So, just in case you missed it, in the last blog we explored Tuscany but there is somewhere I purposely left out of that blog… In this blog, we are visiting the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Square of Miracles.
I booked a half day trip with Get Your Guide to Pisa. It cost £48 and included transport from Florence to Pisa, a guided tour of the Square of Miracles and entrance to the cathedral. You could pay extra to enter the Leaning Tower of Pisa either at the time of booking or when you actually arrive in Pisa. The whole tour lasts for around 6 hours (roughly 3.5 hours in Pisa). Pisa is around 1 hour and 20 minutes drive from Florence. When we arrived, we had a 10 minute walk to the Square of Miracles.
Be aware that the walk to the Square of Miracles takes you through streets of markets and people selling items – do not pay them attention unless you really want to buy something! They will harass you, particularly those walking around selling items and they can become quite aggressive. We were warned that pickpockets operate around the area and you won’t notice something is gone until.
The guided tour was interesting. Our guide talked about the Baptistry, the cathedral, took us into the cathedral (check out the incredible mosaic mural of Jesus inside the cathedral) and then to the famous Leaning Tower – and yes, it really does lean.
Baptistries were created because originally, you couldn’t enter a cathedral without being baptised. You would be baptised in the Baptistry and then you could enter the cathedral to worship. The Baptistry is still in use today and serves the same purpose as it has for many years.
The Cathedral was beautiful on the outside and even more so on the inside. I’ve already mentioned the mosaic of Jesus but there is also a stunning gold ceiling with the Medici Family crest centred within it, beautiful carved marble and an escape door that leads out onto the roof. The escape door was used during sieges (particularly during the renaissance period) to save the most important people – the bishop, the priest, the richest people of the city…
The Leaning Tower of Pisa, is a bell tower. The lean the tower experiences is due to a couple of things – the foundation is too small for the height and weight of the building and because the ground was unstable on the “risen” side, it was pushed upward causing the tower to lean to one side. In the 1990s, there was worry that the ground had become too unstable and that the tower would fall due to an increased degree of leaning but luckily, due to scientific study and engineering, the ground was stabilised and the tower returned to its “correct” degree of leaning.
After the guided tour, we had some free time to explore the area. I spent this time taking photos and enjoying the lovely sunset. We then met as a group to return to the coach and Florence.
It was a fun day trip – it would have been better if we had had time to go into the actual city of Pisa rather than just the Square of Miracles. It was good to see the Leaning Tower with my own eyes!
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