One night in Pisa

13-14 September 2010

We arrived in Pisa after our flight from Paris at about 11.30pm so we hailed a cab at the airport and went to our hotel for the night. We decided to spend a night in Pisa because we thought it would be too difficult to catch a train at 1am and walk from Florence Santa Maria Novella Station at 2.30am to our apartment. So we booked a room at a hotel near Pisa Centrale. When we arrived at the hotel the concierge said he did not have a reservation for us and he was fully booked for the night. (Grrrrr) I was not happy and my computer would not load up quickly enough for me to show him the email I got saying we had a reservation. Anyway the concierge called another hotel nearby and got us the same deal with breakfast (apparently we were saving 30euros). So with 2 cranky and tired children we gathered up our luggage and walked (yes, walked) from the hotel at least 250m down the road, turn left at the piazza and look for the sign saying Minerva Hotel. The least the concierge could’ve done at that time of night (now midnight) was pay for a taxi to take us. I know 250m doesn’t sound like it far but at that time of night with 2 children and 3 suitcases and a backpack it is not fun. (GRRR).

Anyway the new hotel was very nice and spacious and we had a lovely breakfast when we woke. We walked to the train Station and bought tickets through the self service machine. It costs around 6euro each for adults and 3 euros each for children 4-11years old. So if you are staying in Florence and you want to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa (without paying 100euros each for a tour) you can visit Pisa in a day by train to Pisa Centrale and use the Red line bus to get to the Leaning Tower (this way will cost less than 100euros for the family). There are trains going to and from Pisa Centrale to Florence all the time.

After a 1 - 1.30 hour train ride we were back ‘home’ in our apartment in Florence. And happy to be back in familiar surroundings and the comfort of home. Although very sad to be out of Paris.

We spent a few days relaxing at home in Florence before packing our swimmers and bags for the Cinque Terre.

It was hard leaving Rome, we really enjoyed the city.

Last day in Rome
We didn’t have to get the train back to Florence until 12:36 so we took our time packing up and tidied the apartment. We headed out to buy some bus tickets to the train station that cost only 1euro each a saving of 21euros in a taxi. But my idea with the taxis is that when you arrive in a new city and your accommodation is within the city spend a little extra cash and have the taxi drop you off at your door, then while you are there you can work out the transport situation.
At 11:00 we left the apartment and caught the bus just around the corner, the ticket validating machine on the bus did not work so when we arrived at the Termini station I handed the tickets to another tourist and said “enjoy”. They were very grateful for the generous offer.
We were at Termini early so we had lunch at McDonalds and watched to old ticker machine to see what platform (binari) our train was going to leave from. The platform was not announced until about 5 minutes before departure and it was the closest platform to us. It did not take very long to find our carriage (carrozza) and seats (sedi) and we were off.
If you ever has the chance schedule Orvieto as a city you must see in Italy, it is a hilltop town that is the most amazing I have seen from the trains so far. It is between Florence and Rome.
We arrived back in Florence at about 16:00 and walked 30 minutes from the train station to our home in Florence.