Three cities, two days…. sounds absurd.. right?…. But this is what we did when we visited Venice, Florence and Pisa in autumn of 2010... The only motivation for this trip was, on our first trip to Venice we had missed two very important things and we had to correct that .. So this was not a vacation, but similar to a business trip with set agenda :-)
On 23rd October, we took the 6:30 am Ryanair flight to reach Venice Treviso at 9:00 am, and the 40 minute ride by Terravision bus (cost 6 Eur) took us to Venice city center by around 10:30 AM. We were on a tight schedule and on top of it had decided to cover the city by foot and avoid the water buses to get a feel of the town… So immediately headed towards our first stop…
Pics: Venice city
Doge’s Palace – Palazzo Ducale
Pics: Inside Doge’s Palace
This was the first of the two things we had missed on our first trip …The Doge’s Palace. There is a special “Secret Itinerary” guided tour of the famous palace that takes you to the special interior chambers, the tickets for which have to be booked online in advance. Otherwise one can only see the general areas of the palace. The combined ticket to this secret itinerary and the cock tower was 19 Euros, purchased at www.vivaticket.it. Our guided tour to the palace was to start at 11:00 and were rushed a bit to reach there on time.
The palace was decent but we had seen better ones in Vienna a few months ago.. The secret chambers were quite interesting though, especially with the associated stories as told by our guide.. There were old medieval prisons, torture cells, execution cells etc with the highlight being the one where Casanova was imprisoned and from where he had managed to escape (how is still a mystery).
The palace was decent but we had seen better ones in Vienna a few months ago.. The secret chambers were quite interesting though, especially with the associated stories as told by our guide.. There were old medieval prisons, torture cells, execution cells etc with the highlight being the one where Casanova was imprisoned and from where he had managed to escape (how is still a mystery).
Gondola Ride
Pics: Views from the Gondola
And this was the second (you are perfectly right in thinking.. how could have we missed it !!)… So after bargaining for the price and getting it down from 120Euros to 80Euros, we set out for arguably one of the most romantic activities on planet… A Gondola ride in the narrow serene canals of the beautiful Venice town… More than the ride, the perception of it being so romantic, actually makes it special and yes… Romantic .. :-) .. And to make it more fun, our Gondolier narrated interesting stories along the way and showed important historic buildings like the Casanova’s house.
Clock Tower – Torre dell’Orologio
Pics: Inside the clock tower, and top of the clock tower
The final item on our Venice itinerary was the guided tour to the Clock tower. The entry to the tower is quite difficult to find, a small door, hidden in a narrow street and opens only at the time of the guided tour… It took us some time to find out the place (its on a street opposite to the Basillica)….We really had not much expectations from the tour, but as it turned out, it was quite fascinating. The tour takes you inside a big mechanical clock with the guide explaining how it works… Big levers, corkscrews, bells, mascots and the physics behind it…
With still a couple of hours left for our train to Florence, we roamed around St Marks Square and Rialto Bridge with a cone full of famous Italian Gelato and some souvenir shopping….
With still a couple of hours left for our train to Florence, we roamed around St Marks Square and Rialto Bridge with a cone full of famous Italian Gelato and some souvenir shopping….
Train to Florence
At around 6 PM, we took the train to Florence, an approx. 2.5 hours journey and checked-in to our hotel (Hotel Nizza) which was a 5 minute walk from the train station. We were dead tired from the day’s and had similar plans for the next day, so just dozed off early….
Pisa – Leaning Tower
Pics: The Complex, Leaning Tower and the Cathedral
The first item on our Sunday agenda was to visit one of the seven wonders of the world – The leaning tower of Pisa… We took the early morning (around 8:00 AM) train to Pisa from Florence which took about an hour to Pisa Centrale. It was easy to reach the Leaning Tower from the Pisa train station. Bus lines 3 and 4 run from Pisa Centrale, the main station, as does Shuttle Bus A – all of these will drop you near the Tower. Don’t remember which one did we take, but it was a less than 15 minute ride.
Here we were inside the complex, with the tower actually quite tilted, seeming as if its about to fall… Like all tourists, we tried various photographic positions to depict us trying to hold the tower from falling, and even trying to erect it back up straight.. :-) … Alongside the tower, there was a Cathedral and Baptistry, which were quite ordinary. There was a long queue to get up the tower, so we decided to not wait for it. After spending about an hour and half, we returned back to the Florence.
Here we were inside the complex, with the tower actually quite tilted, seeming as if its about to fall… Like all tourists, we tried various photographic positions to depict us trying to hold the tower from falling, and even trying to erect it back up straight.. :-) … Alongside the tower, there was a Cathedral and Baptistry, which were quite ordinary. There was a long queue to get up the tower, so we decided to not wait for it. After spending about an hour and half, we returned back to the Florence.
Florence City
Pics: Florence historic city center views
We didn’t have enough time left. and decided to spend the rest of day at the Historic Center of Florence, which is 5 minute walk from the train station. Its a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and we could immediately make out why. The whole city looked like one big Art gallery with beautiful buildings and sculptures adorning the stone brick streets… The city boasts of some of the finest works of artist Michelangeo, and many of them were on display on streets including the famous David (actually only a replica outside Florence City Hall). We also took time to visit the famous cathedral, Il Duomo, Florence’s Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. It is the icon of the city and one of the most recognizable symbols of Renaissance architecture. The entrance to the cathedral was free, but it costs to visit the dome (Eur 8) which we didn’t.
Ponte Vecchio - Bridge of Gold
Pics: Goldsmith shops and views from the Bridge of Gold
The final stop on our current trip was the one I was most scared of.. Ponte Vecchio or the Bridge of Gold, a 15 minute walk from the city center… While the bridge itself is not made of gold, the shops on the bridge are almost exclusively goldsmiths. If you want to shop for jewelry, this would be the place (and that’s why I was scared). Thankfully, the gold prices were more than that in India, and so my wife decided not to shop …. :)
Along with the dozens of shops laden with pure gold jewelry, the views from the old bridge were a photographer’s delight… Wished we had some more time to spend….
Along with the dozens of shops laden with pure gold jewelry, the views from the old bridge were a photographer’s delight… Wished we had some more time to spend….
Back to Stockholm
Finally at around 5 in the evening, we took the train to Venice, and then the bus to Traviso airport to catch our 8:30 PM Ryanair flight back to Stockholm. We had successfully managed to cover (or should i say touch) three cities in less than two days…. One of our shortest, yet satisfying trip….
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