Duration: 15 Days 15 Nights (Sep 02~Sep 17, 2014)
Day 6: Pisa & Exploring Lucca – the Medieval City
We started the day by having breakfast at B&B La
Colonna with simple breakfast of giant croissant, yoghurt, juice and tea. Our
plan was to get to Pisa in the morning for the famous leaning tower then come
back before noon to explore Lucca. We walked straight to Lucca train station to
get our ticket right after breakfast.
 |
| Simple Breakfast at B&B La Colonna |
 |
| Love the Giant Croissant with Custard inside... |
 |
| Ready for Today Adventure!!! |
 |
| Piazza = Parking Lot? |
 |
| Leaving the old town |
 |
| At Lucca Train Station |
The queue for the ticket counter was surprising long as
there was only one opened counter causing us to miss our planned train. The
train had already left after we bought our ticket – one good thing is the
ticket did not have specific timing and it is valid until 6 hours after you
validate it on the machine before jumping on a train. The next train to Pisa
was only available after an hour (due to Sunday) thus we walked back into Lucca
medieval wall again. *facepalm*
Since we wanted to be able to catch the next train, we simply
strolled along the road at Duomo and ended up at Piazza San Romano which
happened to have some ceremony with people in World War 1 or 2 uniform along
with tanks and jeeps – or should I say LARPing? Life Action Role Play in an
ancient town like this? :p However, we did not stay long to watch as we had to
rush to the train station again.
 |
| A Stream before the city wall - Is this some kind of defense during oldtime? |
 |
| On Top of City Wall |
 |
| Lots of Towers in Lucca |
 |
| Not sure what is this Church... :p |
 |
| At Piazza S.Martino |
 |
| At the Duomo |
 |
| Walking around in medieval town |
 |
| Yet another Church |
 |
| Nice Ceiling! |
 |
| Soldiers in Uniform & Jeeps! LARPing?! |
 |
| Marching too? |
 |
| They even got nurses there! |
 |
| Is it supposed to be the Queen? |
 |
| Leaving through S. Maria Gate |
We got on the 10.42pm Regionale 6692 train and only
managed to reach Pisa San Rossore Station at 11.03pm. We were quite lost at the
station as there was no clear sign pointing to our destination (Pisa). Thankfully
we managed to get our direction right and reached the sight before 12noon.
 |
| LOST!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
 |
| We are getting there! |
The area surrounding the Piazza del Duomo was swarmed with people! It was like a sold-out concert and you just could not walk anywhere without bumping into people. Oh dear! Word of Advice? Go there as early or as late as possible to avoid day-tripper or you would be sardined! LOL..
 |
| Going in! Lots of People!! |
 |
| The View from Entrance |
 |
| Everyone is trying to get a shot! |
There was a whole area selling souvenirs but we skipped
it first to get to our destination – the Leaning Tower of Pisa! Since we were
there, of course we had to take some silly pictures with the tower – everyone was
doing that anyway. Hehe… We then went to the ticket office thinking to get a
ticket to go up to the leaning tower but the tickets were selling fast and the
next available slot would be at 2pm! We ended up skipping it since it would
leave us no time to explore Lucca.
 |
| Let's do something silly!!! |
 |
| Sammy attempting to lick the tower! |
 |
| A Closer Look! |
 |
| King Kong trying to get to the top? |
 |
| Leaning Tower & the RESTORATION of Death at the Duomo |
The entrance to Duomo di Pisa was free thus there was a long
queue to get into that. We did get the ticket to visit the Battistero &
Campo Santo Monumentale. Campo Santo Monumentale is the cemetery for a lot of
famous people which unfortunately I had no knowledge of. Oops!
 |
| A Fallen Angel? |
 |
| Inside the Cemetary |
 |
| Everything looks so grand |
 |
| I think it's a famous person but i have no idea who that is... :p |
 |
| Sarcophagus |
 |
| Painting on the Wall |
 |
| At the Garden in Cemetary |
We did get to climb slightly up to the dome at the Battistero
to get some higher level view of the place before going to the souvenir area to
grab some goodies.
 |
| The Battistero |
 |
| Long queue for Duomo |
 |
| Inside the Battistero |
 |
| Going up - STAIRS! |
 |
| A look to the outside |
 |
| View of Duomo from Battistero |
 |
| A View from the top |
 |
| Panoramic View of Piazza del Duomo |
We got to the Pisa San Rossore Station for the 1.48pm
train back to Lucca. The station was totally deserted with no counter opening –
so remember to buy a return train ticket from your starting station else you
would get into trouble for getting train ticket in this god forsaken station if
you had problem with the auto-ticket machine! Remember, the auto-ticket machine
only accepts credit card with chip and a valid PIN code!
 |
| Pisa S. Rossore Train Station - Deserted!!! |
Since the station was deserted with minimal information,
there only left us and some lost tourists scratching our head on which platform
to get on. It didn’t help that the train was delayed for a long time and
changed platform in last minute. All of us ran here and there like monkey to
look for the correct train. *facepalm*
By the time we reached Lucca, it was already around 3.30pm.
We quickly bought our train ticket to Florence for tomorrow and went back to
the city wall for more exploring. Our 1st destination was Torre
Guinigi aka Broccoli Tower. Why it was called broccoli tower? Well, there were trees
at the top forming a ‘cap’ where you can enjoy the view of Lucca.
 |
| Let's Explore Lucca! |
 |
| There it is! Broccoli Tower! |
Before getting to the top, of course there would be MORE
STEPS!!! No Pain No Gain right? The Pain was approximately 230 steps. We did
get to enjoy the view under the shade of the trees and the wind up there was a
welcome addition since it was incredibly hot at ground level.
 |
| FAINT!!! |
 |
| HELP!!!!!!!!! |
 |
| Finally!!! |
 |
| View of Lucca |
 |
| There is the Anfiteatro there |
 |
| Tons of Towers in Lucca |
 |
| Hiding under the Shade |
We were quite hungry by then and stopped for a late lunch
at La Tana del Boia (rated 2nd at Tripadvisor) for some sandwiches. We ordered
the Tuscany Ham & Cheese Milk Cheese sandwich and the Porchetta &
Cheese sandwich along with beer. The portion
of the ingredients was really generous and the sandwiches were toasted before
being served. It was really satisfying biting the thick sandwich and the only downside
was it could be too dry and hard at some part. We really loved the taste of the
Porchetta & Cheese though.
 |
| La Tana del Boia! |
 |
| The Sandwich Menu |
 |
| I need a beer! |
 |
| Look at the Porchetta (Roasted Pork) & Cheese!!!!!!! DA YUM!!! |
 |
| Tuscany Ham & Goat Cheese |
Church of San Michele in Foro was right beside the
sandwich shop thus we went to take some photo after our late lunch. The
exterior was magnificent and grand – it was like trying to show-off in every
angle. The interior was just a typical church and could not rival the exterior.
 |
| At Piazza S. Michele |
 |
| The Church of S. Michele in Foro - Look at the RESTORATION! |
 |
| It's Beautiful eh? |
 |
| Now that's just showing off! |
 |
| Interior of a Common Church |
We then walked pass more towers before reaching The
Basilica of San Frediano which was made extraordinary by the 13th
century Byzantine-style mosaic at the façade.
 |
| I think this is the Townhall Tower? |
 |
| Or is it this one? |
 |
| Basilica San Frediano - Look at the Mosaic |
 |
| Another View |
 |
| Inside the Basilica |
 |
| Lots of Mosaic in there |
We continued on our journey to Anfiteatro but we were
stopped by Gelateria Veneta which was highly recommended by Mirka – our Hotel
owner. We’d decided to give it a try and were HOOKED immediately. My GOSH!!! I
thought I’d die and went to heaven! My favourite was Wild Strawberries and the
strange thing was I’d never liked strawberry gelato before but this totally
changed my mind! YUM!!!!
 |
| 5 Scoops of Gelato!!! |
 |
| This is HEAVEN!!! |
We bought another pineapple ice stick from the Gelateria
right after wolfing down 5 scoops of gelato. Oh dear! The pineapple tasted
wonderful as well! DARN!!! We finally got to the Anfiteatro - It was the
theatre of Roman Lucca and held up to 10,000 people but now houses were built
in the ruins of the original walls which transformed into the beautiful piazza in
arches.
 |
| Let's get an Ice Stick too! |
 |
| One of the Entrances to Anfiteatro |
 |
| Look like an arch? |
 |
| Guess this is clearer? |
 |
| Oh Dear! What are they doing? |
 |
| More Medieval Buildings |
 |
| Not sure what is this building! lol! |
We went back to Piazza San Romano to rent a 4-wheel bike
to cycle the 4km city wall – the cost was EUR9 per hour and I must say the
Indian owner was really rude and unhelpful. We had no choice as this seemed to
be the only bike-renting shop opening in the area.
 |
| Our 4-wheel drive!!! Hmm... bike.. |
Biking up hill to the city wall was really difficult as
it was a slope – it got better once we reached the top at even road. However,
there were simply too many people there for biking! We had to make sure we did
not knock into anyone and endured the ‘traffic jam’.
 |
| Going Uphill! |
 |
| This is not easy! |
 |
| Sammy is enjoying himself though! |
 |
| Giant Pumpkin!!! |
 |
| Happy!!! |
It was almost 8pm when we finished ‘biking’ – we just
wandered around the shopping street and managed to get a raspberry ice stick
and tiramisu from another shop. This ice stick was not as nice though. We then
bought another peach ice stick coated with chocolate again before going back to
Gelateria Veneta to wolf down another 5 scopes of gelato! Needless to say – we were
too full for any dinner thus we simply got back to our B&B for an early
rest since we needed to get up early tomorrow for our next destination –
Florence!
 |
| Chocolate Fountain!!!!!!!!! |
 |
| Tiramisu & Raspberry Ice Stick |
 |
| Let's get a Chocolate coated Peach Ice Stick as well! |
 |
| Night View at Anfiteatro |
 |
| Let's just get more Gelato!!! |
Next Day (A Day in Florence - the City of Renaissance)
No comments:
Post a Comment