The Bartulla Way: Pizza....I mean Pisa anyone? Part 4

We spent our last full day in Italy in Pisa and Tuscany. Wow.....beautiful country. Again, like most ports there, it's not pretty until you get away from the port a bit. But once you get away form the port......wow! It was a rainy morning in Pisa and the skies were filled with gray and gloomy clouds. That didn't stop us though, or our hike from the bus parking lot to Pisa's town center. Of course we did get bombarded again with men trying to sell us umbrellas. Beautiful umbrellas with scenes of Pisa on them. I would have bought one had I not been so completely annoyed at their persistence and unwillingness to just let us be for a moment.

On the rainy bus trip we could see Pisa in the distance

Jeff and I had seen a show on the Leaning Tower of Pisa just weeks before our trip. The long years of efforts for them to try and stabilize it has continued on. But in recent years you are actually able to go up in the tower if you'd like. Let me just say that after watching a show about all the efforts to stabilize it, along with going against everything I know and understand on structural engineering............I don't feel it's part of my lives ambition to go up in the Leaning Tower. So we choose a tour that would take us to see it, but not go into it. And it was great! We got a nice little tour around the Pisa square and were told about all the different buildings and their architecture. Personally I couldn't take my eyes off the leaning tower because it's just amazing to me that it's still standing after all these years. Pisa is a small little place and you can see the whole place in a matter of minutes. We spent a few hours there and learned that Pisa was where Pinocchio originated. There were tons of little Pinocchio's all over the place for sale.

That bush growing in the wall is the bush that capers grow on!

Pisa, Italy

The basilica in Pisa

The basilica had these beautiful "3D" doors

I wish there was a lot more to say about Pisa but what we set out to accomplish was to say we had seen it and take some pictures. Mission accomplished!

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

The top of Pisa and the bells

So that afternoon we set out for wine tasting in Tuscany. Ever seen "Under the Tuscan Sun"..........beautiful Tuscany hill sides covered in olive trees and grape vines and houses that look just like what you think every Italian house looks like?! THAT is really what Tuscany was like for me. The winery/B&B we visited reminded me of a setting in a movie about Tuscany! We had another great tour guide that was informative but knew we were all there to taste some wine and enjoy it and he let us be. He did tell us something that had never occurred to me. Biscotti is their word for biscuit, or in our case, cookie. So it refers to a much more brood array of "cookies" than what we refer to as biscotti. Jeff and I bought some chocolate and nut biscotti and it was FAB! Soft and more bread like than it was crunchy and firm like the stuff I have tried in the states. And we tasted some great wines that were made right there. Along with olive oil and olives from the trees that are there as well. It was wonderful! We bought a bottle of wine and brought it back with us. Hoping that we can hang on to it for a while and it will make the trip back to the states with us one day.