Pisa and the Mediterranean — Siena, Italy
Today we had planned on seeing Volterra and San Gimignano, but a glance at the map gave us an idea to drive to Pisa instead. After breakfast, we headed out earlier than usual and after a little more than 2 hours, we found ourselves in Pisa. Pisa is definitely a little shady, but i managed to ask directions from a nice young motorcycle rider at the gas station. Most young people can speak some English. We parked near the very touristy Miracle Square and headed in. In spite of the tacky tourist kiosks and loads of people - according to the parking, a light crowd - the tower is impressive. We bought a ticket to the duomo, the baptistry, and the cemetary in the Camposanto (the walled area that was probably the town at one time). We took photos around the tower and we went into the duomo to find that mass was taking place. We went into the baptistry - a round building (huge) just outside of the church. It has amazing acoustics and once inside, a guard came in and sang a mantra so that we could hear the acoustics. One note will hold for ten seconds, so a singer can harmonize with themselves. We then visited the cemetary which is really like a museum of sarcophagi and frescoes. The interior courtyard has the dirt from beneath Christ's crucifixtion and supposedly, a dead body buried in it will turn to a skeleton within one day. We decided not to walk on it! We then visited the duomo -the church of Galileo. Beautiful church with the swinging incense candle that supposedly gave Galileo the idea for a pendulum while he was attending mass, the tomb of Henry VII, and the glass coffin of the mummified remains of Rainieri, who was a "Jimi Hendrix" type fellow - hard partying, stage-loving musician, who made a fortune after going into his father's business and then gave all of his money away, put on a hair shirt and then spent the rest of his life making motivational sermons at the church. He is buried in his hair shirt, his face and feet are coved in silver. We headed out of Pisa - tantalizingly close to the sea. The rest of the group agreed to make our way toward the west and we drove to Marina di Pisa - Pisa's coastal area. We were pleasantly surprised to find a great boardwalk (deserted for the most part). I put my feet in the sea but only after walking along a beach where the "sand" consists of giant fairly smooth large rocks. Nothing you can go more than a snail's pace on. We took some pictures (and a couple of rocks) and then choose one of the outdoor patios for lunch. We had pizza and some wine and beer and then headed back to "home". We got back just before sunset and shared some wine on our patio watching the sunset and talking with a couple from Nottingham, England who are on their honeymoon. They've been here the whole time we have and we have had breakfast with them each morning, but tonight we really got to talk. Nice couple... We drove to Radda in Chianti for dinner and had the best dinner of our stay in Tuscany so far. Great wine, lots of laughs, beautiful scenery. We toasted to a great stay in Tuscany and a great upcoming visit to Venice. Tomorrow we drive back to Florence to drop off the car, taxi to the train station, hopefully buy a ticket to Venice and be on our way there. "Lovely" time here ...
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario