» Leaning Tower - Simon Lau

Pisa Travel Pictures

There’s not a whole lot to share in the little city of Pisa. Everyone knows about the Leaning Tower and that’s all there is to that place. We spent 1 night in Pisa, arriving around noon and taking a train out the next morning.
In this city we did a fair bit walking, approximately 10KM, first from the train station to the ex-monastery where we stayed, then to the Leaning Tower, then back to the ex-monastery, then back into the city for dinner and a night glance of the tower before making the trip back to the ex-monastery to call it a night. This excludes the additional walking around to find a place for dinner, walking in the park and through the streets to see what the locals do.
There aren’t very many pictures, but here’s what I have to share:

Climbing to the top of the tower is not easy task, not because it’s tall but because the stairway is tiny!

I also find that climbing up the tower gives you a really good feel of how much the tower is leaning. It’s definitely worth doing if you’re visiting the Leaning Tower. My only advice is to show up early, buy your ticket and then make your funny pictures. They only allow 40 people up at a time and let people up in 40 minute intervals.

Tags: Europe 2008, Grad Trip, Leaning Tower, Pisa

. 19 Jul 08 | Photography, Travel | Comments (0)

Europe Trip Planning – Where We’re Staying in Pisa, Italy

Pisa is really one of those cities that you can cover in a single day. The biggest attraction is the Leaning Tower and being only 30 minutes away from Florence, you could simply make it a day trip. However, factoring in the extra cost of taking a train back to Florence and the cost of taking the train from Florence to Rome, it wasn’t a big difference if we spent the in town. Expedia had a Europe sale but the place we ended up taking wasn’t on the list. As a matter of fact, Hotel Santa Croce is one of the more expensive nights, $128.17/night, and with tax it comes to $141/night.

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Hotel Santa Croce is at the edge of Pisa but within public transportation to the Leaning Tower and Central Station. The hotel is actually an old monastery built in the 13th century. It’s address is Piazza Santa Croce, I guess you can’t miss it.

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There aren’t very many pictures of the hotel but some of the amenities include: free wifi, complimentary breakfast, private bathroom, TV, A/C, patio and a view of the courtyard. Our train out of Pisa is around 9AM so we’ll be getting up and out early, let’s hope the free breakfast starts early! From Florence we will make our way to Rome, the last stop of our Italian leg of the trip.

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