Day 11: Lerici
The sky is gloomy when we wake up and check the view from our balcony....but
there are holes in the clouds, so we have some hope for later in the day.
The famous Doria Park breakfast lives up to its reputation....fresh-baked
cornetti, the blood orange juice machine, cheese, salami, fruit,
cakes....you might not have to eat for the rest of the day.
Today my goal is to climb the Leaning Tower of Pisa, recently reopened after
being closed for about 12 years. Pisa is less than an hour from Lerici,
mostly on the autostrada. The traffic gets thick as we approach the Campo
dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles) where the Duomo, the Baptistery and the
Tower are located--slightly to the north and west of the center of Pisa.
This area is usually wall to wall tourists and today is no exception.
I try to find a parking space close to the Tower in one of the neighborhoods
that adjoin the Campo. After going around the block a couple of times, I'm
successful. We can see the top of the Tower just across the street from
where we park; unfortunately, there is a 25 foot high wall in front of us
with no apparent openings. So we have to walk down to the regular tourist
entrance, through the gauntlet of restaurants and souvenir shops, and
approach the Tower. The Campo would ordinarily be a pretty impressive
site--the three distinctive buildings set down on a wide expanse of green
lawn. But with the bus loads of tourists and the multitude of shops to
service them, it has gotten a bad name.
There is a long line for tickets to the Tower (I have been told that they
hope to institute an on-line reservation system soon) and when I get to the
front of line, the first available slot is at 2:30 pm, more than three hours
away. Diana doesn't share my enthusiasm for this activity, so she will wait
for me on the ground. I decide to get a reservation for later in the
afternoon--we will go to Lucca in between and come back to Pisa for the 5:20
reservation.
We have never been to the center of Pisa, so we walk toward the main area of
town. We stop at the Hotel Duomo to pick up some brochures for the office
and gradually escape the tourist crush. As we get into non-touristy Pisa,
the sun comes out; it will be a nice day after all. We walk through
handsome squares with impressive palazzi; the streets are crowded with
Italian university students--Pisa having one of the oldest and most
distinguished universities in Italy. The main commercial areas have wide
sidewalks covered with porticos. The Arno River (same one as in Florence)
flows right through the middle of town and the riverfront buildings on both
sides have a nice feel to them. I take a walk across the river to see a
small chapel on the other side. I walk back through a neighborhood of
shops, restaurants, and narrow streets that are lively and appealing. It
seems to us that Pisa has gotten a bad rap because of the excessive tourism
near the Leaning Tower--most of these tourists never see anything else of
the town. I would like to return and spend some more time in the city in
the future.
We walk back to to the car and discover (as I had suspected) that if we had
turned left instead of right when we hit the wall of the Campo dei Miracoli,
we would have missed most of the tourist crush and would have had a much
shorter walk. But it is a piece of information I use this afternoon when we
return to Pisa and I can also pass it on to my clients.
The drive to Lucca takes about thirty minutes. We are meeting my Italian
colleague in the travel business, Maddie Bacarelli. We have worked together
on projects for a couple of years, but have never met. She is driving from
her home in Poggio in Caiano, near Florence. We will meet at the Piccolo
Puccini Hotel, where we stayed last year. This also gives us a chance to
say hello to Paolo, the desk clerk with whom we have become friendly. We
drive straight to the hotel and have a nice reunion with Paolo. I then have
to move the car to a parking lot about five minutes away. We chat with Pao
lo while waiting for Maddie.
After Maddie arrives and we introduce ourselves, we head off for lunch at
the local trattoria, da Leo. We enjoy our meal (actually, the food is just
okay) and getting acquainted with each other. We have many of the same
attitudes towards travel and the travel business and we get along very well.
After lunch, we walk through Lucca--we all agree that Lucca is one of the
most charming towns--and sit outside at a cafe on the Piazza
Napoleone--having coffee and tea and enjoying each other and the weather.
Too soon, it is time to head back to Pisa and my appointment with the Tower.
We say our goodbyes and we head back on the same road we came on. The
traffic is heavy leaving Lucca but we appear to have plenty of time. Once
we hit Pisa though, it really backs up. We see some cars trying to beat the
traffic by going through back streets and we decide to follow-- a risky
strategy because you can caught in a worse jam or get trapped in a
residential neighborhood. We have to backtrack a little but we make our way
back to the street where we had parked in the morning. This time, I take
the left turn to the street that goes through the wall, almost in the shadow
of the tower.
I pull in to an illegal space--since Diana is staying in the car--and start
to walk quickly to the Tower. I make it just as the group is moving from
the ticket office to the Tower. There are thirty five people in each group
and they go up the tower every half hour or so. You are led in by uniformed
guards but there is no guided tour. Inside the Tower, the steps are wide
and there are small windows at most levels, so you can catch a glimpse of
your progress. You definitely feel the lean of the tower from inside but it
is not claustrophobic. There is nothing else to see, except the walls and
the steps--no decorations at all.
The climb of almost 200 feet is not too strenuous, but I am still a little
winded as we come out at the level just below the bells. The views of the
Campo, downtown Pisa, and the hills in the distance are quite nice and the
angle of lean is quite noticeable. But, in fact, the main reason to climb
the Tower is just to say that you have done it...you can't see the intricate
decorations and carvings on the tower--you can just see the view. The Tower
itself is much more interesting from the ground. I call Jonathan and Seth
from the top, just because I can, and soon it is time to descend.
We head back to Lerici and arrive there around 7 pm....we sit out on the
balcony for while and enjoy our vista. For dinner, I pick a restaurant out
of the Slow Food Guide in the nearby town of Sarzana (sort of non-descript
from the outside as you drive by, but quite charming and attractive in its
historical center). It is dark when we arrive but we find the right street
after only two passes around the town. We park and walk into the
restaurant--La Giara. It is pretty full; and in fact, they turn us away.
It is completely booked on a Monday night in April. We should have called
first to make a reservation..... the mystery of why some (good) restaurants
are empty and others are crowded continues.
To make matters worse, I have no contingency plan. The other recommended
restaurant in Sarzana is closed on Mondays. We walk around the dark "centro
storico" for a few minutes, hoping either to find the restaurant where we
had eaten some years ago or to stumble on another trattoria that can take
us. No such luck......
We get back in the car and head back to Lerici. This is really the first
time on this trip that our arrangements are not falling into place
smoothly...and it is getting late; it is now about 9:15. We head to the
waterfront and have to circle around to find a parking space. We head for a
new restaurant in the center--Il Cantiere.
They are open and they seat us.....it is a bright cheery place and we are
happy to be there. The food is even pretty good. I have spaghetti with
clams and radicchio ( a very unorthodox presentation but very tasty)
followed by fritto misto (fried fresh anchovies and squid, in this case).
Diana's pasta with gamberoni is okay and her grilled fish (an orata) is very
nicely cooked. Our expectations for this dinner were not high and they were
exceeded.
Back to the hotel and the room with the spectacular view.
Jim and Diana
there are holes in the clouds, so we have some hope for later in the day.
The famous Doria Park breakfast lives up to its reputation....fresh-baked
cornetti, the blood orange juice machine, cheese, salami, fruit,
cakes....you might not have to eat for the rest of the day.
Today my goal is to climb the Leaning Tower of Pisa, recently reopened after
being closed for about 12 years. Pisa is less than an hour from Lerici,
mostly on the autostrada. The traffic gets thick as we approach the Campo
dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles) where the Duomo, the Baptistery and the
Tower are located--slightly to the north and west of the center of Pisa.
This area is usually wall to wall tourists and today is no exception.
I try to find a parking space close to the Tower in one of the neighborhoods
that adjoin the Campo. After going around the block a couple of times, I'm
successful. We can see the top of the Tower just across the street from
where we park; unfortunately, there is a 25 foot high wall in front of us
with no apparent openings. So we have to walk down to the regular tourist
entrance, through the gauntlet of restaurants and souvenir shops, and
approach the Tower. The Campo would ordinarily be a pretty impressive
site--the three distinctive buildings set down on a wide expanse of green
lawn. But with the bus loads of tourists and the multitude of shops to
service them, it has gotten a bad name.
There is a long line for tickets to the Tower (I have been told that they
hope to institute an on-line reservation system soon) and when I get to the
front of line, the first available slot is at 2:30 pm, more than three hours
away. Diana doesn't share my enthusiasm for this activity, so she will wait
for me on the ground. I decide to get a reservation for later in the
afternoon--we will go to Lucca in between and come back to Pisa for the 5:20
reservation.
We have never been to the center of Pisa, so we walk toward the main area of
town. We stop at the Hotel Duomo to pick up some brochures for the office
and gradually escape the tourist crush. As we get into non-touristy Pisa,
the sun comes out; it will be a nice day after all. We walk through
handsome squares with impressive palazzi; the streets are crowded with
Italian university students--Pisa having one of the oldest and most
distinguished universities in Italy. The main commercial areas have wide
sidewalks covered with porticos. The Arno River (same one as in Florence)
flows right through the middle of town and the riverfront buildings on both
sides have a nice feel to them. I take a walk across the river to see a
small chapel on the other side. I walk back through a neighborhood of
shops, restaurants, and narrow streets that are lively and appealing. It
seems to us that Pisa has gotten a bad rap because of the excessive tourism
near the Leaning Tower--most of these tourists never see anything else of
the town. I would like to return and spend some more time in the city in
the future.
We walk back to to the car and discover (as I had suspected) that if we had
turned left instead of right when we hit the wall of the Campo dei Miracoli,
we would have missed most of the tourist crush and would have had a much
shorter walk. But it is a piece of information I use this afternoon when we
return to Pisa and I can also pass it on to my clients.
The drive to Lucca takes about thirty minutes. We are meeting my Italian
colleague in the travel business, Maddie Bacarelli. We have worked together
on projects for a couple of years, but have never met. She is driving from
her home in Poggio in Caiano, near Florence. We will meet at the Piccolo
Puccini Hotel, where we stayed last year. This also gives us a chance to
say hello to Paolo, the desk clerk with whom we have become friendly. We
drive straight to the hotel and have a nice reunion with Paolo. I then have
to move the car to a parking lot about five minutes away. We chat with Pao
lo while waiting for Maddie.
After Maddie arrives and we introduce ourselves, we head off for lunch at
the local trattoria, da Leo. We enjoy our meal (actually, the food is just
okay) and getting acquainted with each other. We have many of the same
attitudes towards travel and the travel business and we get along very well.
After lunch, we walk through Lucca--we all agree that Lucca is one of the
most charming towns--and sit outside at a cafe on the Piazza
Napoleone--having coffee and tea and enjoying each other and the weather.
Too soon, it is time to head back to Pisa and my appointment with the Tower.
We say our goodbyes and we head back on the same road we came on. The
traffic is heavy leaving Lucca but we appear to have plenty of time. Once
we hit Pisa though, it really backs up. We see some cars trying to beat the
traffic by going through back streets and we decide to follow-- a risky
strategy because you can caught in a worse jam or get trapped in a
residential neighborhood. We have to backtrack a little but we make our way
back to the street where we had parked in the morning. This time, I take
the left turn to the street that goes through the wall, almost in the shadow
of the tower.
I pull in to an illegal space--since Diana is staying in the car--and start
to walk quickly to the Tower. I make it just as the group is moving from
the ticket office to the Tower. There are thirty five people in each group
and they go up the tower every half hour or so. You are led in by uniformed
guards but there is no guided tour. Inside the Tower, the steps are wide
and there are small windows at most levels, so you can catch a glimpse of
your progress. You definitely feel the lean of the tower from inside but it
is not claustrophobic. There is nothing else to see, except the walls and
the steps--no decorations at all.
The climb of almost 200 feet is not too strenuous, but I am still a little
winded as we come out at the level just below the bells. The views of the
Campo, downtown Pisa, and the hills in the distance are quite nice and the
angle of lean is quite noticeable. But, in fact, the main reason to climb
the Tower is just to say that you have done it...you can't see the intricate
decorations and carvings on the tower--you can just see the view. The Tower
itself is much more interesting from the ground. I call Jonathan and Seth
from the top, just because I can, and soon it is time to descend.
We head back to Lerici and arrive there around 7 pm....we sit out on the
balcony for while and enjoy our vista. For dinner, I pick a restaurant out
of the Slow Food Guide in the nearby town of Sarzana (sort of non-descript
from the outside as you drive by, but quite charming and attractive in its
historical center). It is dark when we arrive but we find the right street
after only two passes around the town. We park and walk into the
restaurant--La Giara. It is pretty full; and in fact, they turn us away.
It is completely booked on a Monday night in April. We should have called
first to make a reservation..... the mystery of why some (good) restaurants
are empty and others are crowded continues.
To make matters worse, I have no contingency plan. The other recommended
restaurant in Sarzana is closed on Mondays. We walk around the dark "centro
storico" for a few minutes, hoping either to find the restaurant where we
had eaten some years ago or to stumble on another trattoria that can take
us. No such luck......
We get back in the car and head back to Lerici. This is really the first
time on this trip that our arrangements are not falling into place
smoothly...and it is getting late; it is now about 9:15. We head to the
waterfront and have to circle around to find a parking space. We head for a
new restaurant in the center--Il Cantiere.
They are open and they seat us.....it is a bright cheery place and we are
happy to be there. The food is even pretty good. I have spaghetti with
clams and radicchio ( a very unorthodox presentation but very tasty)
followed by fritto misto (fried fresh anchovies and squid, in this case).
Diana's pasta with gamberoni is okay and her grilled fish (an orata) is very
nicely cooked. Our expectations for this dinner were not high and they were
exceeded.
Back to the hotel and the room with the spectacular view.
Jim and Diana
