This past weekend Britt and I took advantage of our little car one last time. We visited two towns close by that we have been very excited about seeing! The first being Lucca. This town has been highly recommened by everyone we have talked to about traveling in Italy. Saturday morning we headed for the town on the beautiful back mountain roads of northern Tuscany. The beauty of road trips is that you can make as many stops along the way as you like! We came upon this amazing stone bridge that went over a river within the province of Lucca. It was called the Ponte della Maddelena, or "Bridge of Mary Magdalene". It is one of several medival bridges know as Ponte del Diavolo, "Bridge of the Devil". This particular bridge is considered a remarkable example of medival engineering, circa 1080 -1100. Crazy!
We arrive in Lucca and we begin to long for the hassles of buses and trains! Our B&B for the night is located within the city walls. Oh yeah, the cool thing about Lucca is that it is completely enclosed within walls constructed in the 16th century! The walls are wide enough for bicyclists and people strolling along treelined pathways, and you have an amazing view of the city the whole way. So, as I was saying, our B&B is within the city walls, we were told parking was available behind it the B&B. My handy-dandy Let's Go Italy book gives specific directions, but the problem is that these directions have us going through a ZTL, Zona Traffica Limitato, aka, DO NOT ENTER! Or you will receive a hefty fine in the mail without every seeing a police officer. But, we saw lots of people driving through and our directions clearly stated to go that way, so...we did. We were half expecting a loud alarm to go off and bright lights to start flashing, but nothing happened. So we continued, we followed the directions, saw a sign for our place, "La Gemma Di Elena", but no sign on a building...well since the streets are so narrow and the drivers are unforgiving, we drove back to where we first were and went around again. Returning to the same spot, Britt pulls over and I hop out to try and figure out what's going on. I find the front door, it's locked. I call the first number listed on the sign, it's out of service. I call the second number and the lady only speaks Italian....running out of options here!! Finally, a guy pokes his head out of a third story window and asks if he can help me, in English! Turns out he's the proprietor, and he buzzes me in. I head up and he explains that they indeed have parking, but they are sharing it with a private institution. Hence the lack of signs! He says that yes we could get a fine for going through the ZTLs, but if we pay the €6 to park in the lot, he will create a pass for us so we don't have to pay. Phew! I go back to the car, tell Britt, and we pull in the gated lot. We go upstairs to the floor that the B&B is on. It is so brightly decorated with all sorts of memorabilia from all the time he has spend in Southeast Asia, a bright orange sarong was hanging over our bed! It felt like we were staying in someone's home, it was very cozy. And the guy was so nice! He's from Amsterdam, spends about 3 months of the year in Southeast Asia with his Filipino boyfriend, and is in Italy the rest of the time running this cute B&B. Talk about well-traveled!
After getting settled in, we go out to explore the city! Every travel book we read through (between the 2 of us we have 4!) encouraged us to just get lost within the walls. Well we sure didn't have to try! We began by finding the iconic Piazza dell'Anfiteatro which is in the shape of a perfect oval, with shops and restuarants enclosing it. Then we walk along the Via Fillungo, which is where the major shopping happens. We were on the hunt for a cute, inexpensive place to grap a quick bite. We happen upon a small sandwich shop down a side alley, La Tana del Boia, (means The Lair of the Executioner). The owner was the one who made each sandwich with fresh regional meat and cheese he cut straight from the slab. Talk about fresh! He toasted the bread, then added cheese, then toasted again and added meat, wrapped the whole thing in butcher paper and voila! We indulged on a bench right outside the shop. From here we wandered to Piazza San Michele. We stopped in at a dessert shop that has been visited by Prince Edward himself! We got two delicious pastries and chowed down on the steps of the church in the piazza. Funny story about this church, we were following the Rick Steves guide where he points out fun details. We find the many different styled columns, but everything else in the description doesn't add up...are we even at the right church? We had to be, he described the same statue and the same bank that the church was in front of. But this church was locked up and some of the windows were boarded up. Something wasn't right. We headed for the edge of the city to walk along the wall to find another church. On our way to the wall, we stop in at a chocolateria (how could we not??) They don't even make chocolate during the months of June through August due to the heat. We were in luck! We got a handful of truffles and 2 small decadent chocolate cakes. We had one truffle each on a bench along the wall. Now we continue our church search. (Haha, that rhymed!) Once we find it, the Duomo di San Martino, we see... different styled columns, the same bank in front of the church...THIS is the church we were looking for! Weird that the two had so much of the description! We walked in and the first thing I noticed was the reflection of the stained glass windows on the opposite wall. Gorgeous. The we walk out and just in front and to the right is, yet again, another church. This church houses nightly opera performances to commemorate Puccini, who was from Lucca. They have "festivals" every single night of the year. It cost 12 euro for tickets, so being the poor grad students that we are, we headed back to the church around the time of the concert and sat on the steps of a side door of the church and had our own private seat to the concert. Lovely. Anyway, from the church, we walk to the Torre Dell'Ore, the clock tower of Lucca! It dates back to 1390! We walked up the 207 wooden steps to the top and saw the workings of the clock on the way up. So cool. At the top we had a gorgeous view of the area, and we ate another truffle. I mean, we earned it after climbing to the top! We saw another tower nearby with a garden on top. The Torre Guinigi, we bought a combo ticket for €3 and climbed the 230 wider stone steps to the rooftop garden for another gorgeous view (and another truffle!). Next we search for Puccini's home, neat, but didn't want to pay to go in, so we sat at a cafe outside and listened/watched a local band play some songs. They looked like they were about to head to a football game with their fancy outfits and the baton twirlers. It was fun to listen and then they started playing "Can You Feel the Love Tonight". So. Good. Britt and I of course ended it on our own with the Lion King version :)
We continue on our way, strolling through the streets, and find our pizzeria for dinner. Go-od. Then we head to the church for our 'free' concert. Next, we find another cool spot, Ente Ento and finish the night with a bellini and cappucino. It was very modernly decorated entirely in black and white with pictures of Marilyn Monroe and James Dean on the walls. This place was obviously created for the 'hip', local crowd. We walk along the wall around the city back to our B&B and crawl in bed. Exhausted.
The next morning, we have breakfast in the 'living room' and pack up and head out for Pisa. We had heard there is not much to Pisa other than the Piazza Dei Miracoli, or Piazza of Miracles, which is the square that houses the leaning tower, the duomo and Battistero. Well, "they" were correct. We park in a free lot alongside tour buses and take a shuttle to the Piazza of Miracles. We are immediately hit from all sides by vendors and street sellers invading your personal space wanting you to buy 'designer' sunglasses for "good price, good price!" We kindly decline, and decline, and decline again. Once we pass the line of vendors, we walk into the piazza and first see the gigantic Battistero looming in front. At the other end of the piazza stands, or well, leans, the Leaning Tower. It has a whole lot more tilt to it than you would expect! Britt and I just stopped in our tracks and burst out laughing. No wonder it's such a talked about tower! But before we make our way over, we stop to admire the Battistero (which wierdly enough, also has a lean to it!). Then we take in the Duomo. As we round the Duomo, we take our requisite pictures with the Leaning Tower. You know, pushing it down. Some people were getting really creative! One girl saw us taking our pictures and asked us to get one of her doing the same thing. All they cool kids are doing it! We decide not to shell out the €15 to climb to the top. But we were fortunate enough traveling in 2012 to have a great view of it without scaffolding! The tower has had 800 years of construction, reconstruction and restoration and was finally finished in 2010. We watched a video on all of the different ways the committee tried to stop and alter the lean. Talk about intense! You can see a slight change in the continuity of the tower's levels on the third floor and the top from where architects attempted to direct the lean the other way. These attempts were made in vain, unfortunately. Today the tower leans 3.99° away from where it should be, but it is secure! We walk around the area a little more, grab a cheeseburger and fries at McDonalds (yup, you read that right!) and head back to catch the shuttle back to the parking lot.
From here we go to return our car at the airport. We have to return it with a full tank, so once again we attempt the gas station and, once again, a helpful (English-speaking!) Italian assists us with filling the car up. They only take cash (or Italian credit cards) so we had to walk down the block to an ATM to get enough cash to fill up the tank. In the end it was just under €50, and seeing that we have a car that's half the size of a normal sedan and probably has a gas tank the size of a milk jug, that's a lot! BUT, it was only the second time we had to fill the car with gas, so we can't complain too much. At the airport car rental, we are bracing ourselves for a long ordeal with returning the car, but the woman just takes our keys, rips of the top page of our agreement and we are on our way to the train station! Having the car was nice to explore the smaller Tuscan towns, but definitately not for anything else! Two weeks was plenty! We welcomed our train and bus rides back to Gavinana.
Another successful weekend trip accomplished!
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