We tell you what to see in the city of Pisa without spending a lot of money. We are going to tour the city that has one of the symbols of Italy.
You have to take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves. That’s what I thought came out a travel plan that included a visit to the city of Pisa and the Viareggio carnival. All for 40 euros (including a charge from the student association with which we made the trip, meals and lodging for two nights). As an extra you would have to pay for the train from Turin. Even though I didn’t have much budget left, I had to take advantage of the event and the price, so I said: we’re going to Pisa. From this student trip, I tell you what to see in Pisa, when we go with a low budget.
How to get to Pisa?
We arrived in Pisa by train, the station where we got off the train was Pisa Centrale, which has central just the name since it is quite far from the piazza dei miracoli. We took the bus, which we did not have to pay because it was already included in the 40 euros we paid at the beginning.
If you arrive in Pisa by plane, the closest airport is Galileo Galilei.
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Fun fact: on the train from Turin to Pisa I saw that the evacuation of the toilets was quite simplistic, that is to say a vile hole from which you can see the outside ha ha ha that made me think of those moments when they said that “you can’t use the bathroom when the train is in the station” imagine, that falls straight to the ground! yuck.
What to see in Pisa with little budget?
Night city tour of Pisa
Arriving in the city, they took us to the university canteen and once it got dark we went for a night walk around the city. The group of students from Pisa who received us made an effort to show us Pisa “beyond the tower”, we saw its streets, the river and yes, also the tower at night (but it was not the main point).
The next day in the morning they took us to the town hall because as students who were on behalf of the association they were going to tell us a little about the city, but in a more official way. I’ll be honest, I remember little of what they told us. At the time I was somewhat desperate to be able to explore the city at my own pace.
Arriving at Piazza dei Miracoli
Before reaching the square, you can already see the tower from afar and it gives us great emotion, the same with the signs that tell us that we are almost there. But before that we saw some things on the road like a school (that was built a long time ago), some anti-USA graffiti (so you can see that there is everything).
And here is a general view of the Piazza dei Miracoli: for me it had a WOW effect and yes, I shouted, this is THE place, what to see in Pisa? is this:
The Tower of Pisa
If I say that it was not what I was most interested in seeing in this city, that would be a blunt lie. But precisely because I didn’t have much of a budget, I settled for seeing it from the outside since I couldn’t afford the ticket. If one day I return to Pisa with a more comfortable budget, I will enter and update this article to show you what it is like inside.
But something changed, at first I was only interested in the tower but once I was able to be in that place I have to say that the charm of the Tower of Pisa is a combination of everything, that green lawn, the set of buildings in a beautiful white marble make that the place dazzles and that despite the fact that there are many tourists one feels comfortable and at peace. It is rare to be able to achieve something like this in a super touristic place, generally the fact that it is full of people cuts the charm, but for me at that time it was not like that. I can’t guarantee that if I go back it will be the same.
To be able to enjoy the tower from the outside, I chose a spot on the lawn and simply stayed there, lying down looking at the tower, breathing in the place and thinking that I had made it since for me getting to see that tower in person meant that I had already “crossed the pond“.
I lasted there quite a while, I don’t know how long. This is not just another place to see in Pisa, it is the place and I recommend staying for a while to absorb its essence.
I loved this little dog that lay peacefully on the lawn with her back to the famous tower 🙂
Cathedral and Baptistry of Pisa
From there I joined other students from the association and we visited the cathedral, which dominates the central part of the piazza dei miracoli. I have to admit that the inside didn’t impress me as much as the outside (but I don’t think it was because of the cathedral itself, it was more because I was already so impressed with what I saw from the outside that I couldn’t take it anymore).
Representing the beginning of life we have the baptistery, which I liked much more inside than the cathedral. Inside, the emptiness is enormous with the baptismal font in the center of everything, a pleasant emptiness.
Cemetery
To complete the place, we go from the beginning to the end of life and we find the camposanto, that’s to say the cemetery, in which we can see beautiful Roman statues and sarcophagi as well as inscriptions on the ground (like the skull I photographed). In the center of the place is a garden with a lawn just as green as the one outside.
Legend has it that the bodies buried there decomposed within 24 hours.
Souvenirs of Pisa
Surrounding the entire square are several souvenir stalls, there is everything from men’s underwear ha ha ha so depending on the budget you have there will be many options. I bought a mini (in size and price) replica of the tower.
Tourists taking their photo with the tower
A fun thing to do: watch the people trying to get their photo taken holding the tower. The price to pay is then to be observed when it is your turn to take the same photo hahaha at least for me it was fun 🙂 and then if there are people who prefer not to take the classic photo because it is “what everyone does” fine too. I see it like this: it will be what “everyone” does but for me personally it was an achievement to get there because I wanted to take a photo of those and well… I did it.
Pizza or Pisa?
First of all, we must remember that in Latin America, Z and S are pronounced the same. That said, before I learned Italian I didn’t care when I heard someone say “pisa” to refer to a pizza. You could even make jokes about the Tower of Pisa being made of stacked pizzas, things like that. But after learning that no, there is no room for confusion and that pizza is more like “pitsa” well, the joke is no longer so funny hahaha
But yes, if you go to Pisa you can eat a succulent pizza 🙂 (in fact it was not my case since we ate in the university canteen) the next time I go I will eat one 😀
Pisa, a city worth visiting on a one-day trip
It is worth taking a walk through this city, we have already seen that in one day you can see many things in Pisa and you should not think that there’s only the Tower and that’s it 😉 . Although she is very pretty, I cannot deny that.
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