Pisa and Vernazza in the Cinque Terre

October 28 and 29, 2015

Our walk through the town of  Pisa

Pisa and Vernazza in the Cinque Terre

The Arno River in Pisa which also runs through Florence

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Today we got up early, walked to the train station and hopped a train to Pisa. We had to transfer trains but we managed OK and arrived in Pisa where we found the place to leave our luggage so we could go and see the leaning tower and a few other sites. Today turned out to be a very rainy day, which we were expecting, so we didn’t see or do as much as we had planned. We walked up to the Field of Miracles from the train station. The cathedral, leaning tower, baptistery and museums are all located near to each other. The walk through town turned out to be interesting. It is not in very good condition, but the older part of town has the winding, narrow streets with uneven pavement, all kinds of shopping areas and restaurants, interesting architecture, all leading to the grand tourist attractions. We got there in time to see the cathedral and the tower and take pictures before it started to pour, so we found a bus and took it back to the train station, picked up our luggage and boarded another train that took us on our journey to Vernazza, where we are spending the night.

The Cathedral and Leaning Tower

Our tiny room and huge terrace

Vernazza, is one of five towns along the upper western coastline of Italy. It is in what they call the Cinque Terre (five lands). They are perched on the sides of cliffs and you are able to hike between the towns. There is also a national park not far away. However, today has been so rainy that there have been some mud slides and not much hiking can be done. This town is so picturesque and quaint, it is hard to imagine that a place like this even exists. It’s kind of a small, less fancy version of the Amalfi Coast. To get to where we are staying, we walked from the train station, along the main avenue, which is car free, and then climbed steps forever until we reached our Airbnb spot. We have a teeny, tiny room with a huge terrace (bigger than our room) overlooking the sea and town. It’s gorgeous, even in the rain. We climbed up more steps to a tower above us to get an even better view. There is a church and an old castle right down by the sea. We did walk around the main square and by the church but it was getting too late and raining too hard to climb to the castle. We are hoping that it will be clear in the morning before we leave so we don’t have to deal with the rain pouring down the steps, which are uneven, steep and scary. Right now, you can hear the church bells ring and I am getting tired, so I’ll sign off.

From just above our terrace

Tomorrow will be a travel day back to Milan to catch an early flight back to the USA on Friday morning. This has been a wonderful, experience-filled trip that we will never forget. So as not to bore people to extinction, I was rather general and didn’t post many of the people and life pictures that make the trip most interesting for us. Thanks for following along.

Update:

Some of the steps up to our room

It rained all night but stopped just as we were ready to go down the steps to get the train. After a lovely train ride along the coast to Genoa, we arrived in Milan, took a train to our Airbnb spot, which is near the airport and practiced getting to the airport from our place. We have to take the first train out of here in the morning, at 6:12 a.m. to catch our 7:25 a.m. flight. Luckily, it is only a 10-15 minute walk to the train station and a 4 minute train ride to the airport. I think we are all set and ready to be back home, so see family and our own bed.

It’s been a wonderful journey!

The church in Vernazza

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The main street in Vernazza