Pisa… where do I even start with that one. I had my worst night ever of a trip the night I arrived yet had one of the best days by myself this trip so far within the one full day I had here.
Let’s start with the bad first, I arrived into Pisa Aeroporto from Charleroi – Brussels South Airport at night with instructions in hand on how to get to the hostel. I tried following the instructions however a lack of street names had me off completely and I ended up incredibly lost. After about an hour of wandering around trying everything I could think of, did I mention my phone failed to pick up service the whole time in Italy so I couldn’t even phone a friend or ring the hostel. I walked where buses were coming from thinking they would be going to the center of town, I followed a sign that said centro and after 20minutes gave up as the train station was only supposed to be a 5 minute walk from the hostel, I waited on a busy corner for a taxi and they were either full or zoomed past when I was looking the other way, all the (minimal) restaurants in that area were closed so I couldn’t even hope they spoke English and ask them for directions or to call me a taxi. It was dark, scary and raining on me this whole time.
I was on the verge of sitting down and crying and having a breakdown but had to fight back the tears and keep moving as sitting down somewhere would make me more vulnerable to predators. I sorted myself out and stood on the busiest corner opposite a park where there were a few dodgy looking characters in a desperate attempt to get a taxi and a guy pulled over in a Mercedes asking if I needed any help, he said he was going in that direction and I did the one thing I thought I would never do, get in a strangers car.
I was desperate by this point so put my main backpack in the boot and kept hold of my small bag which had my phone, wallet and camera in it and my passport was in my jacket pocket (that I was wearing), I figured surely murderers don’t drive Mercedes and if I needed to do a runner if he was dodgy then I could jump out with my essentials in my day bag and who cares about the clothes in my main bag. Turns out he wasn’t a murderer and he walked me straight to the hostel from where we had to park, other than a mix up in english-italian communication where he thought we were going out for dinner and I thought he was going out for dinner he was a good guy and he is going to get some serious good karma for helping me out.
The next day I made a trip back to the train station so I knew where I was going the following morning when I had to be out of the hostel and to the train station by 6.30am, turns out the train stopped at a platform that looked like it was a tiny station and had a side street that it pulled up against, the people in my carriage (only a couple) all went this way so I followed, what I should have done is walked back through all the platforms and I would have found the main train station exit which brings you right out on the top of the street I was staying on.
After that start to Pisa I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy the country or if that would taint my whole view of the place. I woke up the next day to the sun shining and even though I still needed a jacket I could go without gloves a hat and a scarf which cheered me up immensely. Funny how the weather can affect you, in Paris I was a little lonely because it was the first time I was really by myself and the cold weather was affecting me, in Belgium the snow was getting me down. I could never live somewhere that it snowed on a daily basis in winter that’s for sure, I enjoy being warm far too much.
The sun was just what I needed to perk up a bit (that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy Paris & Belgium, not at all it just put me in a bit of a mood at times, generally at nighttime when there was not a lot to do) and I made the most of the day by heading to the Leaning Tower and the area surrounding it which is just beautiful. I brought a pizza bread thing that was terrible, don’t do it, order pizza from a restaurant if you want pizza for brunch and sat by the tower just watching the world go by.
Afterwards I went for a wander along the river and around some random streets, in the afternoon I found an old fort which is now a semi-park which was pretty cool just strolling around and then I decided I needed to try Gelato in Italy so headed back towards the tower and got some Gelato and sat down and ate it while another hour past wandering around this area.
Pisa is a good place to just take your time and wander around aimlessly (although not so aimlessly you get lost, especially at nighttime!) and I’d come back if whoever I was travelling with wanted to come and see the tower but otherwise I’ll give other parts of Italy a go at some point 🙂
I am typing this blog post from the Pisa airport while I wait for the plane to Barcelona and had another mission this morning, the first time this trip I have had to physically run to catch transportation, I had to run to get the train, I speed walked with my 20kg+ of bags to the train station as I knew I was cutting it fine and the next train didn’t leave for an hour (I prob still would have made my flight mind you they are quiet relaxed about the check-in from what I can see, I’ve always been the first or second person to check-in) then accidentally was trying to buy a ticket from the national not regional machine, then once I worked that out the machine had a million screens to confirm just to buy a 1.50Euro ticket to the airport, once I got through this I had 1 minute according to the departure board to run to the further-est platform away, so run I did and I made it with about 30 seconds to spare after sitting down.
The people at the x-ray machines in Pisa also took my jar of nutella off me that I brought yesterday which is weird as I had a jar I brought in from Belgium that wasn’t an issue, they must’ve been slack in Belgium as apparently it’s an EU rule that you can’t bring it in. So weird but ohhh well now I have heaps of crackers and nothing to put on them, will have to pick something up in Barcelona then see if I can take it through to Dublin.
Next up Barcelona…. This should be interesting I’ve heard so many stories of pickpockets here I don’t want to be a target!