Hey y’all!
This post
is long overdue but I’ve been caught up with exams and having to put my life
together again after Dad came to visit, so excuse me. I have another post that
will (hopefully) be up in a few days, but here’s a travel one for now. Enjoy!
Last time I
updated, Dad was here for the Easter break and we’d been doing some travelling
around Tuscany: some Tuscan villages and Florence. This time, since it was the
weekend, we decided to branch out.
On Friday
morning we woke up to a gloomy day in Siena but we got ready to catch the train
and get to Pisa. As per, we had to change at Empoli where it was quite chilly
and windy but at least it was sunny. Around three hours later, we finally made
it to Pisa and got to our airbnb – a room right by the station. It was quite
Spartan but clean and convenient, perfect for the two nights we were to spend
there. The host was also really nice, so give me a shout if you want more
details!
We dropped
our bags and decided to have lunch at the kebab place under the flat. The food
was actually pretty good for the price – wish Siena actually had different food
options! We went for chicken with rice and veggies and were full and ready to
go explore after that. Since I’d been in Pisa before (with Megan and Sebastian,
read the post here), I had a good idea of what things
to show Dad and where to go. We made our way from the station and I showed him
Haring’s mural, the main shopping street (where I got some black trousers in
Pimkie that I’ve been living in for
the past two weeks, ngl), we managed to find the old pastry shop where we
bought panpepato the last time so I
definitely had to introduce Dad to such a delicacy and then we stopped by the
Chiesa di Santa Caterina. I’d never been inside but, despite having quite an
impressive outside, the inside is quite empty (something that I’ve found in a
lot of cathedrals and churches I’ve been to while in Italy). After that we
headed towards Piazza dei Miracoli. It was Dad’s first time in Pisa so he was
excited to see the Tower – turned out to be bigger than he was expecting! We
took the hilarious touristy pictures pushing the Tower and then we decided to
go for it and get the general ticket to access the Cathedral, Camposanto,
Battisterio and Museo delle Sinopie. We skipped the Tower because it was crazy
expensive and you have to climb a tonne of stairs… The sky was clear and blue
even though it was quite chilly, but such a change from rainy Siena!
First up
was the Camposanto, which turned out to be my favourite place out of them all.
It’s basically the cemetery but it looks amazing! Certainly worth the visit –
the courtyard was beautiful and the murals and statues inside were gorgeous. I
would have not expected it to look how it did.
Then we
moved onto the Cathedral. In my opinion, the outside is a lot more beautiful
than the inside. The ceiling of the main altar is the biggest asset of the
Cathedral ‘s interior but unfortunately the roof was being restored so a lot of
it was covered with scaffolding… There are also a few nice pieces of art in
there, but nothing out of the ordinary. Next up was the Battisterio, which is
separate from the Cathedral like a lot of renaissance constructions in Italy.
The building is massive and beautiful, although the interior is a bit empty (as
usual). I climbed to the tribuna or
second floor and there was an amazing view of the façade of the Cathedral with
the Tower popping at the back (if you haven’t seen it, check my IG! Link
below). Then right before leaving one of the wardens asked for silence and she
starting belting out some chords that echoed all along the building – it was
breath taking! So glad we caught that bit!
Finally, we
went to the Museo delle Sinopie. We weren’t really sure what it was about but
apparently the sinopie are the drafts
of the murals covering the Camposanto, which were discovered after the cemetery
was bombed during the Second World War. The sinopie
are a layer of plaster painted with red dust onto which they add a second layer
of plaster where they add the actual paint and create the famous frescoes. They somehow managed to remove
the layer underneath and create an exhibition in the old hospital, which is now
the Museo delle Sinopie. It was interesting, but a bit confusing until we asked
the warden to explain it to us. We also watched an interesting video about the
Piazza and its buildings, and I learned that, obviously, the Leaning Tower is
actually the campanile of the Cathedral, only it is detached from the main
building. I swear, how do simple things like this escape my mind?
Just as we
were walking out we bumped into – guess who? Yes, you guessed it. Sebastian and
a friend. I don’t know how we manage, because Pisa (and particularly the
Piazza) is always jam packed with tourists… It came in the right time though, because
he was lovely enough to recommend some apericena
places for us to go to later that day.
On our way
back we went to Chiesa della Spina, which is one of my favourite places in
Pisa, and then around a couple of back streets until we reached the airbnb
again. We were knackered as we hadn’t been able to go into the room when we
dropped our bags in the morning because it was still being cleaned. We decided
to rest for a bit and regain our strength before heading out to Skyline for apericena. The place was crowded and
clearly student-y, recommended by Sebastian along with two other places called
Caino and Modus. We settled for Skyline and I introduced Dad to Spritz and
Negroni – when in Italy, do what Italian do. On our way back home I got some
cheeky gelato and then we went to bed because we were in for a long day the
following morning… It was a lovely night with Dad though, great to chat and
spend quality time with him <3
As I said,
on Saturday we woke up early and went to the station to buy our tickets to La
Spezia because, guess where we were heading? Yep, Cinque Terre. The sea,
finally. There were no tickets available for the 10am train so we got them for
the 11am one and decided to go for breakfast in the café near the airbnb. The
train was very busy but we sat near a window and were able to see Viareggio and
Carrara (famous for its marble). Well, more than the actual towns, the stations
in the towns. We got to La Spezia, in
Liguria, at around half twelve and it was jam packed. We wanted to get the day
tickets for Cinque Terre but were not too sure how to; this is how if you are
interested -
Once you
arrive in La Spezia Centrale, head to the Information Office. There will
probably be a large queue, but believe me, it’s worth queuing then and there
than having to purchase individual tickets between each village along the
coast. The Day Ticket costs 16euro (13 for over 65yrs) and gives you unlimited
access to the trains between La Spezia and Levanto (which is the line that
serves the Cinque Terre villages), the trails between them and the buses that
run inside each town for the whole day. They also give you the train timetables
and a map. It is so worth it because it avoids the fuss of having to stop in
each town to buy a ticket, and it actually works out cheaper if, as we did, you
plan on visiting all the towns in one day.
 |
| Corniglia |
Anyhow, we
got our tickets and jumped into the train, Monterosso bound. The train line
covers La Spezia-Riomaggiore-Manarola-Corniglia-Vernazza-Monterosso-Levanto in
that order so we decided to get off in the farthest Cinque Terre and make our
way back. We managed to score some seats by two lovely French ladies and their
three kids, we had entertainment for the journey since the baby was so happy
playing peekaboo with Dad… Also, turns out one of the ladies had been to
Tenerife and the other one came from Saint-Valéry-en-Caux, a small town near
Fécamp where I worked last semester! What a small world!
Once we got
out of the station in Monterosso I was so, so happy to see the sea and smell
the salty air. Honestly, I hadn’t realized how much I was missing the coast… Monterosso
was full of tourists but the beach was lovely and the sea was bright blue – no
waves though! It was a very much a seaside town and we decided to stop for
lunch at a place called Bar Giò, right next to the beach. They had a daily menu
option which was a very good deal and the food was very good, so definitely
recommend eating there! We ordered two menus and some fried calamari and it was
heaven: salad, torcie al pesto,
lasagne, anchovies and calamari, with some decent bread, olive oil, water and
wine to accompany it. It was simply beautiful – I was so happy!
 |
| Manarola and the food in Riomaggiore |
Then we
went onto exploring the different towns. They are all similar but different in
their own way. Monterosso is definitely the beach resort; Vernazza is very
touristy like Manarola, but this is because they have the most beautiful marinas to take pictures of; Corniglia
is the only town without a beach as it is up on a hill, you have to climb a lot
of stairs but the view is amazing and the town reminded me a lot of El Cotillo;
and Riomaggiore which was probably my favourite because it looked like the most
‘lived’. Because these tiny towns have become such a tourist destination, some
of them look like they don’t have real inhabitants but are just made for the
tourists… Also, let me say, they reminded me so much of the Canary Islands! The
beaches off the cliffs, the marines, the vegetation, the feel of the towns (the
ones not extremely touristy) – despite the architecture being different, the
resemblance was uncanny! I’m happy we made the long journey there, it was
definitely worth it, but being from the Canaries myself, I’m not used to such
crowds! They were beautiful though, and I went overboard with the pictures and
was able to enjoy a lovely sunny day by the sea – what more could I want?
 |
| Mostly Vernazza |
In
Riomaggiore, which was our last stop before coming back to Pisa, we grabbed
some fried fish cones for dinner and waited for the train. The trip back felt
long, but I think that must’ve been because we were knackered after so much
walking!
Sunday was
our last day before returning to Siena so we decided to visit Lucca which is a
nearby medieval town. We woke up, got ready and checked out of the airbnb
before going for breakfast. We then caught the train to Lucca, which is around
30-40’ away from Pisa, left our suitcase in the baggage deposit and went out to
explore. The day was quite sunny and warm, and the town was full of those
fluffs of seeds that seem to have invaded Tuscany over the last few days… Lucca
is a beautiful city for a day trip and I would advise getting a bike if you are
a confident rider, as it is pretty much flat. The city is encircled by a
massive rampart which has been turned into a park and the inside is full of
medieval buildings and lovely streets. We bumped into an artisan market in
which we got a few presents (including a beautiful necklace by the artist Mauro
Marri) and then I spent a long, long time browsing though second hand books on
some stands that were nearby. I honestly have a problem with book markets – I
could spend hours looking at the different options! I ended up getting a book
about Italian proverbs and explanations of their origins for 1 euro which is
really interesting. Such a shame I can’t carry weight back with me, otherwise I
would’ve got a few more!
We did a
lot of walking around and sight-seeing: Piazza Garibaldi (nearly any Italian
town has its own version of it), San Michele with its beautiful façade,
Puccini’s house (the opera composer was from Lucca), San Frediano (Dad’s
favourite place of the day, it has an amazing Bizantine mural over the
entrance), the Anfiteatro, Torre Guinigi (famous for the two Holm Oaks that
grown on the top!), San Martino and the fortress. We had lunch at a bar near
San Frediano which had average food but I went for linguine alla carbonara and salad, the best was the ice-cream and
eating outside in the shade. Once we were done with walking around the centre
we decided to head to the ramparts and go for a walk in the afternoon sun – it
was busy with families going out after the Sunday dinner and with people doing
sport. We then went back to the station, picked our bag and sat on the
platform. Our train was delayed for nearly an hour and we were worried we
wouldn’t make the connection in Florence… Fortunately though, once we were on
the train from Lucca the driver must’ve sped up like crazy because we caught up
and ended up being ten to five minutes behind schedule, allowing us to just
about catch the connecting train from Firenze Rifredi to Siena. This second
train took ages but we eventually reached home at around nine. So tired!
As you can
probably tell, we had a busy but lovely weekend exploring some new towns in
Italy and enjoying the nice weather. I’m so glad I was able to go to Cinque
Terre and to spend time with Dad, I really missed him!
If you want
to see more photos, be sure to follow my Instagram as I’ve been posting there
loads. Also, keep your eyes peeled for another post that will be up soon.
Alla prossima!
Zoe
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