Day 30: 30-Day Ultimate Blog Challenge for April 30, 2014

My Travel to the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy

On my European travel vacation, I also went to visit the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy. From Florence we visited the Leaning Tower of Pisa  which is a  freestanding bell tower of the cathedral  and it is known worldwide for its unintended tilt and lean to one side. I took lots of Color and B/W photos of the tower. Shown here are mostly the color versions and later on in my other blogs I will show the B/W versions of the tower from top to bottom.

Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy (Bell Tower)

Long time ago, the tourists were allowed to go up the steep stone steps of the tower but later on going up there was strictly prohibited due to the leaning condition of the tower and it became worse. There was a time in 1990 when the leaning was so bad, they had to dig around the tower and re-enforced the foundations with cement to make the tower strong enough and prevent it from falling completely after the steep lean was discovered and the soil underneath the tower was causing it. The tower was under construction to correct the lean and lasted for months on end.  Later on the tourists were allowed to enter and climb the 800-year old tower again.

The famous Leaning Tower of Pisa have dozens of bells on top of the tower. When we were still allowed to go up that tower, I was able to take lots of photos of the old  bells of different sizes that make different sounds. Pisa lures the travelers with its leaning tower. For many tourists, the tower is one of our first childhood images of Europe. It’s a cliche that needs to be seen and taken photos of it. When we visited the tower, there was a huge crowd of tourists like us, out to see more of the world. It is situated behind the Cathedral and is the third oldest structure in Pisa’s Cathedral Square -The Piazza del Duomo, after the Cathedral and the Baptistry.

The Cathedral, Baptistry at Pisa’s Cathedral Square , Piazza del Duomo and the Leaning Tower

I was one of those lucky ones who was still able to climb that leaning tower of Pisa before they banned people from climbing that tower. Up there you can see what Pisa is like  and with all the bells around you at the top of the tower, I kept praying that no one would ring those bells or it will leave that much sound of  ringing in our ears for days, even weeks probably, if those bells started ringing so loudly and me in the midst of them, something that I’m not prepared to encounter. Good thing that those bells only started ringing when we reached the ground level after climbing that leaning tower.

Florence, City in Italy

“Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area.
Area: 102.4 km²
Weather: 9°C, Wind N at 11 km/h, 58% Humidity
Province: Province of Florence”
(Info above: Courtesy of Wikipedia).

My Travel to Florence in B/W

We visited Florence  and went to see the Famous Statue of David by Michaelangelo. On our way to the art gallery we had a short stopover on the hill overlooking  the city of Florence.  I run out of color film again so I had to use the spare B/W films that I carry along in my photo bag. This time I took a photo of the replica of the statue of David and made it look like he was standing on top of our motorcoach tour bus that we were riding around on our tour of Europe.  It was parked near the plaza where the replica statue stood. Then we all boarded the bus and proceeded to the city where we can go and see the original statue of “David”.

From Florence, we also passed by a small medieval town that was surrounded by a river moat. This beautiful town have ancient buildings in a huge cluster inside the village. We did not drive into the medieval village because the bus won’t fit in the entrance so we just took photos while the driver parked the bus nearby so we can capture the beauty of this medieval Italian village.

Medieval Town Village in nearby Florence, Italy.

About Oly Trinity

Oly is the travel blogger, documentarian on lakbaypilipinas.ca, also a writer-poet, photographer and artist whose work constitutes a blog-documentary in many aspects of life, people, places, arts, culture and traditions, even architecture. It's about trips at home and abroad, also flashbacks of trips on years gone by, reminiscing memorable experiences then back to the future and now, all these in the new blog. You will see, hear and read about the travels, feasting on foods around the globe, meeting people in places that she visits and sharing their traditions and goodwill, who visits countries that others only dream about and who wants to share with you all of her experiences never to be forgotten in this lifetime. From her old hometown to her new home she will marvel you with stories, and show you how small the whole world really is; if you love to travel. Now, let's start that wonderful journey together.