Riomaggiore to Pisa – 100 km & 19445 Fit Bit steps

We were delighted to find that Pisa is not just a tower that is leaning from centuries of engineering, architectural and hydrological mishaps. The Piazza Dei Miracoli which comprises the tower, the Duomo, Baptistry and Camposanto are a beautifully impressive whole, and despite the crowds, our visit to the Piazza was a very cool experience. The walk from our hotel also took us along the River Arno, with the wonderful Santa Maria della Spina church perched on its banks.

We recalled having learned in our youth that Galileo (then professor of mathematics at the University of Pisa) was said to have dropped two spheres of different masses from the Tower to demonstrate that their time of descent was independent of their mass. It is also reported that Galileo’s late drawings of pendulums in clocks to achieve more accurate time keeping came from early observations of the swing of lamps in the Duomo. It is interesting that there was no mention of Galileo in any of the information that we read while visiting the Piazza.

We visited two simple eating places recommended by Lonely Planet, both wonderful: L’Ostellino, for inventive paninis and Pizzeria il Montino, for great pizza and chickpea torte.

Coffee Note: La Citadella (Pisa) 9/10

Parkinson’s note: Researchers from RMIT University, Australia, have developed a test that may be able to detect early Parkinson’s – before physical symptoms appear.