With a camper around Northern Italy - Pisa and Tuscany
What it's like to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa with your own eyes and meet the sunset in the charming Tuscany, read in the next part of our camper trip to the Western Balkans and Italy.
To the previous travelogue –> Day 8: Gardaland - Italy's most famous amusement park
More information about the route, costs and all travelogues of the trip can be found HERE.
Day 9: Chiaravalle - Pisa - 190 km. ( 2:30 AM)
On that day, the plan was to visit first Pisa and the so popular Leaning Tower in the city, then go to the beach and finally spend the night in Tuscany.
Parking in Pisa
So we had breakfast and set off for Pisa. Already during the preliminary preparation, while I was looking on the net for parking spaces in Pisa it turned out that there is a huge problem with this. In the Park4night app, I read an awful lot of comments about how campers are constantly being broken up and there are many vandals in the city. I also read about the following scheme: there are many parking lots that are said to be guarded, and at the same time there is a lot of theft. Comments on all the parking lots in downtown Pisa were very bad, without exception.
The only safer parking lot was located in a place quite far from the tower. In the end, we decided that we would take the risk and stop for 1-2 hours in the center of Pisa, just to see the tower, leaving our dog Charlie inside the camper to bark, raise an alarm and scare any possible thieves. The parking lot where we stopped is located at the following coordinates:
43.725201 10.3984
N 43°43'30.72″E 10°23'54.23″
The parking lot is not particularly large, it is located between residential buildings and until 2:00 p.m. 1 euro/hour is paid, and now it's free. When we got there, almost the entire parking lot was filled and we barely found a place. The good thing about this parking lot is that it is only 5 minutes from the Leaning Tower. We didn't even expect it to be that close. As we go and at one point bam (!) – the tower right in front of us.
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The Leaning Tower of Pisa
Our impression of the tower is that it is really terribly sloping to one side and comparing it to the surrounding buildings it definitely differs from kilometers. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is one of the most famous landmarks in Italy. It was built over 177 years. The tower tilts as it is built on an unstable foundation of sand and clay on the banks of a river. Tourists usually pay attention only to the tower, which is actually a bell tower to the cathedral next to it. The Square of Miracles is also located there.
In 2007, the deviation from the top of the tower was successfully reduced by 45 cm, with 70 tons of soil being taken from its north side and ballast and metal tumbs. You can enter the tower, and if you want to go upstairs, you pay 18 euros per person. The opening hours are from 8:30 to 22:00.
The cathedral, which is located next to the tower, is free to visit, but it is required to take a free pass, which you can take from the information center, which is located in the same square where the inclined tower is located. The entire square has spacious green areas that were fenced in.
Това, което няма как да пропусна да отбележа са тълпите туристи от сигурно всички държави на света, които се опитваха да бутнат кулата, да се подпрят на кулата, да хванат падащата кула – общо взето голямо позиране ставаше. Дори имаше опашки пред най-добрите места за позиране с кулата. Ние, за да не останем по-назад, и ние си направихме няколко снимки тип “хвани падащата кула”, но поради големия наплив от туристи не се получиха, така, както ни се искаше. Времето беше много горещо, а децата ни не бяха в настроение – просто не си падаха по наклонени кули 🙂
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Pisa - White Beach – 46 km. (60 minutes)
И тъй като други забележителности в Пиза освен Кулата няма, се отправихме директно към следващата ни дестинация за деня, а именно White beach ( Белия плаж ). Той се намира на около 50 км южно от Пиза на западния бряг на Италия. На този плаж попаднах съвсем случайно докато разглеждах вкъщи Google Maps и тогава на сателитната карта забелязах, че изглежда много интересно, тъй като там водата ставаше много ярко синя. Наблюденията ми след проучване на плажовете през Интернет са, че в северна Италия като че ли няма хубави плажове като под “хубави” имам предвид например гръцките или хърватските плажове – с тюркоазена вода и бели ситни камъчета. Затова в търсене на хубав плаж решихме все пак да посетим този White Beach.
White Beach - White Beach
It was definitely worth every minute of it! Very nice impressive beach. wide. Long. On the coast with very fine pink sand. The water was indeed extremely light blue, as this color is most likely due to the limestone rocks that are located along the beach. The coast itself is very sloping, which allows you to go inland quite a bit, but care must be taken because here and there there are surprises in the sea like underwater rocks or holes. It is not suitable for snorkeling, as the water is cloudy due to the sand that comes from the rocks nearby. There are sunbeds and umbrellas at one end of the beach, but most of the beach is open and free for free beaching.
The parking lot where we stopped is located at the following coordinates:
N 43°22'57.0″ E 10°26'14.2″
We actually parked on the street closest to the beach, about 5 minutes away. It's free and there are trees on the street keeping shade. It seems a safe place.
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First night in Tuscany with view: Hills with wheat
After two or three hours of beaching, satisfied with the experience, we decided it was time to orient ourselves to our place for the night tonight. From the beach we went east directly to one of the most beautiful provinces in Italy, namely - Tuscany. Interesting towns to visit in the area are Castagneto Carducci and Bolgeri, the latter being a winery where the parking is paid 1 euro/hour. These are places we had set for ourselves and according to what we want to see at the moment to know where to move.
In the end, we left for the city of Voltaire and shortly before it we turned to the small town of Seline di Volterra. We passed it and went on the Strada Regionale 439 Sarzanese Valdera – this is a panoramic road with a great view of Tuscany. Well, on this time we found our place to spend the night. Its coordinates are:
43.350712 10.826964
N 43°21’2.56” E 10°49’37.07”
The place is a small turnoff from the road with a place for 1-2 campers. A unique view of the wheat hills of Tuscany. It is close to the road, but at night it is not noisy, as the road itself is not busy and cars rarely pass. We parked and left the camper unseen to photograph everything everywhere. Then we had dinner, sent the sunset and more pictures followed. Exceptional atmosphere. Silence. Peace of mind.
To the next travelogue —-> ДЕН 10: ИЗГУБЕНИ В ТОСКАНА – ЧАСТ 1
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