Pisa

20 years ago - #Tuscany

The subtitle of a trip to Pisa should be "Come for the Tower. Stay for the Cathedral.". Honestly, I don't know why everyone gets so excited about the tower. Especially when the cathedral and the baptistry were stunning.

The Piazza del Duomo
The Piazza del Duomo

The Piazza del Duomo from another angle
The Piazza del Duomo from another angle

The Tower
The Tower

We walked around the tower. Even making Pisa the first stop of the day, there were plenty of tourists. I can only imagine what it would be like to hit Pisa later in the day. We were not prepared for how stunning the cathedral is. Apparently, Pisa was a center in the area for the moors, and it shows in the artwork. There is an odd mixture of Arabic geometric designs with Catholic iconography. It's especially noticeable in the baptistry. Here are a ton of photos of the cathedral.

The entrance to the cathedral
The entrance to the cathedral

Inside the cathedral
Inside the cathedral

More of the inside
More of the inside

A chandelier
A chandelier

Trying to give you some perspective as to how big the place feels
Trying to give you some perspective as to how big the place feels

A mosaic
A mosaic

An intricately carved marble pulpit
An intricately carved marble pulpit

The ceiling, the pulpit, the chandelier
The ceiling, the pulpit, the chandelier

Another corner of the cathedral
Another corner of the cathedral

The moorish influence
The moorish influence

And finally, we get to the baptistry.

The outside of the baptistry
The outside of the baptistry

The entrance to the baptistry
The entrance to the baptistry

Intricate marble inlay
Intricate marble inlay

You definitely see the Arabic influence
You definitely see the Arabic influence

More stunning marble work
More stunning marble work

This post is part of a series called...
Tuscany
Next: San Gemignano
After two days of touring Florence, we were ready to hit the road and see more of Tuscany. In general, I found the Tuscans drove quickly, but fairly. Of course, we wouldn't dare driving in the actual towns. Usually, the goal was to park just outside the medieval walls and walk in. San Gemignano is built on a hill and looks like a small mideival Manhattan with towering spires. They had one main church with incredible murals, but one is not allowed to take photographs.
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