Sunday, June 2, 2024
We woke up bright and early, packed up and headed out to pick up our cars from the garage at 7:30am when they opened. The streets of Florence are quiet and peaceful in the early mornings, so we had no issue pulling the cars up directly in front of our Airbnb, parking in the main road and loading up the cars.
We had a 1.5 hour drive to Pisa before our reservations at the tower at 9:30am. Once in Pisa, we found a public parking lot on the west side of the tower, just outside of the main wall. The tower area inside the wall was already very crowded at 9am, but it seems most people had parked on the East side, so luckily we avoided that crowded area.
There was a souvenier market just before crossing the wall. It was funny to see everyone lined up in front of the Cathedral lawn trying to get the perfect picture of them “holding up” the leaning tower. Once we reached the tower, the ticket-checkers told us we had to put all of our belongings into a locker before going up the tower. The lockers are free and located in the building just north of the tower, not far away.
Since we bought tickets in advance, we didn’t have to wait at all to go up in the tower once it was our time. The staircase is spiral, wrapping around the outer area of the inside. It was strange walking up as you could definitely feel the lean of the tower as you went around the spiral stone stairway.
Once on top, there was a beautiful view of Pisa (a very small city) and the countryside outside of the city with mountains in the background. As you walk around the first landing area, don’t miss the additional stairs that lead up to the bell tower. The tower is worth visiting, but you only really need 1.5 hours at most, unless you want to travel into Pisa to see the city. On the way back to the parking lot, we stopped into Posto Cafe Pisa to use the restroom and grab some snacks and drinks for the ride.
From Pisa, we traveled 1.5 hours to Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre is made up of 5 (Cinque) small villages near the sea (Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore). Parking is minimal in most of the villages, with the exception of Monterosso, which has a large lot (Fegina Parking) right next to the beach. From any of the villages, the best way to get to the rest of them is by train. You can also walk the hiking trails along the side of the mountain between some of the villages, but a few of the trails are closed due to landslides.
The roads between the main highway and the seaside are very small with alot of switchbacks. On our way into Monterosso, we exited the main highway early and ended up going down some very rural country roads.
Once in the parking lot, we all got dressed in our beach gear and went to the beach immediately West of the parking lot. We stopped for lunch in a cafe right on the beach called Barabba in White. They have a patio in the back on the beach, good drinks with fresh seafood and pasta. I tried the local sliced salty fish, it was very good.
After lunch, we were ready to relax on the beach. Since it was already 2pm, we negotiated a reduced cost for a few beach chairs under the umbrellas. It is Europe, so prepare yourself for a few topless sunbathers. The water was really cold, but it was hot outside, so it actually felt really good after jumping in. There were several kids climbing on the big rock out in the water and diving off. We tried going out there, but the rocks were very sharp and we decided it was not worth risking the vacation time for a potential hospital visit.
The sky started to cloud up around 4pm and we were concerned about getting stuck out in the rain, so we packed up our stuff and loaded it back in the car. We also wanted to try and see some of the villages. I had purchased all day family passes for us on the trains previously. Since we really only had time to travel to one of the villages, I would have been better off getting a single trip at the station instead of buying in advance.
We chose to take the train to Vernazza. It was a short ride, just a few minutes long. Vernazza is small with one main road, lined with small shops and restaurants. We did a little shopping on our way down and ended at the bottom with some gelato from Gelateria Il Porticciolo. There are some seating areas out near the water where we sat and enjoyed our gelato, watching all the activity of the people nearby.
On our way out I looked for a cave entrance I had read about online that lead over to another beach area. However, it had been sealed off, probably due to too many people like us that had read about it online trying to go through.
We hopped on the next train back to Monterosso, grabbed our car and headed toward our next Airbnb near Bologna. It was going to be a 3 hour drive, and we didn’t want to get stuck on the country backroads in the dark. We chose to have another quick dinner during the drive, stopping at one of the Autogrill’s just off the highway. It was 9pm on a Sunday, so our options were limited.
If you’re thinking “eww, truck stop food”, you couldn’t be more wrong. The Italians really take their road-side food seriously. Inside was a very nice restaurant and fully stocked grocery store. We grabbed a few salads and sandwiches to eat at the place once we had checked in.
Logistics
- 9:30a – Leaning Tower of Pisa
- Monterosso
- Monterosso al Mare Beach
- Vernazza
- Museo Ferrari Maranello (skipped)
- Bologna (skipped)
Restaurants
- Pisa – Posto Cafe Pisa
- Monterosso – Barabba in White
- Vernazza – Gelateria Il Porticciolo
Gleitz Well Traveled 