Not this exit, but the next one! No next one, the last was the right one! Have you found out, what was that talk about? Of course, this was not our argument, but Borut just wanted to figure it out, where the hell this GPS device is trying to draw us. At the moment we were led to countless exits in huge Bologna, device misfires. Therefore, despite some minor inconveniences we still happily travelled 560 kilometres long road to our accommodation. Vintage Hotel is located in a small town, Montecatini Terme, situated between Pisa and Florence. Due to the location, orderliness, huge parking and because of a relatively good price, we would recommend it to anyone. Just compliments for the mentioned hotel! In general, the city is also great starting point for the route to all major towns, villages and sights in central Tuscany.
Where to go first? 46 km away to the Wonders Square in Pisa. The main attraction is undoubtedly the skewed tower, and there is thousands of tourists, who would like in one or another way, to straighten it up. That their photo on Instagram or Facebook will be the best possible, many are willing to do anything… somersault, standing on their heads and they also invent some extra special gymnastic element 🙂 Unfortunately, we didn’t use these extreme approaches… but we admired this architectural wonder on which you can also climb for 18 euros.
Maybe you know why is so “skewed”? It’s was a technical error, because they didn’t consider that in this area the ground is soft and the building in after only three constructed floors began to subside. The tower was nonetheless completed and became an icon of the city. Opposite stands the Duomo cathedral, which was in the 11th century the biggest in Europe.
We try to avoid motorways, therefore, the mandatory stopover was in Lucca – a small town within the high walls, with lovely streets and piazzas, which could be admire with a glass of good wine from one of the many bars and restaurants. Settling can always be changed by exploring the city by bike, which you could rent at the nearby car parks and garages outside the walls. In the city as a point of interest, stands out the Cathedral di San Martino.
Given that we are first time in a such journey with a car, we were a bit worried about how and will be the parking. How much will cost? Where will we be able to park? However, all these worries were in vain. In Pisa we found a huge parking lot, free of charge and only a few steps away from the main attractions and in Lucca we parked in Carducci car park, where we payed € 1 per hour. So far, we are very happy with everything.
S & B
