pisa
Tower of Pisa
John, Nolwenn, Aidan, and Tony
John at the Keith Haring Mural
Tony
Nolwenn
I woke up in the morning in Biassa and met the French girl in the bunk above me, Nolwenn, who asked if she could join me and the Aussies on our trip to Pisa on her way to Florence to which I excitedly responded, yes! Despite our train from Riomaggiore into La Spezia being late, we still managed to meet all of our mates in time without any problems. We paid €4/bag to check our bags at Pisa Centrale so we could explore easily (another Luisa tip) and since nobody really told me, I’ll tell all of you: Pisa is great. I wish I had known this so that I could’ve spent more time, it’s definitely much more than just a leaning tower and worth spending at least one night. Our first stop was Luisa’s lunch recommendation Numero 11 which was molto molto buono and also very well priced. The gents all got the fresh pappardelle with wild boar, Nolwenn got baked zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta, and I had my first Italian risotto of the zucchini variety as well as a €1.50 glass of vino blanco. I highly recommend this place for everyone making a day or two trip to Pisa!
Seeing the tower, midday, in the middle of summer was just as full of tourists juxtaposing themselves against it as I expected (us included). It is actually much more hilarious in person than I had imagined but also only drastically looks like it’s leaning from certain angles. Being in the sunshine on a belly full of good food, with good company, was my favorite part of the day aside from the huge expanse of grass and the ornate duomo. It was the wrong day for a dress because all I ever want to do when I see a big grassy area is cartwheel.
Our last stop was at the Keith Haring mural on the way back to the station, definitely worth the gander, and made for some fun portraits. The whole day was so bright and colorful that there couldn’t have been a more perfect last stop for our little group. I made plans to meet with Nolwenn in Florence the following day and we said our goodbyes to our new Aussie friends; half-days can be great days.
