisle like our local trains. We had a large Bengali family standing next to us jabbering away. The journey was an hour long. All announcements were in Italian so we could just make out the station names. We knew we had to get down at Pisa Centrale.



Pisa Centrale Station

The whole train emptied at Pisa with everyone heading out of the station. There were a number of bus stops just outside but we couldn’t locate anyone who spoke English to understand our query. Finally one of the bus drivers of the bus which halted at the bus stop told us to head across the street to catch the bus.

We make it across and find several of our train companions there already. We hopped into the bus which came along and purchased our tickets from the driver. After validating them on the machine in the bus we stood as all the seats were taken. It was a short ride of around 15 minutes where we got to see a bit of Pisa, a quiet pretty town with lots of empty streets with picturesque houses on both sides.

The bus dropped us at the corner of the Plaza to the Field of Miracles which has a huge arched gate guarding its entrance. There were a couple of police cars parked outside the entrance and as we entered we encountered huge crowds of tourists already there at this early hour (around 10am).

Looking across from the entrance it’s an amazing sight to behold the baptistery in the front and the leaning tower in the foreground surrounded by beautiful green lawns with the duomo dominating the centre. We started with the closest structure the Baptistry which is brilliantly white with the tiled dome against the bright blue sky, we both took plenty of pictures and posed on the lawns for some. The baptistery, the duomo and the Leaning Tower had tickets to be purchased to view the interiors and a huge queue for the same. We decided not to do the interiors of any of them due to lack of time.



Baptistery, Duomo & Leaning Tower in Field of Miracles, Pisa



Baptistery, Pisa



Duomo, Pisa



Duomo with the Leaning Tower in Pisa

Looks much smaller in real life, Leaning Tower of Pisa

Next we headed to the leaning tower after the obligatory poses holding the tower etc from the lawns. The tower looks amazing up close; we wanted to head back to Florence by noon to give us time to do some sightseeing before our tour.  So we headed back to the bus stop and caught the next bus to the station, unfortunately we got a bit mixed up and jumped off at the stop before the station. Luckily it was close by and we managed to get directions to the station which was a short walk away. Grabbing the next train to Florence we were back by 1pm.

Hungry I decided to grab a burger at the station’s McDonald restaurant. Mansi took a pizza slice, after using the next door restroom which was free to use we headed to the hop on hop off stop right next to the station. Our tour ticket gave us the choice to ride on any of the three routes but we didn’t have time to do all that and decided to jump in the first one. The commentary was a bit scratchy as compared to our Salzburg experience; we decided to get off near the Uffizi and explore the area near the Duomo and maybe climb the campanile before our 4.30pm tour of the Uffizi.

The complete area from around the Uffizi till the Duomo is shut down for traffic so except for an occasional motorcycle wheezing by one can happily walk on the streets without any fear. But the streets were crowded with tourists from around the world. We walked past the Uffizi and took pictures of the famous Ponte Vecchio Bridge and some of the River Arno. Moving to the Piazza Signora we admired the Neptune Fountain which to this day looks fantastic, if a bit green.

Ponte Vecchio Bridge from the Right Bank of the Arno River in Florence



The "Fake" David Statue

Neptune Fountain at Piazza Signora with the Palazzo Vecchio in the background

Uffizi Gallery

The Palazzo Vecchio is on one corner of this square which is surrounded by restaurants, a replica of David stands at the entrance; it was very crowded around this statue with everyone wanting a picture with the statue. There are various beautiful statues in the square, this is a great place to just sit and people watch.

We continued down the street in what we thought was the direction of the Duomo, the next on our list. But we ended up in the Piazza di Santa Croce in front of the basilica. I was thinking this is not the Duomo, where the hell is it. The Basilica is stunning white and looks huge being one of the largest churches in the world. This one had an entrance ticket too and a queue so we just took pictures of the exteriors and asked some locals on how to get to the Duomo.



Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence



Façade of Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence

After wandering through the streets and back tracking down a few lanes there it was in all its scaffolded glory...the Duomo with the huge tiled dome dominating the structure, the campanile stands primly to the side. There was hardly any queue to enter the Duomo so we went in and admired the glorious interiors, there is a huge clock face above the main entrance showing 24 hours in a day, the frescos on the dome are enormous with the last judgement...it’s a glorious experience just to stand under the dome and look up at the frescoes, it’s a pain in the neck ...literally but well worth the effort to just stand and admire the craftsmanship.



The Duomo - Florence

Campanile - Florence

 

 

Duomo of Florence

It was getting close to our tour time so we bid a temporary adieu to the Duomo and headed to the Uffizi, Mansi wanted to climb the campanile so checked the timings at the office, they told her it stays open till 7pm, we might just be  able to make it back in time.

We reached the gallery side entrance to find a queue and our contact who collected the voucher from us and put stickers on our shoulders. She also informed that water bottles were not allowed inside the gallery and would be confiscated if discovered in the x-ray machine. Mansi was carrying our bottle which had made its way from Mumbai all the way to Florence, we had to keep it at the side of the entrance, and we hoped to retrieve it on our way back after the tour. We were handed our audio guide machines through which we could hear what our guide said.

Our guide was called Matthew and he informed Mansi that she would have to deposit her back pack at the left luggage so off we went to drop it there. The tour starts from the second floor of the gallery and the staircase is huge, it’s quite a tiring walk all the way to the top floor. Several people in our tour group were left gasping with no water in sight! Take the elevator if your health is not too good or you want to avoid a strenuous climb.

Matthew guided us through the various exhibits showcasing the works of Giotto, Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael, Michaelangelo (I just remember the one of the Dona Madonna, the Holy Family which is the only painting he completed to have survived to date with Mary’s dirty feet as shown in the painting) and the birth of Venus by Boticelli which is splendid up close. The rest are just a blur. The popular rooms were packed with tourist groups and we found ourselves sweating away and stripping off our sweaters. A few of the large rooms had chairs which were all packed with tourists taking a break. Another annoyance was random people hanging around our tour group catching the descriptions our guide was giving for free and blocking the view for the rest of the group. We tried to stay close to our guide to get the best views. No photography is allowed inside the gallery.

Our 1.5 hours tour ended at the terrace where we got some panoramic pictures of Florence and then we raced to the Duomo so that Mansi could climb Grotto’s campanile. We made it by 6.30pm with plenty of time to spare. While she climbed the 414 steps to the top I sat in a cafe opposite and had a coffee.

She was all excited and happy after her efforts and we decided to walk back towards our hotel to get some dinner. It was too late for our hop on bus and we were tired after all the walking we had done that day.

Dinner was again at Osteria D’Oste, but pizza this time with table wine. We shared the pizza between us. We had a 9am train to Rome the next day so decided to retire early.