As the Wind Blows

If you know anyone who’s visited Pisa and they tell you, ‘the only thing worth seeing in the Leaning Tower’, well I’d be inclined to believe them. Especially between now until 2015. Why 2015 you ask? Well your guess is as good as mine. Unless of course you can read Italian and can translate what’s said under the 2015 signs that are all around the place. Then you can let me know so I can visit it again after 2015. In my defence I did get the tourist map and followed it around it order to see if there was anything more than the Leaning Tower, but after the first three places I visited had scaffolding all over them,  I gave up and went and bought my pizza.

Yes, I did actually eat pizza in Pisa. I should have really spent the 5 euro for Biryani instead because not only did it smell delicious, the place was run by indo-Asians so it would’ve have been half way decent, but more importantly I’m not a huge fan of pizza that doesn’t have loads of toppings, flavours and preferably cheese in the crust. Italian food is simple and in some cases delicious – unsalted bread with balsamic vinegar! Yum, yum! But I’m not a foodie so I can’t appreciate the simplicity of it all. Give lots and lots of flavour, that’s what I want!

Back to Pisa the city. The Leaning Tower is quite impressive. It was like seeing Michelangelo’s David in Florence, there’s something impressive about it but I can’t exactly explain what it is. It could be the fact that it leans, the fact that the marble shimmers when the sun comes out, but there’s something more than that I just can’t put my finger on. I could have sat and stared at it all day (which is what I basically ended up doing). The grass on the Field of Miracles (where the Tower is) is the softest most comfortable grass I have ever sat on. I don’t know how they manage to keep it so soft yet springy and perfect with the number of people that visit the Tower. It's no wonder they call it the Field of Miracles! :P

Going through my photos I realise that Fortezza di San Gallo in Pisa is worth a visit. I didn’t actually go into the Fort because I was too lazy to figure out how to get in, and at that point in time, I hadn’t realised that half places on the tourist map were covered in scaffolding so I was eager to get to the other places, but the garden area was quite nice and even had a children’s playground. I was going to bypass the Fort altogether because it was slightly out of the way, but the unusual trees that were growing over the walls caught my eye and I’m glad I decided to stop by. Otherwise I would be like every other person who has come to Pisa and say ‘the only thing worth seeing is the Leaning Tower’.