We had another huge day ahead of us today, but more in terms of driving than sightseeing, although we were planning to see a few sights as well. Our plan was to drive about 650km from Florence to Avignon, France, stopping at Pisa on the way.
We packed up the tent, and headed out onto the road. Pisa was not very far away, so we had to see the famous 'Leaning Tower'. We found ourselves a parking space, and headed into the city. At the very centre of town, there was a huge stretch of land, covered in perfectly manicured grass, 'Campo de Miracoli'. In the centre of this land, were three enormous white buildings. They contrasted so beautifully with the shiny green grass. It reminded Loren of the Taj Mahal, because the buildings were so white like the white marble of the Taj, and there was so much flat green ground around them both.
The three buildings were the 'Leaning Tower', the Cathedral and the 'Battistero'. We lined up to buy some tickets, but we realised that the next available places were in 2 hours! We didn't have enough time to wait that long, in such a long day of driving. Artur had climbed the tower before so he didn't mind, and Loren was happy just admiring it from the outside.
The Tower was amazing to see from the outside. It's crazy just how far it leans to one side. Bonanno Picano started building it in 1773. He wasn't so lucky though, as the soil underneath started shifting, and only 3 of the 7 towers were built before the whole tower started shifting.
The tower started tilting at the rate of 1mm per year, and by 1990, it was tilted by 5.7 degrees. They fixed the problem somewhat in 1998, with biased weighting and soil drilling. It forced the building back to a safer position, and today it is leaning 4.1m off the vertical.
After admiring the Leaning Tower, we got tickets for the Cathedral and Battistero. The Cathedral was built in the 11th century and is striped like candy. The inside of the church is really large and cavernous. It has really large bronze doors, which were made by Bornanno Pisaro, the guy that built the Leaning Tower.
After seeing the cathedral, we checked out the Battistero. It was more impressive on the outside than on the inside, but we were glad to see it. There was an impressive pulpit inside, which was worth seeing too. The Battistero was built in 1153 and completed by Nicola and Giovanni Pisano in 1260.
We wandered the Campo del Miracoli after seeing the Battistero. It was full of hawkers trying to sell crafts, toy weapons and little statues of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We decided to find a place to eat our last pizza in Italy, and have our last fabulous Italian ice cream. After enjoying our last Italian supper, we were back on the road, and headed for Avignon.
Artur was exhausted from the sightseeing the day before, and couldn't drive the whole way. Loren took over, for one of the scariest drives of her life. The roads between Italy and France, were really narrow, and every few hundred metres, you'd be travelling through a tunnel. There were only two narrow lanes, with high walls on either side, and everyone was speeding like crazy. Loren hated being in the slow lane behind the huge trucks, so she sped along with everyone else in the fast lane. She was frozen at the steering wheel, scared stiff the whole time, and very relieved when Artur woke up.
At one point when we were driving, there was a fire above one of the tunnels, and we had to drive into the smoke! It was pretty scary, but thankfully there was nothing wrong inside the tunnel itself. Along the journey, we could only get the traffic radio station, and it was talking about lots of traffic jams and problems on the highways in our area. It was in French, so we were trying to make out exactly which highways they were talking about.
Thankfully, despite the traffic warnings, we didn't hit too much traffic. It must have finished by the time we got there. We arrived at our campsite, which was not just a bridge away from the Old Town. We set up our tent, and ate some of the goodies that we had bought in Italy.
To see the photos from the post in slideshow mode, click on on the link below:
Pisa pictures
We packed up the tent, and headed out onto the road. Pisa was not very far away, so we had to see the famous 'Leaning Tower'. We found ourselves a parking space, and headed into the city. At the very centre of town, there was a huge stretch of land, covered in perfectly manicured grass, 'Campo de Miracoli'. In the centre of this land, were three enormous white buildings. They contrasted so beautifully with the shiny green grass. It reminded Loren of the Taj Mahal, because the buildings were so white like the white marble of the Taj, and there was so much flat green ground around them both.The three buildings were the 'Leaning Tower', the Cathedral and the 'Battistero'. We lined up to buy some tickets, but we realised that the next available places were in 2 hours! We didn't have enough time to wait that long, in such a long day of driving. Artur had climbed the tower before so he didn't mind, and Loren was happy just admiring it from the outside.The Tower was amazing to see from the outside. It's crazy just how far it leans to one side. Bonanno Picano started building it in 1773. He wasn't so lucky though, as the soil underneath started shifting, and only 3 of the 7 towers were built before the whole tower started shifting.
The tower started tilting at the rate of 1mm per year, and by 1990, it was tilted by 5.7 degrees. They fixed the problem somewhat in 1998, with biased weighting and soil drilling. It forced the building back to a safer position, and today it is leaning 4.1m off the vertical.After admiring the Leaning Tower, we got tickets for the Cathedral and Battistero. The Cathedral was built in the 11th century and is striped like candy. The inside of the church is really large and cavernous. It has really large bronze doors, which were made by Bornanno Pisaro, the guy that built the Leaning Tower.After seeing the cathedral, we checked out the Battistero. It was more impressive on the outside than on the inside, but we were glad to see it. There was an impressive pulpit inside, which was worth seeing too. The Battistero was built in 1153 and completed by Nicola and Giovanni Pisano in 1260.We wandered the Campo del Miracoli after seeing the Battistero. It was full of hawkers trying to sell crafts, toy weapons and little statues of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We decided to find a place to eat our last pizza in Italy, and have our last fabulous Italian ice cream. After enjoying our last Italian supper, we were back on the road, and headed for Avignon.Artur was exhausted from the sightseeing the day before, and couldn't drive the whole way. Loren took over, for one of the scariest drives of her life. The roads between Italy and France, were really narrow, and every few hundred metres, you'd be travelling through a tunnel. There were only two narrow lanes, with high walls on either side, and everyone was speeding like crazy. Loren hated being in the slow lane behind the huge trucks, so she sped along with everyone else in the fast lane. She was frozen at the steering wheel, scared stiff the whole time, and very relieved when Artur woke up.At one point when we were driving, there was a fire above one of the tunnels, and we had to drive into the smoke! It was pretty scary, but thankfully there was nothing wrong inside the tunnel itself. Along the journey, we could only get the traffic radio station, and it was talking about lots of traffic jams and problems on the highways in our area. It was in French, so we were trying to make out exactly which highways they were talking about.Thankfully, despite the traffic warnings, we didn't hit too much traffic. It must have finished by the time we got there. We arrived at our campsite, which was not just a bridge away from the Old Town. We set up our tent, and ate some of the goodies that we had bought in Italy.
To see the photos from the post in slideshow mode, click on on the link below:
Pisa pictures
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