Lucca

Today we finally made it to Lucca, out third attempt! First time was eight years ago while we were here for our language and cooking classes. I came down with bronchitis and the day we had planned to go to Lucca I was really not up to it. The second time was five years ago and it was so hot we couldn’t even contemplate it!

We got a train just after 9 for the 90 minute trip. Lucca is a lovely town surrounded by a 4 km wall. The station is just outside the wall. We walked up and over the walk and first visited Saint Martin’s cathedral.

Then we walked through the streets to the Piazza Anfiteatro, a lovely little piazza that is built inside an old Roman amphitheatre. Can’t really tell from the inside, but from the outside it is a bit more obvious.

The outside of the old Roman amphitheatre

We had a coffee break in the piazza and then walked around the main shopping streets. It is a very pretty little town. 

We had lunch back in the piazza, this time on the sunny side. We shared mixed crostini for entree then Ian had pappardelle with wild boar ragi and I had tagliatelle with pecorino and truffles. 

We walked back towards the station and visited the Church and Baptistry of Saints Giovanni and Reparata. It was being prepared for a Puccini opera that night (Puccini was born in Lucca), but the main feature are the Roman ruins underneath. 

Roman ruins

We walked up to the wall and sat, enjoying the mild weather. We decided to go to the station and got an earlier train than we were booked on. We got back to our apartment at about 4:30.

Wide trail across the wall in Lucca

Each evening buskers play along the river. The sound is quite lovely as it travels along the river. Despite being close to the very busy Ponte Vecchio, the apartment is very quiet, except for the bells that we seems to be able to hear from all around.

We decided to eat very local tonight and went to Ristorante Mamma Gino, a few doors down from our apartment. It wasn’t the best meal. Ian had fried tripe while I had Pappa Al Pomodoro for entree. Ian’s serve was huge, but very fried. My soup was fairly tasty, but with too much bread. Then Ian had fried rabbit - came out looking like KFC - and I had cannelloni. Ian’s rabbit was very dry and my cannelloni was swimming in cheese sauce and with a strange beef filling. We were not impressed!