Our stay in Cinque Terre was brief, as we had locked in advanced reservations to climb to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa at 11:30 this morning. To make this schedule work, we were up early to pack our bags and check out of our apartment in time to board the train. We were even efficient enough to grab breakfast at our favorite focaccia shop, which opened for the morning just 7 minutes before the train’s departure!
After Amanda’s crowded train experience yesterday, it was good to go back to an ‘Intercity’ class train, where we had assigned seats and generally more space to spread out. We checked our bags upon our on-time arrival in Pisa and then made the 30-minute walk to the town’s Field of Miracles, home to its baptistry, cathedral, and iconic tower.
The climb to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa involved around 300 marble steps in a circular pattern with a modest incline angle. Somehow, climbing to the top of the leaning tower felt easier than climbing the steps to our apartment. We snapped a few photos, enjoyed the breeze, then headed back down the same steps we had walked up.
The Rick Steves guide suggested entering the nearby baptistry at the top or bottom of the hour to hear the guard on duty sing a few notes that harmonized together due to the natural acoustics of the building. We followed his advice and made it to the upper gallery just before Noon to witness the short event when the exterior doors were closed and sounds were sung. It was fun if not overly exciting and seemed to be an event that few inside seemed to know was happening.
Amanda and Noah pose outside of the Pisa baptistry, the largest in Italy.
Inside the baptistry’s upper gallery level was a window with a small hole cut for optimal photos of the cathedral and tower.
The view from the aforementioned photo spot.
I posed with a statue of Fibonacci, the famous Middle Ages mathemetician who hailed from the Republic of Pisa.
We went back and forth between a fast lunch or a sit-down one, but ended up agreeing on sitting down to experience a meal at Vineria di Piazza, which served typical Tuscan food, was reasonably priced, and came recommended in the Rick Steves book. Our drinks and appetizers came out quickly, but we had to wait a while in our breezy outdoor seats before the main entrees came. I think we all thought the food was solid but not among our favorite meals of the trip.
My odd-but-tasty yellow tomato ‘soup’ was topped with three baby octopi.
After lunch, we stopped at Gelateria De’Coltelli where I had kiwi and chocolate flavors.
We were done with lunch — and the subsequent gelato stop — early enough that we decided to buy earlier train tickets to Lucca so we would arrive a couple of hours ahead of our original schedule. The earlier train gave us a chance to check into the hotel, drop off our bags, and relax for a few minutes until we walked down the street to rent bikes to ride around Lucca’s well-preserved walls.
Amanda and I were really looking forward to this experience after a fun ride around the city’s walls in 2005. While fun, it didn’t quite live up to our expectations, as the walls were so crowded it was tough to get into a biking rhythm. In addition to a lot of people walking, slow and annoying quad bikes were all over the path, creating another obstacle to a smooth bike ride.
We returned our bikes, walked around the busy city streets, and had some sliced prosciutto from a corner grocery store, followed by dinner at Poke Flash. Noah and I both had bowls with raw fish, while Amanda played it safe with chicken and egg for her proteins. We all liked our meals and the change of pace they provided from the usual Italian fare.
Noah was excited about the prospect of buying this huge bag of pasta, but we ended up purchasing a smaller one.
A store called Willy had some unique soda: Cherry Coke (usual to the states but nowhere to be found generally in Italy) and Strawberry Kiwi Fanta (unusual to both places!)
We purchased an “etto” (100 grams) of the cheaper of the two prosciuttos pictured.
Before we called it a night, Noah and I decided to take in the city walls once more, though on foot instead of by bike. By this time, the earlier crowds had dissipated.