Ann spend the month of May in Pisa doing research at a dye analysis lab (correct me if im wrong 🙂 ) at the Università di Pisa. The last weekend she was there I went down to visit her and together we explored a bit of the region.
My dad has been going to Tuscany to bike each spring for the last 4-5 years and my mother has been there a couple of times as well and they have always talked very fondly of the region so I was looking forward to finally seeing it myself. And let me just say that I was really taken with Tuscany – I really have to get back there some day and see more.
I arrived in Pisa Thursday where Ann finished up at the university and we saw a bit of Pisa. Friday we headed to Cinque Terra (which is actually not in Tuscany but Liguria).
Cinque Terra means Five Lands and consists of five small villages clinging to the edge of the rocks next to the Mediterranean. Pictured above is the village Manarola. To get between the villages you can either walk on a trail, take the train that runs in a tunnel beneath the villages or take a boat.
See a bigger version of the panorama here.
We took it easy and walked part of the way and took the train for the rest. The weather was just right and the scenery between the villages as well as the atmosphere in the villages was excellent.
After we had spent most of the day taking in the sights we found a small rock beach where we could cool down before heading back to Pisa.
Saturday we headed inland for the city of Siena and this was as Tuscan as it gets. Set in a landscape of lush, green, rolling hills the train ride there was nice.
With all the houses made from a red-brown stone this place is really like something out of a movie. We brought a picnic lunch with us and ate it at the huge Piazza del Campo in the center of town.
It is easy to get a little lost in the small winding streets. But that doesn’t matter. For every corner you turn there is another interesting view.
On our way back to Pisa we made a stop in quaint town of Certaldo where we could take a cable car up to the old town on top of the hill. It was quite small but we also had it more or less to ourselves and the locals.
Sunday I was already heading back home again. So short time with Ann and so short time in Tuscany. I will have to see them both again soon 😉