Top Travel Leads

If you’re looking to sample the best that the Tuscany region of Italy has to offer, you certainly need to spend some time in Pisa. With its wealth of historic attractions, exciting festivals and amazing food, stopping here will definitely be the highlight of your trip to Italy and there are often many late deals to be found that can make your visit to Tuscany quite affordable.

Want to know what exactly makes the city so special? Read on to find out more!

Piazza del Duomo

There is no shortage of fantastic architecture and landmarks to be found in Pisa, but without a doubt the most famous ones are located at Piazza del Duomo.

As duomo is the Italian for cathedral, it really should be of little surprise that it is in this public square you will find the amazing Pisa Cathedral. Next to it is the iconic Leaning Tower of Pisa, with many people who see it taking a photo where it looks as if they’re holding it up – joining them in this makes for a classic souvenir. Climb to the top of the building to take in wonderful views of the rest of the city, as well as Piazza del Duomo’s other landmarks.

These include the 12th-century cemetery Camposanto Monumentale and the Baptistry of St John, two beautiful structures that have contributed to the square being nicknamed Piazza dei Miracoli, or the Square of Miracles.

Knights Square

Pisa’s Knights Square is another must-see while in the city. The former headquarters of the Order of the Knights of St Stephen, here you’ll discover the historic Church of Saint Rocco, which was built in 1575, and a statue of Cosimo I de’Medici, the first grand duke of Tuscany.

Museums and festivals

Of course, it’s not just Pisa’s astounding public spaces that make it a great place to visit on a Tuscany tour, it is also rich in culture and home to a wealth of amazing galleries and museums.

Situated on the banks of the River Arno is the wonderful Museo Nazionale di San Matteo (or National Museum of St Matthew), which contains numerous sculptures and paintings that date back as far as the 12th-century. The Lungarno Simonelli Museum, meanwhile, houses excavated Roman boats and other artefacts from this era.

If you time your trip to Tuscany right, you could arrive when one of Pisa’s vibrant festivals is taking place.

Each June 16th witnesses the Festa di San Ranieri, where the locals honour the city’s patron saint by lining the banks of the Arno with torches, while the Pisa Cathedral becomes the location of the International Festival of Holy Music every September with choirs from across the country performing.

Food

Tuscany is a region famous for its high-quality cuisine and Pisa’s no exception. Make sure you sample the best of what the area has to offer by trying local specialities like ciechi alla Pisani (baby eels in garlic and tomatoes). If you want a slice of pizza – you are in Italy after all – visit Il Montino and have the cecina, which includes chickpeas as a topping.

Exploring the rest of Tuscany

By booking car hire from Pisa Airport, you’ll be well-placed to see the rest of Tuscany – whether you choose to visit other bustling cities like Florence or wish to explore smaller towns like Cecina and Empoli.

Whether you’re planning to make Pisa the mainstay of your time in Italy or you’re keen to see lots of other places too, leave a comment and let us know!

On the Costa Verde, Green Coast of Rio de Janeiro state of Brazil, about four hours south of Rio itself, is found Paraty. Costa Verde coast was one of the first areas of the long Atlantic seashore of Brazil visited and inhabited by the Portuguese. Set in a scenic bay and guarded by a fortress against attacks by pirates, Paraty port provided excellent shelter for the Portuguese ships. With the discovery of gold in Minas Gerais in the late 16th century, Party became the principal port of the Royal Road, the Estrada Real, that started in Diamantina and traversed through the key mining towns of Ouro Preto, Mariana, Congonhas, Tiradentes and Sao Joao del Rey.

Declared as one of Brazil’s first UNESCO heritage sites, Old Town Paraty is laid out in a perfect grid of streets studded with priceless classical colonial buildings and churches. As if part of the grid the port of Paraty was whence Portuguese ships sailed from carrying gold and diamonds back to motherland. In high tide the streets closest to the seashore flood, washing off the ancient cobblestones. Closed to vehicular traffic, Paraty retains ambiance of bygone era, with horse pulled carriages rumbling through. Tour of Paraty remains one of the highlights of a tour to Brazil.

In 1973 the Indian Government launched Project Tiger, a tiger conservation project to control and supplement the dwindling population of the Royal Bengal tigers in India. Over the years the Project Tiger has become one of the most successful wildlife conservation efforts in India. While initially only nine tiger reserves were set up under the Project Tiger, today there are nearly 30 tiger reserves all over India. Although not all tiger reserves, wildlife and national parks in India offer equal chances of seeing a tiger in the wild, there are a few where one can take tiger safari tour and have a good opportunity to actually see the tiger.

Bandhavgarh, Kanha National Park and Pench National Parks are the finest wildlife reserves when it comes to chances of encountering the magnificent Bengal tiger in the wild. Located in the hills of the Vindhyan Range in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, Bandhavgarh National Park is considered to have one of the densest tiger populations of any wildlife reserves in India, though since 2006, when Kaziranga National Park in Assam of north-eastern India was too declared a tiger reserve, that crown is now claimed by Kaziranga. Considered one of the best parks in Asia, Kanha National Park is hailed as providing the best opportunity for seeing a tiger namely on account of having the largest number of tigers, said to contain over 400 of these predators.

Bandhavgarh, Kanha, Pench and Panna National Parks can be included in your tour of the Khajuraho and Varanasi region. Pench and Kanha National Parks are best accessed from Nagpur, easily accessible by air from Delhi, Mumbai or Kolkata.

Located in the foothills of the Himalayas is the majestic Corbett National Park, once a popular hunting ground of the British. Corbett NP became the first national park to be established in mainland Asia and the first sanctuary to come under Project Tiger. It is best visited as part of your Northern India itinerary, where it can be ideally tailored into your Rajasthan – Varanasi – Indian Himalayas itinerary.

Another option for visiting Corbett National Park is to combine it with a tour to the hill state of Uttarakhand, to Garhwal and Kumaon region. Here it is best added to your trip to Haridwar – Rishikesh – Almora – Nainital itinerary.

One of the premier parks of India and also established as one of the best for a chance of seeing a tiger has become Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan. Typically visited as part of so called Temples, Tigers and Ganges itinerary that packs in the best of Varanasi and Khajuraho first and the tour visits Ranthambore en route from Agra to Jaipur.

Last but certainly not least recommended for seeing the tiger is Kaziranga National Park. Although relatively small, Kaziranga NP is among the best of India’s wildlife parks. As a result of a truly remarkable success story of conservation of the One Horned India Rhinoceros, Kaziranga National Park got the recognition of the UNESCO World Heritage Site List in 1985. Kaziranga NP is best visited as part of Assam – Meghalaya itinerary, either by flying into Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Jorhat or Shillong.

Traveling the back roads of Czech Republic along the Austria border an art connoisseur will enjoy coming across a profusion of small roadside shrines and memorials devoted to Jesus and other saints, built as expression of thanks for being blessed, protected, healed, endowed, in memory of someone’s death, or simply as a gesture of good will. In Czech Republic these shrines are commonly referred to as „Bozi Muka, in literal translation meaning “God’s suffering. “ They were being constructed as early as in the 14th century, however, their golden period of construction begins with the baroque period, from 1600 to 1750, though they proliferated right up to the very end of the 19th century and as late as the period of the Czech “first republic,“ namely in the 1920s. The chapels and monuments were typically constructed along small country roads, forest trails, at crossroads and often under large and dominant ancient trees. Often a time these monuments were also being constructed by the wealthy as gifts to a village or to mark a site, and as their counterparts in Buddhist lands, where mani walls and stupas too were being built to gain merit on the judgment day. Some of the best opportunities for seeing these shrines can be had on the bicycle tours along the Czech Greenways Vienna to Prague and Salzburg to Prague.