Trip Date: 10 October 2019

The first trip abroad that Emily and I took as a couple would end up being quite different to most of our other adventures. No gruelling climbs to the top of mountains or extremes of temperature to deal with this time. Just the two of us on a nice long weekend in Italy, taking in the sights of Pisa and Florence, looking at some art and eating some great food.

This was closer to the type of holiday I was used to going on with my friends. In those cases, my friend Matt would sort out the logistics and then the rest of us would turn up having not thought too much about what we’d actually be doing when we got there. Now, with Emily (mostly) in charge, there were activities researched and pre-booked weeks before the trip, with a plan in place for each part of each day.

From Pisa Airport, we took the five minute long shuttle to the central train station. From there, we walked for about twenty minutes to reach the city’s obvious main attraction, crossing the Arno river along the way. The Leaning Tower forms part of the Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles), along with the Cathedral, Baptistery and the Camposanto Monumentale (monumental cemetery).

Seeing the Leaning Tower in person is an oddly familiar but alien experience. It’s a building we’re all so used to seeing in photos, but to see it in person and to watch it lean towards or away from you as you walk around its base is pretty incredible. Not quite so incredible that it was able to prevent a small crowd gathering to watch a nearby robot lawnmower, but there you go.

While the crowds were mostly there for the Tower (and for photography based mucking about, see above), the other buildings in the Piazza are also beautiful and worth taking the time to explore. We broke up our visit with delicious takeaway sandwiches from L’Ostellino in a pretty square nearby.

As the evening approached, we returned to the Tower for what was easily the highlight of the day. With the kind of forethought I was unused to applying to holidays, Emily had suggested that we book to climb the Tower in time for sunset. The walk up the spiral stairs inside the wall of the Tower was a fun and slightly disorientating challenge, as the gradient of the staircase changes as you go around.

On reaching the top, we were greeted with the sight of the Cathedral and Baptistery, as well as the rest of the city, bathed in the golden evening light. As we’d booked the last time to climb the Tower that day, we made sure to spend as much time as possible with that magical backdrop before heading back down.

With the day nearing its end (and with both of us knackered after an early flight), there was just enough time to stop for a pizza on the way back to the station. From there, we set off on the train for Florence and the rest of our trip to Tuscany.

Travel Tips

On this trip, we flew to Pisa and then back home from Florence. This was a great way to combine visits to both cities as the train between them only takes about an hour and, when we took this trip, a flight to Pisa from the UK was pretty cheap. So if you fancy a trip to Florence, I’d recommend looking to see if you can tie in a day trip to Pisa too.

Don’t forget to book in advance to go inside and up the Tower, it’s definitely worth doing, particularly at sunset.