Last Wednesday a few of my work colleagues and I went along to Pisa for the day, after spotting a bargain on the Ryanair website which involved us paying 2p per ticket with Ryanair and £20 in Airport Tax. Having never been to before this was a first taste of Italy for me and I was especially ... Read review
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Advantages: Breath taking views, easy to get to and around Disadvantages: Them damn bicycles
...and I went along to Pisa for the day, after spotting a bargain on the Ryanair website which involved us paying 2p per ticket with Ryanair and £20 in Airport Tax. Having never been to before this was a first taste of Italy for me and I was especially looking forward to seeing the Leaning Tower in all its glory
Pisa is located in Tuscany, still surrounded by its 12-century City Walls on the north bank of the river Arno with just over ... ...Airport to the centre of Pisa we used the shuttle bus service, which can be found, at the bus station outside the Airport at a cost of 3 Euros for a day return, there are also taxis available if you prefer not to use the bus.
Once you enter the main city centre, as with most European cities there are plenty of opportunities to max out the credit cards upon a wide range of gifts from jewellery, clothes, food and souvenirs. The shopping ... more
Last Wednesday a few of my work colleagues and I went along to Pisa for the day, after spotting a bargain on the Ryanair website which involved us paying 2p per ticket with Ryanair and £20 in Airport Tax. Having never been to before this was a first taste of Italy for me and I was especially looking forward to seeing the Leaning Tower in all its glory
Pisa is located in Tuscany, still surrounded by its 12-century City Walls on the north bank of the river Arno with just over 100,000 inhabitants. The centre of Pisa is easily accessible from Galileo Galilei Airport, which is about a mile away from the City Centre. The Airport itself has numerous facilities including a Bureau de Change, Cash machine's and ATM's as well as car hire centres, restaurants, café's and bars and a few shops. To get from the Airport to the centre of Pisa we used the shuttle bus service, which can be found, at the bus station outside the Airport at a cost of 3 Euros for a day return, there are also taxis available if you prefer not to use the bus.
Once you enter the main city centre, as with most European cities there are plenty of opportunities to max out the credit cards upon a wide range of gifts from jewellery, clothes, food and souvenirs. The shopping hours in Pisa are open from 09:00 to 13:00 and from 15:30 or 16:00 to 19:30 or 20:00 for many of the smaller boutiques and the better-known shops are open all day long. Pisa also boasts a busy market area, which again offers a lot of different gifts and souvenirs and down many of the busy streets and shopping arcades you will find a variety of different market stalls. Alongside the market stalls and shops you will find street café's and cake shops amongst the many mouth-watering eateries on offer.
Food in Pisa is to die for quite literally, everywhere you walk there are delicious aromas floating out of each and every shop you pass, offering many local dishes. One thing you will find is that there are many different types of food served and lunch is generally at 1pm and your evening meal from 8pm so if you wish to avoid restaurants at busy times then avoid those two. A note to remember is that prices suddenly double in eateries around the main tourist attractions, so to avoid paying more than you have to, I would advise you find a suitable place to eat in the area known as Piazza Cavalieri or Piazza Dante which is where the locals tend to dine.
So, you now know there are a lot of places to shop and to eat but what else is there to do? Well Pisa is a historic city with over 3000 years of history dating back to the eleventh century and whilst I was there I managed to visit the 5 main attractions which can be found at a place which is dubbed the Campo dei Miracoli roughly translated means the field of miracles. It is here which you can find the following:
The Leaning Tower (Torre Pendente) - I was actually surprised at how much the Tower actually does lean and the view as you stand below the Tower is as breath taking as it is once you get to the top. Construction of the Leaning Tower began back in the eleventh century around 1170 and it wasn't until they had began building the third section that the slight lean was noticed and Masons tried wedging large stones underneath the structure to holt the lean but this had an adverse effect and the Tower leaned even more and to date engineers have tried on numerous occasions to rectify this and work is still continuing today. As mentioned before you can actually walk up the steep steps to the top of the tower, I found climbing the steps quite a challenge and thankfully there are rest areas on two different sections before reaching the top. The steps are very narrow and quite slippery due to them being marble and interestingly there are no signs to tell you about watching your step, and for anyone who suffers from Vertigo this is not something I would recommend, however the views are simply breath taking. The cost of going up the Tower 15 Euro which is roughly £10 and you get around thirty minutes to get to the top of the Tower, have a look around before a security guard will ask you to start making you way down, so all in all I think it is great value for money.
The second tourist site we visited was Cattedrale - Il Duomo di Pisa which is a grand cathedral directing in front of the Leaning Tower which to look at is stunning. Apparently this Cathedral is over 1000 years old and made solely of coloured marble which changes colour slightly in the sunlight. On the guided tour we were told that due to a large fire back in 1595 a lot of precious work was damaged and these have been replaced with more modern Renaissance artists and the interior was also refurbished and replaced. The Catherdal inside is totally mesmerising with artistic works on every wall, which are colossal in size. The Pulpit, which was the design of Giovanni Pisano who is a famous Italian sculptor and was destroyed by the fire in 1595 but has almost been preserved to its former glory.
The next two places we visited were the Battistero (Baptistery), which is circular in shape and is situated behind the Cathedral. Once inside the Baptistery the first thing I noticed was the acoustic and echoing affect which are said to be superior in the early morning when the choir sing. We then moved along to the Camposanto, which is the Cemetery or Holy Field, and again the views are phenomenal. Dating back to the late 1200's the Camposanto was used to house holy soil, which was brought from where Christ was crucified. Sadly due to the second world war bombings we are left with only ruins and once workers began to removed damaged parts of the walls, etchings were found which are now on display in one of the two museums in Pisa.
The final two places we visited were museums, one known as Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Cathedral Museum) and Museo delle Sinopie. Museo dell'Operra houses many sculptures, paintings and works which relate back to the buildings I visited during my tour and the Museo delle Sinopie houses the original sketches found in the Camposanto and there are also displays to show how pictures evolved from between the initial sketches which are found on the buildings walls to the final copy and on the final copy which is somewhat smaller than the original, the visible part of the original sketch is highlighted so you can see what the picture would have looked like.
Adjacent to the Tower and Cathedral are market stalls which sell souvenirs of Pisa and you can buy an array of items which I would simply label "tat" which range from a replica of the Leaning Tower which when plugged in doubles up as a light, a paperweight with a picture of the Pope inside and various other objects relating to Italy and the Italian Culture. I bought my beloved husband one of the worst pieces of tat available which was a small replica of the Leaning Tower, made from Marble and it doubles up as a pen holder with its very own pen and all for the bargain price of 2 Euros.
All in all visiting the Leaning Tower and those 5 different tourist attractions cost 25 Euros, which is about £15-17 once converted into GBP and in my own opinion it was money well, spent. You can buy your tickets through the Tourist Office which is very near to the Leaning Tower and it is worth noting that you cannot get your money back should you change your mind about going up the Tower and likewise with the 5 monuments as they are known. You can however pay for the Tower experience and the 5 monuments separately. I would also advise you to check the opening times of each and every one of the attractions mentioned to ensure you are able to view them.
So finally…. as a tourist town Pisa does have everything you need and it is a City you could quite happily spend a few days here to take your time going round the Leaning Tower, The Cathedral, The Baptistery and the Museums to do them justice. We managed to visit all five places in just over five hours which was an absolute killer on my feet because it does involve a lot of walking, in a few days you could easily visit each and every one of them and view everything on offer to you and a word of warning… watch out for the locals on their bicycles, as friendly as they may be when you meet them, they don't move out of the way for you!
Advantages: It's Italy, so you can expect good weather, nice people and amazing food, plus a well located airport served by budget carriers Disadvantages: There's very little to do there
...GETTING AROUND Pisa is compact enough to explore on foot. If you want to venture further afield, there are plenty of busses although they annoyed the whatever out of me. It’s the routes, you see. While you might want a bus to go like this: ------------> <------------ so you can get off anywhere and just come back the way you’ve come, you’ll find Pisan ones don’t do this. Instead, it’s more of a: |------2--->---1------>--| ... ...cream, inside. For other meals, Pisa has plenty of restaurants. For take away snacks try the university area which also has the advantage of lower, student-aimed prices. Even by-the-slice pizza is amazing in this city. For a sit down meal, try near the tower. Although it’s the most touristy area, it also has the best prices since each restaurant has a lot of competition. There are set menus that offer good value if you like the food on them, ...
zoe_page 07.01.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Pisa (Italy)
Advantages: interesting, tower, cathedral Disadvantages: a bit dull
...an impressive and well-established University, Pisa has young population, heavily influenced by the student population. Of course she is most famous for the sights on the Campo dei Miracoli, the ubiquitous Tower, the Cathedral, the Baptistry and a couple of museums. The tower itself is one of those things which is more impressive at close sight, I found it so anyway. It is going to reopen this year, possibly before the summer, after years and years ... ...rest of the town, well, Pisa is a paradise for collectors of tacky souvenirs. Lots of plastic towers and plastic, plastic everything really! There are other things to see in Pisa, there are some pretty piazzas, and churches. There is a small shopping area and tower or no tower, the city centre is much quieter than Florence (for obvious reasons). There are some great restaurants away from the 'tower zone', and the Pisans are, like most Tuscans, immensely ...
womble 07.02.2001
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Advantages: Some attractions, that tower Disadvantages: Compared to many Italian cities not that much 2C
Pisa has a leaning tower. You must have heard of it. But is there anything else to see to make a visit to Pisa worthwhile?
The problem with many cities you might visit in Italy is that there is simply too much to do in one day. Often places of interest within a city are a long distance apart necessitating a long walk or fraught taxi journey during which you miss many sites and views.
Pisa however has all its main attractions including the leaning ... ...150 metres. You have to say that the leaning tower itself is an extraordinary site. Whilst it is one the most familiar and enduring images of Italy it is also breathtaking the first time you actually see it.
Within the small area mentioned there are other historical buildings. Unfortunately during our visit at the end of 1999 many of these were inaccessible or were covered by tarpaulins as Italy prepared many of its famous sites for the Millennium ...
polydeuces 23.11.2000
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Advantages: You can take the famous photo where you appear to be holding up the tower Disadvantages: Random Italians come up to you trying to push dodgy Sony stuff
...what the main attraction at Pisa is. Well, actually I have to mention it to get some points across.. The tower is, of course, breathtaking. White, leaning over so far you convince yourself it's about to topple, perfectly constructed. Unfortunately, at the moment it also has two enormous steel cables holding it up (which sort of destroy the romantic illusion) plus a building site all the way around. They're trying to stabilise it, and stop it falling ... ...along the front of the piazza. To be honest, if all you've heard of Pisa is the tower, it's all you're likely to hear. It's a perfectly nice, sleepy Tuscan town, but apart from the one spot, there is nothing there! An afternoon is all you really need. ...
Alternum 13.10.2000
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Advantages: Beautiful tuscan city Disadvantages: None
...experience.
You can reach Pisa by air from stanstead with Ryanair www.ryanair.com.
You can also get there from other areas of Italy by Italy's excellent (and cheap) rail network. (Florence is an hour away- six euro!)
There are many good value hotels here but we found a great campsite (25 euro for a family) with swimming pool, restaurant, children's play area and bungalows for hire.
I prefer to keep it short and sweet so please don't say "You ...
zzchris 22.08.2004
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Value for Money
Sightseeing
Shopping
Nightlife
Ease of getting around
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Advantages: Quick, cheap & hassle-free Disadvantages: No frills, don't service major airports, and no pre-assigned seating.
Having used most of the UK based low-cost airlines, I would like to take this opportunity to sing Ryanair's praises. Their online ordering service is very user freindly, allowing even the most novice of surfers to purchase their tickets in the comfort of their own home at a very competative price. On arrival to the airport, your ticketless checkin is a breeze, all you need is a passport and your order reference number, and the same can be said for boarding.
So that Ryanair can offer you the cheapest possible flights, they cut back wherever possible. To this end, they do not pre-assign seats, they do not provide free meals and drinks, and they tend to avoid the expensive major airports such as Heathrow.
If you book early you can pick up some fantastic bargains, for example, I recently flew to Pisa in Italy with Ryanair for £50 return ...
shmoo 15.08.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Ryanair - RYR
Advantages: Cheap Easy to book online Disadvantages: no frills
The concept of a Ticketless airline was new, and a bit scary,however on arriving at Stanstead with passports we were quickly sorted out with boarding passes by friendly staff.IT was an extraordinarily cheap passage to Pisa (Italy) just 29 pounds sterling each!.This was because we happenned to choose unpopular dates (mid-week) although it was a summer month The web-site allows you to enter various date around your time of travel and so you may strike it lucky with a very cheap one.On board there were no frebbies but on a short flight these were not needed .The Flight attendants were perfectly friendly and drinks were available to be bought. ...
eulogise 17.09.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Ryanair - RYR
Advantages: Fantastic location Disadvantages: In need of refurbishment
Having an early morning flight back to Edinburgh, and looking to spend our last night of our recent trip to Italy in Pisa, we chose the Grand Hotel Doumo. Why?
Well, if you're looking for a hotel which is ideally located for all that Pisa has to offer, you'd be hard placed to find a more suitable one. It's literally a few steps from the famous tower and in fact, many of the rooms have a magnificent view of the tower and Doumo (hence the name).
that explains the Doumo part of the name...you could hardly be more accurate. And describing it as an hotel is pretty spot on too. But Grand? Me no think so.
The hotel may indeed have been grand once upon a time (possibly around the time the builders had forgotten their plumb line and were erecting said tower with all haste), but it sure ain't now.
Dated, tired and in need of a general ...
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