Day 4 - Florence, Pisa and Lucca

Tuesday morning, we left our cute little 1600's farmhouse and headed towards La Spezia. We stopped back in Florence on the way to visit the Duomo and Bell Tower. Even in the off season, there are long lines and the tickets to enter the Duomo are on a time schedule. We didn't want to spend the whole day in Florence, so we decided to just go up the Bell Tower and skip the Duomo.

Any time I visit another city or location and there is a means to get higher and have a bird's eye view, I like to take it. John enjoys the highest points, too, so up we went! The pictures below are from the first day we visited Florence.

Bell Tower from our first day in Florence.

We bought the tickets and headed up the tower. I just love the stairs and the anticipation of arriving at the top! This one was particularly fun because there were multiple levels at the top - I think maybe 3 in all which made for a fun little adventure!

Inside the tower.

Thankful for sunny skies and warmer temperatures!

View from the Florence Bell Tower. 

Next, we traveled over to Pisa. As John drove, I tried to see about buying tickets online before arriving. The websites I found said there were no tickets available to climb the tower for that day, but that didn't deter us from at least going to see it.

The first thing we did in Pisa was eat lunch!! Next we walked to the tower to see if we could get tickets. It wasn't very crowded at all, so I am not sure why there were no tickets available online. It worked out to our benefit, because it was cheaper onsite than online.

We had to wait about 15 minutes in line before we were able to go in. It had never really occurred to me, but since the whole tower leans, so do the stairs! The stairs are circular around the outer part of the tower with a hollow center so on one side of the tower, you lean one direction and on the other side, you lean the other. It was kind of funky and kind of threw off your equilibrium.

I love the shadow on the ground!

Cuties with one of the bells at the top.

This pole indicates what straight should be.

Proof we were all there ;)

Had to do it

It was amusing to see all of the people holding up the Tower of Pisa. Of course, we had to join in!

I didn't really take note until later, but all of the columns are made out of different types of stone. The outside columns on the cathedral were different, also. Kind of cool!

We also went to Lucca before heading to La Spezia. Lucca was not my favorite, but the rock wall that they have added a walking trail to was pretty cool.

Tomorrow was my favorite day on the whole trip. Stay tuned!