Radcliffe Square is the sumptuous baroque heart of Oxford

Radcliffe Square is the sumptuous baroque heart of Oxford. Its architectural set pieces are nothing less then breathtaking--comparable to Venice and Florence.

For in a few hundred cobbled yards of each other there are the spires of All Souls, the rotunda of the Radcliffe Camera, the Jacobean tracery of the Bodleian Library, and the Bridge of Sighs of New College. Dons rush around in flowing robes, tourists gawk, students cycle, and bells toll across this ancient square, which has seen the architectural hands of Wren and Hawksmoor. Take a deep breath, load your camera up, and enjoy the splendour around you.

Of course it is a mishmash of architectural styles and the colouring seems to be different from the rest of Oxford. All Souls is built in oolite honey stone--bright apricot and deep orange seem to be the colouring for many ancient buildings. On a hot summer day or a sharp winter one, this really contrasts with the bright blue sky. And of course there are the gargoyles which seem to stare down at you from every angle. Not all these are as antique as they look--if you peer closely, you can spot a rugby player over the grate of Brasenose or a bespectacled librarian in the Old School Quadrangle. Gargoyles and their fiendish sneering friends seem to follow you everywhere you move.

Radcliffe Square is best approached from the north on Broad Street (across from Blackwells bookshop). On Broad Street are 13 outsized "Emperor's heads" perched on railings at the entrance to Radcliffe Square. These weathered golden stone busts follow the curve of the Sheldonian theater and were put there in 1669. Time and weather have reduced their countenances, and there are several schools of thought on what they represent--one funny one is that they represent the history of beards down the ages.

As you enter from the north, you will pass onto an orange flagstoned area between the Old Clarendon building and the Divinity School. The Old Clarendon building is very striking and is as baroque as they come. Nicholas Hawksmoor was the architect--he who studied under Sir Christopher Wren--and its orange sandstone is very overpowering. Next door is the Sheldonian theater--one of Wren's first architectural projects (before he moved onto the big stuff like St. Paul's). The building houses the big university ceremonials, particularly the Encaenia, where the dean of the university hands out degrees. Robed scholars mutter into their sleeves while graduates look boredly at their shoes and wish they were somewhere else.

Most tourists cross the square to the giant Bodleian Library and Divinity School. If there is a heart of Oxford, then this is it, and the library dates from 1420. A small passageway takes you into the Old School's Quadrangle and the start of the library. The quadrangle is supremely beautiful, with scarlet sandstone and Jacobean ribbed tracing lacing its walls. Gold Latin inscriptions adorn the entranceways to the library, and a statue of the Earl of Pembroke stands in its centre

. There is still a sense of antiquity here, and the librarians moving fitfully from room to room enhances this. 

What you have to remember is that Theology and Divinity were the principal subjects at Oxford until the 19th century; all other subjects were merely a preparation. Beyond the entrance is a small vestibule and then the magnificent Divinity School proper, where that archaic subject was taught. Completed in 1488, one can imagine earnest medieval students scratching away under the firm gaze of tutors below the ribbed fanned ceiling.

The Bodleian Library is off-limits to non-academics and very hard to get a book out of. The new library was completed in 1612 and no book was allowed from its precincts. Strange bedfellows--Oliver Cromwell and King Charles I were both refused.

Back south under a passageway, you enter Radcliffe Square. The smack-in-the-mouth sight here is the rotund Radcliffe Camera (chamber). This is the most memorable sight in Oxford, and its rounded, ribbed domed form (see photo) is stunning when seen from up close or in the context of the harmonious square. On the western side of the square is the ancient Brasenose College, on the southern side is St. Mary the Virgin church, and on the east is the medieval fantasy of All Souls College.

Wherever you turn, there will be Gothic flutes, perpendicular windows, climbing ivy, and the low murmur of busy students. The Camera is not open to visitors and is only of use to students; you will have a fit of pique as you watch them cross the lawn and enter the building. The interior is meant to be as beautiful as the exterior. And then there is All Souls College, which has to be the most spectacular, after Christchurch, in the city. This college is almost smothered in statues, gargoyles, and towers, and the lawns and quadrangles are some of the most beautiful in the city.

One last sight: On the eastern side of the square on New Lane is a bridge. Arcing between the two buildings of Hartford is a complete replica of the "Bridge of Sighs" in Venice. The original arcs over a canal and is smothered in tourists from the nearby cruise ships. This one is bereft of crowds, allowing you a very close look at its fine carving. If you follow New College Lane east, it becomes Queens Lane and looks truly ancient. It is like a country lane, as it twists and turns with high walls and towering gateways. You can have a secret peek into the collegiate world from here, and it's bountifully festooned by gargoyles.

You may be heartily sick of gargoyles by now and begin pulling faces back at them. I did--the wind changed--and I stayed like that . 

Are you taking the Pisa? The Leaning Tower and around..

I first got to see the famous Torre Pendente (Leaning Tower) at 1am.

We had just arrived in Pisa and were eating late. A friend of ours - Alessio - suggested seeing the Field of Miracles before we went to bed. And as Italians keep late hours, we tagged along to find that, apart from a couple of European backpackers lounging near the steps of the Ospetale, we were the only ones there. Imagine it? One of the most famous sights in the world, but with just you there. The Duomo, Baptistery, and Leaning Tower standing unmolested in their sea of green grass. The pure white stone gleams under the arc lights, and there is not a sound to be heard, except far, far away, the lone buzz of a lambretta

If you hit Tuscany, then you will hit Pisa just to see the Leaning Tower. You will not be able to resist having your photo taken at an angle where you are holding the tower up with your bare hands. The tourist circus around The Field of Miracles is very entertaining. Most have come on a day trip from Florence and have trudged up the Via Santa Maria from the stazione, or there are the tour groups who just stay for one hour before hurrying off to the bus for the next sight. But the Field of Miracles deserves a morning’s wander. A combined ticket to Baptisery, the Duomo, and the Tower can be had, and the green lawns surrounding it are a lovely place for a picnic. Lucky for us, the apartment we were staying in was a 20-minute walk away, and I saw it in the morning and combined it with a lazy afternoon on the beach of Torre del Largo. Steve's idea of heaven - culture in the morning and sunbathing in the afternoon.

 As you make your way down the Via Santa Maria, the great bulk of the Duomo will slide into sight. But to get there, you must run the gauntlet of African souvenir sellers and their plastic towers and Mussolini tea towels (I kid you not!). But once you are through, you will be standing in the northeastern corner of the field. To the south are the green lawns and the buildings of the Ospetale. Under the Ospetale walls are a legion of souvenir sellers and small restaurants, but it is the great tower in front of you that is the most interesting. To the south of this is the florid bulk of the Duomo, and at the end of the field is the wedding cake of the Baptisery. Each one is breathtaking and a beautiful example of Italian artistry. And to visit them all, you can buy a pass for 8.50€, which lets you into four sights (6€ for two or just 5€ for one monument).

Of course, you cannot not come to the Field of Miracles and not think of Galileo. His experiments with falling objects dropped from the Leaning Tower paved the way for Newton and gravity. But those experiments served a useful purpose - it was in this town that Galileo formed his theory that the earth revolved around the sun. This went against the official Roman-Catholic view that everything spun around the earth, and in 1633, he was dragged before the inquisition in Rome. The pope ordered him to renounce his conclusions publicly on pain of torture or even execution. He did so, but under his breath he whispered secretly, "E pur sì muove" ("But the earth does move"). Whenever I looked up at the tilt of the Leaning Tower, I could not help but think of Galileo peering up at the stars with his telescope.

It is the famous Tower that you will make for first. It is bigger then I expected, and its tilt is not really noticeable from close up (see photo). It is made from gleaming white marble. There is a sort of helter-skelter effect as the swirling stories roll slowly upwards. Each storey is covered in pillars, and as you watch, you can see people slowly creep their way up to the very top. The tilt is 5 degrees to the south, and it slides another millimeter each year. They are trying to stop the tilt; the British came up with a way of reversing the tilt or at least stopping the continuous lean - they carefully extracted soil from around the foundation. It seems to have worked, and for the first time in 40 years, you can climb the tower for 15€. It looked too precarious for me, but my friend assured me that he had climbed it in his youth. It terrified him, and he inched his way upward while clinging to the sides.

Next is the colossal Cathedral (Duomo). This monster made of white marble is built in the shape of a cross. It soars into the air, and the gleaming white exterior contrasts nicely with the usually blue Tuscan sky. The facade is on the west side, and most people traverse the Duomo and pay attention to its beautiful exterior, which is unique and called Pisan Romanesque. The interior is exceptionally cool on a hot day and over 300 feet long. It has one of the highest ceilings I have ever seen in a cathedral. The ceiling is supported by a dozen or so columns and a frescoed dome. It is the fresco above the nave that I found interesting - Christ is flying above the altar with a golden gilt background. The lamps around it were meant to have inspired Galileo's theories about the movement of the earth. Speaking of which, when I was walking out, I noticed something about the cathedral - the massive building itself leans. As you walk away, the building looks as if it is falling ever so slightly forward.

And lastly is the Baptistery. It's a very strange shape, almost as if someone took a jelly bowl, turned it upside down, and started carving away. The decorations on the roof are all swirls and ornate filigree, and it tapers to a point. You can enter on a combined ticket with the cathedral, and the inside is rather memorable. It is hemispherical in shape, and very austere, brown, and grey marble dominate. Pillars hold up the gallery, running around the top of the hemisphere and looking down on a bronze statue of a man with a rod. You can climb the stone stairs to the gallery for a view down, and as a London schoolboy, I learned that domes carry noise and that you can have great fun with the acoustics.

Once you have finished, you must head for the southeast corner of the Campo dei Miracoli, where you can line your camera up for the classic view of Baptistery, Duomo, and Leaning Tower. The lean is at its most obvious from this distance, and I couldn't help thinking whether Pisa would have been so popular down the ages if it had been a "straight" tower? It must be one of the most famous failures in history. Whoever messed up in 1173 probably kept his embarrassed head down.

But little did he know that he provided this cosy town on the Arno with one of the world’s greatest icons and a very profitable tourist industry.