Crazy Travel Weekend Day 2: Pisa and Lucca

After making the 4.5 hour drive to Siena the day before, we made our home base La Spezia which is only an hour from Pisa and Lucca, and is minutes from Cinqueterre. We started day two in Pisa. 

Over the course of our travels, we're always trying to see how much we can see in one day. We've proven big cities can be done in one day, but what about two cities? If you're seeing Pisa and Lucca, the answer is yes. In fact, the two cities are perfect for a one day visit. First, we started with Pisa. The nice thing about Pisa is that all there is to see is the Field of Miracles--the leaning tower and the adjoining buildings. It's also completely free, unless you actually want to go in the buildings, which we opted not to do. We had too much fun taking pictures around the buildings...including the must-do "holding the building up" shots (which pretty much everyone seems to do)

Then we took pics around the buildings. The thing about Pisa is that the sights in the Campo Di Milagros are simply breathtaking. We spent an hour just enjoying the 3 main buildings. In fact, they made a great place to sit and draw.

As a bonus, we found this cool fallen angel sculpture. Looks like The Doctor has been here...

To enjoy Pisa, you really only need an hour....unless you get stuck in the hoard of crowds and outdoor market vendors just outside the walled Field of Miracles area. After enjoying Pisa, we recommend heading over to Lucca. It's the typical Italian city, but with an added bonus: you can bike around the city on top of the ancient city walls. Bikes are relatively cheap to rent (about 3 euro), and the wall is an enjoyable sight-seeing tour. If you're looking to save money on bike riding, you can get around the city at a leisurely pace in about 30 minutes.

After biking the city, we followed Rick Steve's advice to get some Cecina in the city. We went to Rick's recommended location, and weren't the only ones. Much of the store was filled with Americans holding Rick Steve's books. The cecina, which is a garbonzo bean crepe, was as good as advertised...and it's a great deal. About 1.50 Euro a slice.  And in Lucca, Cecina isn't the only great food, they've got amazing Focaccia and other types of breads.

We also got to enjoy some of the sites in Lucca. Their churches are amazing, and we even got to enjoy a procession by youth in the city.

Overall, Lucca and Pisa make a great day of sight-seeing.

Our Crazy Italian Travel Weekend: Day 1 Siena Italy

 

After a month and a half in Europe, we kicked traveling up a notch and decided to see 4 big Italian heritage sites in 4 days: Siena, Lucca, Pisa, and Cinque Terre. Day 1 was Siena. 

From the moment we got to Siena, we were unanimously in awe of the amazing sites one Italian city could offer. Photo opp after photo opp--even the kids couldn't help themselves:

The nice thing about Siena is that it's a place you can see a lot in a short amount of time. Everything revolves around the central square. It's easy to grab a bite to eat and just sit and enjoy. 

A short walk from the clock tower and plaza is the main duomo of the city, a unique and enormous black and white striped cathedral with...you guessed it, loads of photo opps.

 

 

We spent the afternoon walking around the adjoining streets that surround this incredible cathedral. We probably spent more than our fair share of time simply taking photos...of every possible angle we could find.

   

Overall, Siena was incredible. A few notes if you're going to visit the city: there's no need to pay for parking. There's parking in the city streets behind some of the hotels, about a 10 minute walk from the center. Also, Siena has some amazing little food stores with some of the best deals on take-away pizza we've seen in Italy.

Bell Towers

Right outside the window of our apartment we have a big bell tower.  It is beautiful.  Each hour and half hour it rings.  And at 7 a.m. we get a full on song plus 7 rings--the Doctor counted, it rings 117 times.  At noon and six, we also get a full-on song.

Why don't we have more clock towers in America?   They simply are iconic of Europe.  I am going to miss bell towers.  I hardly ever have to wear a watch or wonder what time it is.

I Love Dogs!

I Love Dogs. They are so cute.  In Italy you can take dogs to restaurants with you.  Every time we go out to eat there is a dog.  At first this seemed weird because in America dogs are not allowed inside restaurants, store, or shopping malls.  I love dogs and I love seeing dogs everywhere.  Most people keep their dogs on a leash at all times in the restaurant, but they will let me pet the dogs if  I ask.  (My mom and dad learned the word in Italian: Accarezziare). I love dogs.

- Amadeus

Croatia's Plitvicka Lakes

On our last day in Croatia, we made the trip up to the Plitvice Lakes National park. Most of us thought it would be like other waterfalls we had seen. We couldn't be more wrong.

We got there about 4 o'clock and parked at the Entrance 1. Rick Steve's has this in his guide book because it has a great view of the big waterfall when you walk in.

We decided to walk to the boat and take a ride across the lakes and then take the train back. What we didn't realize is how small the walkways were to the boat dock. Sometimes it was even one small wood plank with people going both ways.

After we took the long boat ride across the river we decided to go all the way back across the lake to walk the pathways again when all the tourists are gone. It was WAY more peaceful and empty going back.Some of the best sights that we personally saw were the smaller waterfalls on the way to the boat and the big waterfall in the other direction.

Master Chef's favorite thing was the number of fish in the lake. Because no one can swim in the lakes, due to it being a national park, the fish live in an undisturbed habitat.

  

They also aren't really afraid of humans, no matter how hard Lord Byron tried.

 

Overall, the scenery was amazing...

Rovinj: Pearl of the Adriatic

When we booked our trip to Croatia, we had images of crystal blue coasts with colorful seaside shanty towns. It turns out, that "shanty town" feel was 20 minutes up the coast from Pula in Rovinj. 

 

It was so warm and beautiful, we spent two days in the town walking around the harbor seeing the surrounding islands, and even swimming in the Adriatic! Probably the best part was so many perfect photo spots!

 

 

One of our favorite things to do was take a 90 minute tour around the surrounding islands on a glass bottom boat. The nice thing was that since we were traveling in the offseason, every glass bottom boat tour guide was begging for people to take tour the local islands.  

 

We stopped at one and swam for an hour. The best part was swimming with so many fish. 

The jewel of Rovinj is the cathedral on the hill. Hiking up the hill was a beautiful thoroughfare of little streets mixed with Adriatic coast. 

 It was also a great place to just sit and take in the view, and get some drawing in as well:

Or...to photobomb your parents taking a selfie.

While we were there, Amadeus made a new friend..a seagull who had no fear whatsoever. 

Overall, Rovinj was one of our favorite places to visit in Europe.