Hello Young Adventurers!
Locations Visited: Certaldo, Pisa, and Florance Italy
Languages Spoken: Italian
Words Learned: Nonna– grandmother
Okay, so this post is going to be a bit different than my last few. I’m going to more hit a few highlights of the location, and mostly just share some pictures for you to discover! I’m trying to travel on a little bit stricter budget, so I’m doing mostly a bunch of walking and seeing things that way versus structured tours and museums. I have to start being a bit smarter with my money, or else I won’t be able to last the entire year! Friends, this is why math is important to study in school. Without it I would have no idea how to keep up with all of this while I travel!
I’m going to break this down into sections:
Certaldo
Certaldo is the town where my hostel is located right in the heart of the Tuscany Region of Italy. It is a small, warm, and vibrant little town filled with ancient buildings and even a castle dating back before the 1300’s! One thing I love about it here is how slow everything is. Time almost stops here. Places are open for lunch everyday for only about 2 hours from 12-2PM, and then the same every night from only 7:30-9:30. The pizza is cheap and absolutely delicious, and it is super easy to get to other cities by riding the train.
I met up with some friends I made at my hostel, and we headed out to get breakfast at a local bakery and up the hill to visit the old town, Certaldo Alto, where the castle still is. I got a croissant and a lemon tart and a coffee (SO GOOD… and SO CHEAP), laughed with my new friends, and then we began our walk up the hill. Sweaty and a little tired, we made it up to the top to be greeted with a view that overlooked all of Certaldo, and we quickly agreed it was worth the work. Certaldo Alto, the castle town, was one large castle and it’s surrounding walls, all built on top of one of the local hills to overlook the land. We quickly got tickets, and went to explore what we could of the old castle.
Now, just because it’s a castle doesn’t mean it is anything insanely large, or even that a king lived there. Usually wealthy members of society would call these places home as they overlooked the neighboring town or towns. I have some pictures below that I took of the castle. Unfortunately, I couldn’t read many of the signs inside as most were in Italian. Do you see anything really cool in this castle?
We then went and had a nice lunch- I needed some vegetables BADLY so I got a nice salad. So here’s a random fun cultural fact about Europe in general- you are never served ice with a beverage. This place gave me a cup of ice, though, and I felt like royalty. I forgot how nice a cold glass of ice-water was, and it made me laugh to myself that simply having ice in my water could make me so happy. You really learn to appreciate the small things when you live with so little for so long.
After lunch, we headed up to explore a tower that overlooks the whole castle and surrounding town. I’ll post some of the pictures below. Do you see anything interesting in the landscape?
Afterwards, I went back and relaxed for a bit before heading to a local restaurant for dinner run by this sweet Italian nonna (grandmother). It only had a few seats, was open for only 2 hours nightly, and was AMAZING. This sweet nonna hand makes all the dishes, serves them, and treats everyone like family. It was a great end to a nice day.
Pisa
I got up super early so that I could work out, and then head out on the earliest train I could so I could explore Pisa for the day. Do you remember what Pisa is most known for? It’s the Leaning Tower of Pisa! So why does it lean? Let’s see what we can learn:
So the tower began to be built back in 1173. Pisa is relatively close to the coast, so as sea trade became bigger in the area, the town of Pisa wanted to make a statement by building a grand cathedral and religious complex called the “Field of Miracles” which would include all their religious needs and show the world how important Pisa was. The tower was intended to be the bell tower for the area.
By 1178, the tower had been built to it’s third story, and they noticed it was beginning to lean. Now this is important- think back to the location of Pisa. What kind of ground do we have in areas near the coast? That’s right- lots of sand. The soil in this particular spot consisted of mostly fine sand and seashells… not the best foundation to build a large, heavy building. Especially one with such a small base.
They continued building the tower, and if you pay close attention- you’ll notice that the stories are actually slightly smaller on the side where the lean is compared to the other. They tried to make a counter-weight of sorts by doing that, but the tower still leans nonetheless. In fact, each new story caused the foundation to sink just a bit more and the tower to lean just a bit more. It was falling almost 1-2 millimeters per year. That doesn’t seem like much, but that adds up very quickly over 800 years!
I had a picnic under the tower to enjoy the view, took the “pretend to be pushing the tower back” picture, and then made my way back slowly to Certaldo where I relaxed with friends until heading to bed!
Florence
Just like Pisa, I woke up early, worked out, ate breakfast, packed a picnic lunch, and headed on the earliest train I could to Florence, known as the capital of the Tuscany Region. I didn’t really know what to expect here as I didn’t do much research prep before going, and I was pleasantly surprised with how much I loved it. I set a super strict budget for the day of only 7 euros (Remember- the don’t use dollars in most of Europe, they instead use a currency called Euros which equals to just a little more than one dollar per euro), for dinner and any coffee I would want, which meant no cash to enter the museums for this particular day.
I began to walk around, found some churches I could go in and explore for free, got me a 1 euro cappuccino, and ended up finding my way to this incredible bridge that went across the canal that was basically a bunch of stores built over the water. The views from it were amazing, and it was just a really cool bridge to look at!
I then made my way to the Piazzelle Michalangiolo, which is known as the highest spot in the city. I try to make it my goals to explore the highest points in cities because you tend to get the best views there, and this did not disappoint one bit! The problem was- I had to walk up some CRAZY steps and hills to get up here. I was so tired, and I regretted working out that morning because I did know realize I would have to walk up such a large hill, but it was totally worth it in the end. Overlooking the city, you could see it’s famous basilica and all the other large important landmarks and buildings! Naturally, I chose this to be where I would have my picnic for the day, and I sat and ate while enjoying the view. What do you see in these photos?
I made my way back down afterwards, wandered a bit more through the city, saw the large basilica up close, and then headed back to Certaldo. I was tired, and I had just enough money left over to buy a 5 Euro pizza from the amazing pizzeria right near my hostel. I spent the rest of the evening chatting with friends, and then crashed at 8:30 because I had walked over 10 miles that day!
I also found. familiar symbol that I learned about in Venice. What I’m loving about this traveling so far is learning about something in one city, and then recognizing it in other places around the world. I really feel like I’m learning so much, and these moments are proving it to me. Do you remember who this represents? If not- look back at my post about Venice to find out!
My last day is in Certaldo, just preparing for the next trip. I’m organizing hostels, train tickets, and using today as a laundry and getting-my-life-together kind of day. Tomorrow I head off to a city dating all the way back to 753 B.C. known in history for being the capitol of Italy, beautiful mythology, and it’s coliseum as well as another city that was destroyed by the volcano called Vesuvius. Do you know where we’re off to? Buckle up- we have a lot of history to dive into next time! Until then,
Have Courage, & Be Kind,
Mr. Weavil