Round Round, Get Around, I Get Around (Tuscany)

I've been busy in the considerable hiatus since my last post. 

Florence is a great city in and of itself and I have yet to come close to seeing all it has to offer. That said, within a couple hours of Florence, there are plenty of smaller towns deserving of a cheap day trip and it is rather nice to get out and see something entirely new. Since my last update, I have visited the towns of Lucca, Pisa, and Arezzo. Here's some pictures: 

Outside Lucca's Renaissance era walls

Myself just inside Lucca's walls

Facade of a cathedral just outside of Piazza dell'Anfiteatro.

 

Myself riding a bike on top of Lucca's walls. 

The Tower of Pisa. It's, like, leaning.

Tourists, the Leaning Tower, and the Cathedral of Pisa

The Catheral. And tourists.

Pisa's baptistry

Tourists. Perhaps dancing. Or taking a picture "holding up" the tower.

I saw Lucca and Pisa in the same day, on account of their proximity to each other. I loved Lucca. It's a smaller town without too, too many tourists and remarkably intact walls. These walls are great for a walk or, for a small fee, a bike ride. Also,t he city is home to famous late 19th and early 20th century composer Giacomo Puccini and the city is rather musical. Street performers were more than few and, though I did not experience it, I understand there is a perpetual music festival hosted in Lucca every day.

On the other hand, next (and better well known) town over, Pisa, stands as the only place I wish I had never gone to. The Leaning Tower is there, and yes it's leaning. Have you seen a picture of it? Yeah me too. It looks the same. For some reason, this remarkable showcase of poor architecture and failed engineering has captivated the international audience and become a huge tourism draw, which creates a bizarre accidental flashmob-esque scene in the center of the city, which actually has a fairly interesting political history. Pisa lacks any of the charm Lucca has because of this. Sure, there is a fairly impressive looking cathedral too, but it costs money to get inside, and besides, what Tuscan city doesn't have at least one neat church? If I had never gone and saved the few euros, I would probably have been more satisfied.

Now Arezzo:

Il Duomo di Arezzo

The facade of Il Duomo

A medieval era Basilica

ca. 15th century palaces in Piazza Grande

Remains of a Roman Amphitheater 

Main park in Arezzo with a gate to the Fortezza Medicea at the top.

Arezzo, along with Siena, may be my favorite city outside of Florence yet. Like Siena, Arezzo is very vertical and small. The city has an ancient sense to it too, since the Roman city of Arretium is it's ancestor. Unfortunately, Arezzo has seen it's fair share of war and could be better preserved, but there are still plenty of traces. The small city is the hometown of many famous Italians as well, including Roman poet Petrarch and Renaissance man Giorgio Vasari. Also, Michaelangelo was born in a nearby hamlet. In about 8 very leisurely hours, you can experience most of what the city has to offer, but each moment there is enjoyable. The high concentration of free-entry or low cost churches, museums, and historical sites makes it a worthwhile visit. And almost as important, there are hardly any tourists to be seen. In fact, I saw only one other group of non-Italian tourists the whole time I was there. 

So what is up next? In about 12 hours, I will be heading out to Torino for the weekend and in about a week I will be flying to Andalusia, Spain for a post-language program break. Updates to follow.