If you got a slice of your life to spend in Italy, you can be assured your day wouldn't go waste.
One of the great pleasures of touring in Europe is the connectivity. From Rome or other cities, Florence and Pisa are very well connected through the railway lines.
One can cover Florence itself for one full day, but combining Florence and Pisa for a day’s tour is a wise decision. You must prioritize what all you want to visit in Florence.
Depending on the day of week and/or any festivals around, the important spots in Florence might be crowded. Either book entry tickets in advance or plan to spend enough time to wait in queue.
Piazzale Michelangelo is a square that offers a panoramic view of the Florence city. It’ll be an ascent to a hill with good roads for vehicles.
Plan to go there just before the Sunrise or at least before it’s sunny, it’ll be an excellent view.
You can find a nice view of the famous Red doom church of Florence from this square. Except rainy season, this must offer a breezy view. Avoid visiting Florence in July and August when it’ll be very hot.
Historically an important place to visit in Florence will be Galleria dell’Accademia (or "Gallery of the Academy of Florence”) - It's an art museum. It is best known as the home of Michelangelo's sculpture “David". Apart from David, it houses many other sculptures as well.
From the gallery, you can walk in the street to find the Red dome church (Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore) stand tall in front of you. You would find the queues going longer around the street. If time permits you to an entry to this church, don’t miss.
There’re a few other important places you can visit. Those are - Piazza della Signoria and the Loggia dei Lanzi (an outdoor sculpture gallery), Uffizi Palace and Gallery (art museum and paintings) and Battistero di San Giovanni (Baptistery of St. John) and Santa Croce (it’s an art-filled church and mausoleum for some of Florence's greatest names).
Based on how long you would want to spend time in Pisa (including the night view and tower visit), you can allocate time to spend in Florence. And then you can catch the train that takes you to Pisa. It takes utmost 1.5 hours.
Once you get down at Pisa railway station, you would find the bus right in front. The buses will take you directly to the Pisa tower campus.
Plan to spend evening hours and little after dark hours as well here. This will give you the best of both worlds. Finding the right frame without any human appearing in the shot is going to be tricky, as this place is normally crowded. You need to wait patiently till people move out of the frame.
If you can be here at the dusk, nothing like it. You can experience a better view. If you book in advance for the entry into the tower, you can test your body's equilibrium.
Once you’re done, you can get back to the Pisa railway station by catching the bus just at the front of the Pisa tower campus. Reserving the train in advance helps manage the time better.
Wish you all a great time visiting both these cities !! And don’t forget to update your experience in the comments.
P.S.:- Author is an avid traveller and a photographer. You can follow his travel photographs at @craving.visuals handle in Instagram.
