Today we had a bit of a sleep in and woke to get
re-packed and onto our train to Le Spezia at 10am. We were only a few minutes from the train
station so there was no rush – cruisey.
We then had a 15 minute train ride and a 2 minute taxi ride and we were
picking up our “Tuscany ride” a wee Fiat Panda – perfect! It seems that once
again we got an upgrade – I had booked the smallest cheapest option – a two
door Fiat, but we got a 4-door much to everyone’s delight.
Pretty quickly we were on the road and off to
Pisa, to see the famous tower on a lean.
We took the scenic route – with no nav-man we were going by the road
signs and while a motorway kept being promised, the signs to Pisa never seemed
to take us there – oh well, the plan for getting a car was to experience the
countryside of this beautiful country.
What we did drive by which was very impressive were the mountains that
they get the Italian marble from – these were impressive as were the huge slabs
that were at the many factories along our route – very cool – wish we could
bring some back for a new bench top – but unfortunately way above our baggage
limit – might have to settle for a wallet or purse! Anyway, an hour or so later
we were in Pisa. I had heard about the
horrific parking issues in Pisa and the many streets that you are not allowed
to drive down and so warned the “driver”.
Just our luck, we fluked a free park only 5 minutes’ walk from the tower
– perfect!
Today was pretty warm, about
32 degrees and we were at the tower around mid-day. The boys were suitably impressed by the tower
and the other buildings, the baptistery and church. We took lots of photos – holding it up,
pushing it over, eating it – all the standards…………pretty cool and on much more
of a lean than when I saw it the first time 22 years ago. Also many more restrictions on where you
could walk and stand and also a pretty heavy police/army presence also. It was then time for a brief explore of the
markets where Loki was once again keen to practice his bargaining skills – we
decided to head for lunch and leave him to it for a while and he would just
come and get cash once the price was right for him. A few key rings and he was a happy camper!
Here are a selection of our pictures.....................................
A couple of grovvy looking vehicles on the side of the road.............
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