Pizza in Pisa

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I embarked on my long duration business trip to Denmark in November 2006. One month later, I was busy planning to spend my Christmas break in Italy. Everything from tickets to hotel accommodation shoots up during the holiday season and the year 2006 was no different. However, after extensive research online, I was able to come up with a reasonably priced itinerary after trying various permutations and combinations. Thanks to the low budget airline Ryanair, one way air tickets for the four of us were under $45 per person. The only catch here was, that our flight was to depart from Billund airport, which from Copenhagen was ($40 per person, 2.5 hour train journey to Vejle, Denmark, 45 minutes by bus from Vejle to Billund airport) away! A little time consuming but still the cheapest way to reach Italy. Oh! I forgot to mention, the place we were going to was Pisa.

Our itinerary was as follows:

• 22^nd December 2006, 11:00 P.M : Late night arrival at Pisa, Sleep at airport.
• 23^rd December 2006, 07:00 A.M : Visit The Leaning Tower of Pisa
• 23^rd December 2006, 10:00 A.M : Catch Eurostar to Venice
• 24^th December 2006, 05:00 P.M : Catch Eurostar to Rome
• 25^th December 2006, 11:00 P.M : Sleep at Rome airport
• 26^th December 2006, 07:00 A.M : Fly back to Copenhagen, via Milan

Yes, I had planned sleepovers at airports, no point in wasting money on an expensive accommodation for a few hours, especially when you are a bachelor right? This decision proved to be a fine adventure as well. Just a day before flying I came across this website www.sleepinginairports.net. Reading through the website, I was shocked to see that “Galilei International Airport” at Pisa literally closes its doors at midnight and no one is allowed to inside the airport during the night. I later learnt that this practice is quite common across small airports throughout Europe. Nevertheless we went ahead with high spirits, hoping for the best.

Our Ryanair flight from Billund airport, Denmark reached Pisa at around 12:00 A.M and we decided to wait and watch at the airport. We explored the airport looking for a dark nooks and corners, where we could sleep peacefully. It was well past 12 and the airport showed no signs of closing. Thanking our stars, we stretched our legs in one of the dark corners of the departure lounge and dozed off. I believe we did not thank our stars well enough. Just 20 minutes later, we were asked to leave the airport by a Police Patrol. Reluctantly, we exited the airport along with 25-30 other people, who also had the same motive as ours. So here we were, on the road, mercilessly left to freeze in the cold weather. Now as a group of 25-30 people, we found a coffee shop just outside the airport, and decided to camp in its somewhat covered patio, it was enough to keep us cozy and was so much fun. An unforgettable experience, truly.

At 7:00 A.M we got up and started our walk towards the world famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. The city was slowly coming to life and walking through the largely empty but pretty streets gave a certain feeling of joy. The façades of the buildings were as if straight from the renaissance era, old and beautiful. We crossed the bridge over river Arno during the “Golden Hour“(of photography) and the view was simply stunning. A few minutes later, pretty close to the Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral square), we got the first glimpse of the tower. The first glimpse became even more mesmerizing when the Church bells ringing in the background. Yes, the bells did start ringing right at that very moment.

We were actually the first ones to reach there and spent about an hour at the compound, exploring, taking pictures. The whole compound, which comprises of The Duomo (cathedral), The Campanile (the cathedral’s free standing bell tower), the Baptistry and the Camposanto looked extremely beautiful. The white structures over perfectly trimmed green grass shimmered in the early morning sunlight. Soon the souvenir shops opened and groups of tourists started arriving. We bought some souvenirs and decided to walk back to the railway station. On our way back, we stopped for breakfast. We were going to have our first meal in Italy and what else it could have been other than a Pizza! It was awesome (Full Stop). The best pizza I ever had (Full Stop). It was so different from what we were used to eating anywhere else. The pizza was very light and cheesy and crispy and full of olive oil. In short it was a perfect start to our Italian vacation.

We reached the railway station and bought First Class tickets for a 10:30 A.M Eurostar to Venice (Difference in fare was only Eur 4). We were going to Venice in style…

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