Eurotrip: Pisa part 1

This post is going to be hard. You see there was a magical element to my stay in Pisa… when I was planning my trip I originally stopped there because the ticket was cheap and because I had planned Rome as my last stop and I wanted to take the train. So I thought why not Pisa? Turns out it was the best decision I made.

I think some of my love for Pisa stems from the fact that my host, Antonio, was just amazing, out of all my hosts he was the nicest. He was also the only host not bothered by all my questions and he also spent the most time with me and really made me feel welcome. 

So I hopped on my early flight and arrived in Aeroporto Galileo Galilei right around noon. There was a lovely tourist information point in the airport that I grabbed a few maps at. Then I set off to find city centre…. Turns out it’s literally a two minute bus ride. Well I lie it was a two minute bus ride to the central train station which was where I was meeting Antonio. I was a tad nervous since I was actually meeting Antonio and I wasn’t for sure how he looked, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to recognize him and I’d be stranded in Pisa since my last few hosts had been fairly easy to find, I had Dimitri and Martin’s flat addresses and Hetram and I met at the metro stop with no one else around. In order to calm my nerves I took a seat outside and started looking at the map, looking up every now and again hoping to spot Antonio. Turns out he spotted me first, it was a bit of a relief to me. We walked back to his flat and he gave me a quick tour of the tiny place and gave me a set of keys before he went back to work. That’s right he was nice enough to meet me at the train station during his work day. I thought that was the nicest gesture ever since he could have easily told me to stop by his flat after he was off work.

First thing I did? Showered. There’s something about airplane rides that make me feel dirty. Even if I showered before hoping to the airport. But after a shower and fresh clothes I was ready to tackle the town!

Now Antonio had warned me that Pisa was small and that I should take a few day trips (which I did) but I still didn’t think it was going to be as small and adorable as it was. I was under the impression that since it was such a well known town that it would be some place like Milan or Rome. Turns out it was much cuter and more amazing. My love for Rome vanished in the three nights I was in Pisa. This town with it’s old walls and leaning tower have full command of my heart.

I did a bit of walking around that first day. A few pictures were taken.

Then I decided I was hungry and stopped by a shop to get some bread and cheese. I meandered through some back streets to get to Antonio’s flat. I had no problem getting in the front door…but his door… well let’s just say it was a spiteful thing. I could not get it to open! So after a while of trying I gave up decided that Piazza dei Miracoli would be a pleasant place for a sunset snack and some pictures.

Then I made up my mind to get Antonio’s door open no matter what! I got it open my third try. Maybe it was just a sign to go take night time pictures of Pisa when I couldn’t get the door open. either way it was nice to take some night pictures. 

I chilled out for a while before Antonio got home from his football (or to Americans soccer) match. Antonio suggested we go out for dinner so we headed out to this cute pub like place. I had yummy grilled cheese and veggies. Now it’s not what we Americans call grilled cheese. It was literally a piece of cheese that was grilled and it was amazing! As a side note thanks to Antonio I had the best food while I was in Pisa. 

After we ate we wandered around Pisa and talked. It was cool to see the city at night and to follow Antonio around. To me it felt like we were just wandering aimlessly but he obviously knew where we were. You see Antonio was born and raised in Pisa so he probably knows were corner of the city. He’s super lucky, I would give anything I had to live in Pisa. It really is an adorable place. 

While I had been out wandering Pisa  I had bought a train ticket to Florence for the next day. The train tickets in Italy are rather odd in a cool way. In America we buy a ticket for an 11h00 train and we take an 11h00 train. In Italy you buy an 8 euro ticket and there are a number of trains that you can take. Only hitch you can’t take a train that would cost you 10 euros. For me that was totally okay because I wasn’t sure if I was going to be up early of not. I wanted to be out earlyish but I was also dead tired from all my travels. 

So the next day I was off to Florence! And after my Florence and Lucca posts I’ll get to rant a bit more about Pisa.

Cheers,