Italy by Rail - North to South (Part 5): Pisa, a Perfect Italian Christmas Destination!!

- Dec. 25, 2017, Monday.

- Christmas is always a happy time of the year and a popular time to travel - but it can be a problem for those traveling to predominantly-Catholic/Christian countries. This is also in-tandem with those who wish to travel to Catholic/Christian during the Holy Week. Why so? Because in these countries, during these special holidays, EVERYTHING IS CLOSED!!!! I actually experienced this problem before in Greece, since our tour group traveled there during Holy Week in 2014 (click here, here, and here for my trip to Greece,) but I made the situation favorable to me since I had the view of Santorini all to myself. This time in Italy, I was faced with the same problem. Fortunately, I found out that the attractions in Pisa are open all days of the year!! At the very least, they can be seen and appreciated from the outside since the buildings in Pisa are best seen from the outside (for example, you can see how the Leaning Tower of Pisa leans from the outside.) Though other people were warning me about this, I e-mailed the cultural authorities - because I am that "OC" with my itinerary - managing these historical monuments, and they told me that visiting Pisa in Christmas would not be a problem. (Merry Christmas indeed!! Or as the Italians say...."Buon Natale!!")

- Pisa was known in Italian history as a naval town, although due to changes in nature the current shores are quite far from the city. Still, with the Arno River cutting across the city, Pisa's role in Italy's naval history still continued. Today, Pisa is a popular day trip from Florence, as Pisa is a mere one hour away from Florence by regional train. It is suggested by some bloggers and travelers that there is no need to stay in Pisa, as there is not as much to see compared to bigger cities like nearby Florence.

- My family and I took the early 7am train to Pisa Centrale train station. From the train station, one can take a shuttle bus all the way to Piazza dei Miracoli. However, because of my friend's recent almost-got-pickpocketed situation a couple of days before our Pisa trip (click here for travel safety tips in Europe and pickpockets' modi operandi), I decided to ride the cab from the train station to Piazza dei Miracoli. Walking is possible but it would be a 2 kilometer walk. Well, the cab was able to take us to Piazza dei Miracoli. Piazza dei Miracoli, by the way, is the plaza where the Leaning Tower of Pisa stands....or rather, leans. Piazza dei Miracoli means "Square/Plaza of Miracles;" the name was given by an Italian poet named Gabriele d'Annunzio and called the square as such because of the marble structures of the square that rise above their green surroundings. For tourists, this square is also convenient because it holds the four main structures of Pisa in one small area. (Of course, this means that tourists can save a lot of time!!) The four main structures are: Duomo di Pisa (the main church,) the Battistero (baptistery,) Camposanto Monumentale (Great Cemetery,) and the bell tower also famously known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Baptistery, Duomo di Pisa, Leaning Tower, and a bit of Camposanto at the left side. 

Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Normal touristy photo.

- Since we arrived early, we were able to take some photos quite easily as there were less tourists roaming arond. By 9am, it was difficult to do that already as other tourists came out of nowhere and started to swarm the area. I left the other tourists alone, and I went to the visitor's center to buy tickets to the monuments. There are different types of tickets, depending on how many monuments you wish to visit. Since I had the whole day to spare, I bought the ticket for the baptistery and the Camposanto; the church did not require a ticket. I would have also bought a ticket for the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo as it was under renovation. Also, from all the climbing I did in Florence the day before (click here,) I decided not to buy tickets to go up the Leaning Tower (my weight may even cause the tower to topple!! I'm half joking of course.) Still, it was nice to get to see it up close! Quite interestingly, there is an angle that makes the leaning tower look straight, that is, if you take a photo of it directly in front of where the tower leans. The 14th-century bell tower (built after 177 years,) the third oldest structure in the Piazza dei Miracoli, leans on one side because the ground was too soft. There were several attempts to correct the tower - first, 13th-century engineers and architects made one side longer than the other, making the tower a bit curved. That sure didn't work, so a few centuries later, the Italians seemed to have accepted this towers' curved and slanted state, that contemporary engineers and architects just added more lead foundations as counterweights. Well, for me, the tower's leaning state has its charms. I honestly think that it looks like a dancing tower.

Tried to dress up like the tower.

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Slanted....

Straight?!?! (Well, it's just an illusion.)

Tourists are swarming the area. It's time to look at random tourists dancing.... "THRILLERRRRRRR."

THRILLERRRR NIGHT.

So of course I didn't want to do the usual Thriller-pushing-the-tower pose, so I just tried to lean like the tower. 

- In front of the Leaning Tower was the Duomo di Pisa, or the Pisa Cathedral. This is the oldest structure in the piazza, being built from the late 11th century to the early 12th century in the Romanesque style. We weren't able to go around the church that much because the Christmas mass was about to start, but at the very least we were able to get a glimpse of the church's interior.

Merry Christmas!! Buon natale!!

The church may look small in the photo, but trust me, it was one big church!!

- I proceeded to visit the baptisery, which from my perspective looks like a Faberge egg. The baptistery was built int he 12th century, and finished just a few years before the Leaning Tower was finished. Just like the Leaning Tower, the baptistery also leans a little bit, as it was built on the same kind of soft ground as the Leaning Tower.

Faberge-egg-shaped baptistery.

The style is a transition between Romanesque and Gothic.

Baptistery font.

- My final stop for the Piazza dei Miracoli was the Camposanto, or the great cemetery. Also built in the middle of the 12th century, it contains countless Roman graves with personalized tombs, epitaphs, or sarcophagi. There are so many graves there that it is difficult NOT to step on one while going around the Camposanto.

Endless corpses....on the ground.

To the courtyard.

Chapel.

Various artistic sarcophagi.

In the middle of the courtyard.

- I did not spend too much time at the Camposanto since I was the only person there in the middle of almost a hundred or more graves. I hurried myself and seemed to run a marathon around the Piazza dei Miracoli until I arrived at the Museo delle Sinopie, which is right beside the baptistery and the Duomo. "Sinopie," or sinopias in English, is a kind of earth-derived pigment, sometimes translated as red ochre, and was used in early historic times for painting, like painting frescoes on churches and other religious buildings.

Street shot.

Was supposed to take another shot of the Leaning Tower, accidentally got this instead. Hahahaha. 

At the souvenir stalls. Someone tryin'a be someone he's not.

Museo delle Sinopie, this is an example of a picture drawn using sinopias.

Frescoes.

This perhaps can be some sort of Catholic version of a mandala.

- Finally, my family and I walked our way from Piazza dei Miracoli to Piazza dei Cavalieri or "Knight's Square." The square was called as such because this used to be the headquarters of the Knights of St. Stephen. This is why the emblem of St. Stephen, a red cross made up of what seem to be four arrowheads. Today, the historical buildings that surround the plaza are mostly off limits as they are private property; these are currently government buildings of university buildings.

Streets of Pisa on a Christmas Day. Europeans celebrate Christmas in a solemn manner, so the streets were quiet - except for one. After passing by that house, it was no surprise that the people inside were Filipinos!! (It wasn't difficult to hear their loud and lively chatter from the outside.)

Passed by this church on the way to the piazza.

See St. Stephen's emblem above the street name?

Palazzo della Carovana, currently houses the Scuola Normale Superiore de Pisa (part of Pisa University.)

The dog doesn't care about anything.

Piazza dei Cavalieri.

St. Stephen's emblem again.

- We later kept moving southward, until we reached Ponte Solferino (Solferino Bridge) that goes across the Arno River. There was not much people and the river was incredibly still, and so it was a perfect opportunity to take photos of the reflections of the rainbow-colored buildings that line the river.

They look like Skittles!! 

Santa Maria della Spina.

Can't ask a better view of the Arno River.

- Soon, we crossed the bridge and trod the streets of Christmas silence. At the southern bank of the river near the bridge lies a small Gothic church that looks like it jumped out of a fairy tale book. The Santa Maria della Spina is a 13th-century church that used to hold a thorn from the actual crown of thorns placed on the head of Jesus Christ, hence, the name "della Spina" or "of the thorn." Today, the thorn was moved to Santa Chiara, another church in Pisa. Santa Maria della Spina has varying/irregular opening hours, though people mainly visit it for its worthy-of-Disneyland facade; it is more often closed than open anyway.

Santa Marai della Spina.

The colors are subtle but distinct at the same time.

Trash bin photobombers.

One of the doors.

Gargoyles.

The whole block that is the church.

- We walked further south until we were able to reach Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, just in front of the train station. The plaza itself was nothing special, apart from the statue of Vittorio Emanuele II himself. However, around the buildings that surround the piazza is a well-known mural by American artist Keith Haring called "Tuttomondo" ("All World" or "The Whole World" in English.) This mural is located at the back wall of the Church of Sant'Antonio. Although I know street art and churches don't usually go together, but I think this mural fits with the values that churches uphold - love, peace, harmony, etc. Keith Haring painted this in 1989 after Piergiorgio Castellani, a respected Pisan winemaker, celebrity, among other things connected to his and his family's name, saw Keith Haring in New York and invited him to create a big artwork in Pisa. "Tuttomondo" would be Haring's last public work before dying months later of AIDS. Although I am not much into contemporary art like my sister (who is my total opposite in every sense,) I admired the color and the clear meaning of all the figures in this artwork. I also read somewhere that the colors chosen were based on the colors found in Pisan structures, just like the ones that line the Arno River shown above.

Saw this while walking. Sketchy.

They have public screenings of Bollywood in Italy!! (We need more of these in the Philippines too!!

Tuttomondo!!

Seeh ow big it is??

Vittorio Emanuele II at the piazza named after him.

Chiesa Sant'Antonio, where Tuttomondo is painted.

- We had lunch later on at a small al fresco restaurant at the piazza, where a Christmas bazaar was about to be set up. We took our time since there weren't many customers and since we had no place else to go. Downtown Pisa is quite small, and could actually be finished within half a day. Still, I had no regrets booking/reserving a late afternoon train back to Florence since I wanted to give some allowance time in the event that we see something that fancies us. Although it was less likely since it was Christmas, and most of the other tourist sites in Pisa were closed for the day. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the quiet streets and absorbing as much of Pisa as we could. I could only imagine how difficult it would've been to walk in the streets of Pisa on the busy days and peak seasons. 

Went back to the bridge just because.

Saw this church while walking.

- We left Pisa at around 6:30pm, and had an hour-long train ride back to Florence. I was happy that we were able to do something on Christmas, because honestly I was scared that nothing will be open that day. It would be hard for me to visit Europe any other time of the year because I have to follow the school calendar as I work in a school (and as someone who comes from Asia, a trip to Europe or the USA, for example, would need a longer time, as the plane fares are quite expensive and it's best to make the most out of the trip.) The rest of our Christmas evening was spent packing our bags again and having an early rest for the last leg of the trip and one of the cities I had always long to see - Rome!!

- Please don't forget to ready about my other Eurotrip adventures during the holidays here:

France: Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here Part 4 here!!

Italy: Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, Part 6 here, Part 7 here, Part 8 here, and Part 9 here!!