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

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.

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 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 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.

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.