Back in Leaning Tower Land

Trip Start Dec 06, 2005

Trip End Jun 17, 2006

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Flag of Italy Pisa, Italy
Thursday, June 1, 2006

Went back to Pisa after a mammoth series of transport - about 36 hours of sitting on ferries and trains. Ferries aren't so bad though, tons of space to move around, beds, bars, etc. Pisa was great to me the first time, and it didn't disappoint at all this time - the leaning tower's square is always magical, and this time I got to hang out and experience the real Pisa - a student town with plenty of energy and "italian-ness" about it.

For my last few days in Italy before heading off to Croatia, I decided to splurge and hire a car (a canary yellow Fiat Panda) for a few days to be able to check out little towns around the area (north-western Tuscany) that would be difficult to get to without a car, while learning about the Italian style of driving! Having driven on the other side of the road both in Chile and Greece, I was totally comfortable with it and the only problems I ran into were crazy Italian drivers, who weren't actually that bad. Had a great time driving around the area for the next few days, listening to mix CDs I created at local net cafes.

On the Sunday, Pisa was holding a boat race - the "4 ancient maritime republics" of Italy (Pisa, Venice, Genoa, and Amalfi) compete every year in old-looking boats. Adding to this, it was a long weekend with the Friday being the "Festa della Repubblica" so every man and his dog came over to the Tuscan coast - it was really quite a party atmosphere.