Arriving at Pisa’s very 70s airport from one of the day’s last flights from Barcelona, I had planned to make myself comfortable in a corner somewhere à-la Tom Hanks, before making my way into town at dawn. I have long lived by a rule that things should never be planned because they never work out as you had hoped, and this is certainly one of those instances. I guess like many other small airports, Pisa doesn’t stay open 24 hours…, so at 1am I, and about 50 others who had had the same idea were kicked out onto the pavement to sit in line with the taxis outside. Normally, this wouldn’t have caused me much grievance; I had after all spent the night on the mean streets in Bratislava only a few days previous, but that night I was so inappropriately dressed, for spending the night in the elements. And again, to be fair, the elements weren’t exactly tsunami inducing. We’re taking warm days and clear skies, but Pisa, that night took on a Sahara desert-like guise where it is warm during the day and turns frostbitingly cold at night. My shorts were too bulky to put anything else over and I haven’t quite managed to get to the stage where I can undress outside an airport, so I went into hedgehog mode and curled myself up into as tight a ball as I could and wore out the storm. The airport concourse opened again a few hours later. How dramatic. Somehow I think Ray Meyers isn’t exactly eyeing me up as his apprentice.
When the sun began to rise and I had a warmed myself with airport cappuccino (even in airports Italy makes good coffee), I decided to hop into Pisa proper – only a short train ride from directly outside the station. There is, I think, probably only one reason to visit Pisa, and I’m sure you can guess the name of the wonky pile of marble to which I refer. Pisa itself is pretty much an average Italian university town, and whilst I spent little more than a few hours there, doesn’t seem to have much to write home about. You probably could stop here for more than just to see the Tower and the beautiful square it stands in, but there are far prettier towns and villages nearby that require far more attention and have fewer coach loads of tourists stopping off for half an hour on their way to see David via Venus in Florence.
As with all of the world’s tourist hungry monuments, it is best to get to the Leaning Tower of Pisa as early as possible. For me, not only do you get to avoid the crowds, but you get to see it in the day’s best light. I also love to watch a place waken up for the day, becoming part of the crowd, before leaving when the 52nd coach from Germany/America/Japan sends its fumes down your throat or an over-eager guide whacks you with the essential leading-umbrella.
I guess like the Eiffel Tower, Taj Mahal, Rome Collesium, St Mark’s in Venice, Big Ben, The Statue of Liberty and other ‘iconic’ buildings, the Leaning Tower is one of those that sends a smile to your face or a small spinal shiver when you first lay eyes on it. It’s unavoidable. No matter how blasé one tries to be towards these things, the image is so ingrained in the mind from childhood geography books and TV travel programmes, that to see it for real completes the mental picture.
The day I was there saw blue skies with a warm sun lighting the whole square beautifully. The contrast of green grass, blue sky and white marble almost too picture perfect, and even better, I had it all to myself. The cathedral, baptistery and tower work together as a trio to seduce the eyes, and the wallet. You can pay your dues and go up the tower, but what for. As I said, Pisa is not Tuscany’s most beautiful city with the tower being its best asset, so why view the city without it? I went into the cathedral, which – even by Italian standards – is pretty special and then simply watched as the crowds started to join me. After doing the circuit a few times – taking the obligatory ‘holding up the tower’ photo for probably three score and twenty American couples, and having one taken of me for posterity, I decided to move on to Florence, still with that ‘I’ve just seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa’ smile on my face.
People always say that such places are clichés. In my mind clichés , when it comes to travel, are often clichés for a reason – they work. Most of the time anyway. And for those who come to Pisa, but want to avoid the tower, for fear of become a tourist, then there’s always the airport…
It is an awesome sight - I visited it with EYO back in the 90s (dear God, what an old hag I am!) and I remember thinking how wee it was! But cool. And there are some nice things to visit around the little area that it's in, right? It was an age ago. I hope you've found an actual bed since your hedgehog night!
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