Portovenere and Pisa

On our last morning in La Spezia, we headed out early so we could revisit Portovenere in the daylight. Portovenere is a quiet little fishing village, complete with the ruins of a castle at its summit. Like Cinque Terre, there are rows of brightly coloured houses pressed tightly together, backing into the hills. 

Seafront houses in Portovenere.

We followed the path around the shore and up to some of the ruined buildings. The church is still well-maintained, looking sharp with its multi-coloured marble facade.

Portovenere castle ruins and church.

We attempted to visit the main building of the castle, only to discover that it wasn't open-- possibly only open on Saturday and Sunday (if we were deciphering the Italian signs correctly).

After exploring for over an hour, we hopped back in our car, and headed towards Florence, via Pisa. 

Tom and I had not done much background reading on Pisa, and I was really only expecting to see the Leaning Tower. I did not realize that Pisa is also home of a large and impressively adorned cathedral.

Cathedral, Baptistry and Leaning Tower.

Inside the Pisa Cathedral.

Having visited England and Paris in 2011, Tom and I have now seen quite a few cathedrals and churchs. There was St. Paul's Cathedral in London-- magnificent and pristine. The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris-- aged and dirty, with the surrounding grounds smelling distinctly like urine... But we were very impressed with the inside of the Pisa Cathedral. It was beautiful!

Tom and I did not take the obligatory "Leaning" photo of the tower. Just a selfie shot of us near it!

The Leaning Tower of Pisa.

It is also worth noting that we ate one of our worst meals here... Or, at least I did! Tom had a pizza that was fairly good, I had spaghetti bolognese, that tasted a lot like Alphagetti. Not exactly gourmet cuisine. 

Our next stop was Florence, but we spent our first day on day-trip to Volterra. More on that to follow!