Visiting Pisa – Italy | European Tour
Milan was our next overnight stop after Florence. But we decided to make a quick detour and spend some time visiting Pisa. It was a short visit, but totally worth it.
This post is part of our European Tour in the fall of 2017. See more searching for Tour Europe 2017.
25 days – 14 cities visited – 9 different hotels/accommodations – many stories!…
The Trip
It is about 1:30h between Florence and Pisa by car, without stops. It took us a bit longer than that, but it was smooth as the kids took a nap on the way there.
We arrived in Pisa late in the morning. Upon arrival, it is easy to find the many public parking lots for tourists. Then we walked about 10 minutes to the main attraction.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa
The Leaning Tower of Pisa is part of the Pisa Catedral (Cattedrale di Pisa), along with a plaza (Piazza del Duomo) and a baptistery (San Giovanni Baptistery). Those were things that I definitely didn’t know.
Because of our last minute decision, we ended up not purchasing tickets in advance, neither for the tower nor the cathedral. It’s highly recommended to purchase tickets in advance if you plan to visit the interiors. The official site seems to be this one.
The Piazza dei Miracoli or the whole area around the tower has a wall, which is part of the ancient medieval wall in Pisa and there is no street vendors within that area.
But just a few steps outside the wall there are a multitude of stands. These are selling from souvenirs, clothing, and many other things that you probably don’t need it, but end up buying. 🙂
We ended up just walking around the piazza, admiring the buildings, trying to catch that cliche picture in Pisa (holding the tower) and letting the kids blow some steam. It was great just to do that, getting to know the vibe of the place.
Soon as the kids started to get hungry and tired, so we decided to eat at a nearby fast-food place. Yes, there is a McDonald’s just steps outside the plaza. Not our first choice, but very convenient.
We definitely recommend visiting Pisa if you can include it in your itinerary.
Here you can find our post about Milan, which was our next stop.
