Lucca

The next stop on our trip was Lucca, we rented an apartment there and made it our base for day trips to Pisa and Florence. You never know when you rent online, sight unseen how things will work out and I’d say we were very lucky with all our places. Our apartment was righ at the end of the main street. If you went out the door on went left you were on it. If you went right there was a bar where I got my cappuccino everyday and an internet cafe. Perfect!

Chicabean in front of the apartment. I took this standing at the cafe.

One of the things that I liked the most about Lucca and Cinque Terre was how narrow the streets were. In Cinque Terre they were often too narrow for a car to come down at all. In Lucca they were just wide enough for one car.

Lucca is a walled city, well the old part is. The new part expanded around it and the wall remained which is very unusual and cool. The top of the walls, originally built to withstand cannon fire, is now a part with a path all the way around with the larger areas having picnic tables and children’s play areas.

There is the tiniest remnants of a Rome Amphitheater, all the really remains is the shape and a few stones. The original floor was 9 feet below what is there today and the buildings are all tourist shops and cafes. Of course we had to eat there, tourist swill or no.

We shared a pizza and some wine. Oh man, the pizzas were soooo good!

We also climbed the Guinigi Tower, it’s this amazing old tower with trees on the top. You climb like 130 steps and then come out on top. The view of the city is amazing, plus it’s a tower! with trees!

We had cecina, a flat bread made from chickpeas that’s a local dish. Yum! For less than 3 euro we got that and a piccolo glass of wine.

We loved the internet cafe near us. The decor was awesome and the staff was great.

You can see more Lucca photos here.  Still to come Pisa, Florence and Rome!

Oh and I have a new addiction to cappuccino to deal with. Do any of you make these at home? How do you do it?