I visited an overlooked European city for 11 hours and made one big mistake

When my 2.45am alarm went off one Sunday morning, I cursed my plan to fly to Italy for less than 12 hours.

As a mum-of-two, you’d think the claim that I’d never been so tired is absurd, but at the time, my bed seemed more appealing than a European day trip.

The grand plan of Pisa in a day had started months prior.

I’m the eldest of three sisters, and the baby of the group, Elle, was about to turn 30.

My own 30th birthday took place in lockdown when I was living with my parents so we did a… family murder mystery.

Along with my other sister, Jessie, we were determined to make Elle’s birthday special and whizz her away on a glam trip.

Paris was ruled out due to the price hikes thanks to the Olympics, and then, at some point, someone mentioned Pisa. Pizza, pasta and a leaning tower? Sounded delightful.

And, after doing some research I was thrilled by what I learnt. Pisa is compact, so easy to see in a short space of time, plus it’s affordable. And, despite being overlooked for its more popular Tuscan neighbours like Florence and Siena, Lonely Planet describe it as ‘compelling’ with a ‘vibrant cafe and bar scene’.

So, we eventually told Jessie our grand plan the afternoon before and she was delighted. Fast forward to August 18 and you could catch us scuttling through Gatwick airport having nearly missed the gate for our £215.24 EasyJet flight because we’d been too busy eating scrambled eggs, not paying attention to the boarding screens.

We dared not have a drink, too worried we’d spend the whole day asleep (that must be an age thing). But touching down was amazing – until then I’d never actually imagined our crazy plan would work.

We bought Pisa Mover return tickets for €13, the shuttle getting us from the airport to the city centre in minutes.

Then we walked from the station, across the River Arno towards, of course, the leaning Tower, stopping to take photos of the beautiful views across the water and the wonderful old architecture.

However, getting ‘hangry’ is definitely a family trait and it was creeping in. It was hot and we were beginning to snap at each other (some things never change).

Thankfully, we found a lovely café, Food 62, which saved our tempers. I ordered an affogato, kicking off our Italian visit with both coffee and ice cream.

Jessie and Elle ordered pastries and fresh orange juice and with order restored and the €35 bill paid, we carried on, towards the main attraction.

What is there to say about the leaning tower of Pisa?

It does lean, but not as much as we’ve been led to believe. In fact, if you don’t stand at precisely the right angle, it looks fairly upright to me.

I’d even go so far as to claim it has been exaggerated. And trying to take the famous ‘pushing’ picture is very difficult. We had countless outtakes, but then again, David Bailey we are not!

That being said, the tower itself and the adjoining Pisa Cathedral and Baptisty buildings are impressive. And, when you get the right angle, and finally see that it does, in fact, lean, you do start to question how its possible.

The architecture is beautiful too. But a word of warning for any other extreme day trippers: plan in advance. We hadn’t been farsighted enough to book tickets for entry, so we could only see it from the outside.

And then…the heavens opened. I have never seen anything like it. It was like being caught in a tropical storm. We were soaked in seconds, and along with hundreds of other tourists, flocked towards the cafes and restaurants.

To make matters worse, it was already lunchtime and immediately they were all full, and we were at the back of the pack.

Soon we stood huddled under a parasol over a table outside a (closed) restaurant, with water rising visibly in front of our eyes.

My carefully chosen outfit was soaked and my sandals were sodden. We had to make a break for it and rush down the street, making dashes into (full) restaurants every few doors down.

Finally, we hurtled through the doors of Osteria in Domo, where it was time to truly embrace being dry, warm, and a bulging menu of Pisan food.

We started with a selection of Pisan specialities, including delicious meatballs, and then the star of the show: the pasta.

Elle and I ate rich papperdelle with wild boar and Jessie had pici all’aglione della val di chiana, otherwise known as pasta with a tomato and garlic sauce. Toasting with Aperols I could just about forget how early we’d got up. We might be soaking, but we’d made it to mainland Europe.

The rain stopped, so after we’d eaten and paid €77.50 (yes, another ridiculously cheap meal), we made our way back to the Tower.

Then, predictably, the heavens opened again. We tried to hide under the overhang of the Cathedral, sharing one €7 umbrella, bought in desperation, but the rain poured onto us. It got to a point where we couldn’t actually get any wetter, so we decided to carry on.

We halfheartedly trailed round the market beside the Tower, looking at souvenir fridge magnets and football kits. After a quick whisk round the Museo delle Sinopie museum gift shop opposite the Tower, where we rejected everything because it was so expensive, we decided to head back.

We only had a couple of hours left and we knew Pisa had more culinary delights to offer us.

Wandering back towards the station we embraced cafe culture, in a beautiful little cafe, Pasticceria Salza.

Aperols, tiny chocolates filled with tiramisu including one complete with birthday candle, more pastries and it was time to move on, after paying the €35.80 bill.

By the station we ticked our last item off our list: pizza.

At a restaurant named Kinzica, we shared a pepperoni and a margherita pizza and olives, for €25.50 before heading back to the station and to the airport.

In total, we spent around €58 each on food and drinks, €13 on the return train tickets to the centre of Pisa from the airport, with Jessie and I splitting the cost of three flights between us, so paying £322.

We flew through our third thunderstorm of the day and we were back in London at 10.20pm, a mere 16 hours after we’d left.

Luckily my husband came to pick us up and we made it through our front door and flopped into bed, just after midnight.

All in all, we had a wonderful, whirlwind tour and walked nearly 20km.

It’s not something I could do regularly, the exhaustion lasted for days, but we loved it.

Next time I’d make sure we booked tour tickets and not rely on getting them on the day.

But the one mistake I won’t make again in a hurry? Even an extreme day trip requires a change of clothes (and an umbrella). Even in Italy in August, you just never know.

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