Lucca, Pisa, and Viareggio

Well, Ciao from the Mediterranean coast! We had a wonderful weekend staying in Lucca with a day trip to Pisa and Viareggio. Tony took us to Lucca, and guess what?! No rain! It was forecasted as a 90% chance and we didn't even see a drop.

Tony loves classical music and his favorite composer is Puccini, who just happens to have been born in Lucca. This is a photo of Tony posing outside of Puccini's house. There are Puccini concerts every night and us girls decided to try and attend. However, it was 17 euro, too rich for our tastes.

Lucca is a Roman town, complete with its own ampitheater. However, this ampitheater has been converted into a "mixed use" building. There are shops on the first level occupying the arches and apartments up above.

Lucca is a very flat city. Although it is nice not having to climb hills, it makes landmarks, like campaniles and domes, more difficult to navigate by since they are not readily visible. There are very few cars allowed inside the city walls, so many residents ride bikes.

There are several places to rent bikes and one happened to be less than a block from our hostel. Us girls rented bikes, complete with baskets and brrrring-brrrring bells. It was an interesting experience since I haven't been on a bike since my tragic bike accident in 6th grade. Amazingly enough, it all comes back pretty easily, just as the saying goes. We rode our bikes around the city walls that have been turned into a park, complete with old men playing dominoes and couples making out. It is 4 kilometers around the walls and we went around twice. I now remember why I had a gelled, extra wide bicycle seat back when I was ten.

We stayed at a hostel in Lucca that was more like our own apartment, especially since there were no other guests the first night and couple with a baby joined us the second night. We felt very safe in the city. The next morning we were off to Pisa to do our touristy visit to the Duomo there. We did not go up into the Campanile (the Leaning Tower) because it cost 15 euro! However, the Duomo was free to enter and was quite beautiful. Almost every square inch was decorated and the distinctive Pisan marble stripes lined the arches.

We left the touristy Campo of Pisa and walked towards the center of town and saw a courtyard designed by Vasari. We also saw a church that had been raised from the Arno River. The town of Pisa was actually quite pleasant once we escaped the mobs of large tour groups...and it isn't even the 'high' season yet.

We were hungry after our walk and found a little bar that has been open since 1898. The had row after row of delicious treats for all to enjoy. I had a really hard time choosing which decadent snack to select.

We then travelled to Viareggio and visited the coast. It was a rather warm day and we were able to take off our winter coats while walking along the beach. Some of the girls dipped their toes in the water and got a little wetter than what they bargained for. I am not one for sand between my toes and freezing water, so I took some rather hilarious photos of the happenings.

Our last day in Lucca we made the trek up the Torre Guinigi. It is a medieval watch tower that has several trees growing out of the top. It was a rather perilous hike up some open riser metal stairs, but it was well worth the journey. It offered us a panoramic view of the misty mountains and sleepy town.

The tower walls had moss growing on the walls and provided a softness to the otherwise formidable stonework. Overall, Lucca has been my favorite little town to visit, besides Castiglion, of course.