We are staying in Pisa at Casa San Tommaso, just 150 metres from the Leaning Tower. The location is excellent as it is within walking distance of everything we need and yet is tucked away on a side street. We chose to end our travels in Italy with a week in smaller towns like Siena and Pisa. We have been pleasantly surprised to discover that there is more to Pisa than the tourist attractions of the Piazza del Duomo. Strolling along the Arno Rive at dusk, finding great food where locals eat, appreciating the vibrancy of a University town and discovering its historic buildings and neighbourhoods off the beaten track are a few of the ways we happily spent our time here.
The Leaning Tower is a very recognizable and much photographed image, yet, when you can walk up to it and appreciate the details, its unique beauty and appeal shines through. As well, the increasing lean of the tower is quite striking.
The peculiar sight of the Leaning Tower is a captivating sight. Being built on unstable sandy ground, it began to lean right after it was built in the early 14th century. All of the buildings in the Piazza del Duomo lean - notably the Duomo and the Baptistry, but the angle of the Tower's lean is the most visible and dramatic.
Seeing the landmark sights in Pisa is a must, but we also enjoyed wandering through the neighbourhoods and finding historic buildings like this Civic Building in a Piazza.
We went for a walk in the evening and chanced upon a wine and cheese festival celebrating local products. We enjoyed sampling the cheese from the region.
The flavour and texture of this cheese was really good. I wished that we could communicate as I would have liked to understand how it was made and the type of cheese it was. Delicious.
