Leaning Tower of Pisa - Pisa, Italy

The world famous - Leaning Tower of Pisa

We visited Pisa as a day trip from Riomaggiore. It could also be easily done from Florence (Firenze). Both from Firenze or Riomaggiore takes slightly over an hour and are equally convenient. Now here’s what happened when you take the early morning train on a Sunday and not many people around at Riomaggiore train station. I scratched me head in bewilderment...not a word of English…we looked at each other with a consensus...let’s guess! We pushed the buttons and it asked for 79 Euro for 4 tickets…wowww that’s expensive but never mind we wanted to see this great monument...Pisa. 

We boarded the train and comfortably took a forty wink until the train master came to check our ticket. Confidently, we presented our ticket and pointing to our group indicating the ticket was meant for all of us. He looked at us with a puzzle and spoke Italian and we innocently looked at him and responded in English. He went away and soon came with another officer who spoke little English. He told us to follow him when we arrive in Pisa station and that was as much as he could say. I thought that was fine, there must be some problem with the ticket but at least we have not boarded the train without a ticket. 

In Pisa, we were brought to the office to meet a lady officer who spoke fluent English and she explained we had bought the wrong ticket which was for 4 weeks instead of 4 person. She said, we had paid way too much for the trip but the money could not be refunded. She told us that she would help us to get on our return train for free.  We promised we will meet her again at 1pm. 

Buses number 3 and 4 run from Pisa Centrale to the tower but we opted to walk to get the feel of Pisa town and perhaps find some interesting places to take pictures. It is about 15 to 20 minutes walk in between the buildings, no map required and we just followed the crowd. It was 10.30am and the area around the tower was flooded with people.  Everyone is so engrossed photographing themselves with the world famous Leaning Tower of Pisa and some make great effort to climb the tower for a small fee, which is interesting if you have the time and energy. I am perfectly happy to have a chance to view this tilting tower and watch the crowd with all sorts of poses.