Lucca, Italy
We both agreed that while Lucca was a nice town in many ways, neither of us were wowed.
The ramparts ringing the town were the highlight for us; a wide elevated pathway hedged on both sides by trees, it is a park-like setting that is great for biking and jogging with nice views over the town and the wall (which in itself is really impressive). Walking the entire wall took about an hour.
The old town, within the walls, didn’t do much for us. The narrow streets were overly crowed with pedestrians and bikers and there were a lot of chi-chi shops if you like shopping (we’re not big on shopping). We went up the Torre delle Ore for a view over the town which was probably the highlight of the in-town sights for us (although, again, nothing to blow your socks off). Piazza Anfiteatro was the biggest disappointment – I guess I was somehow expecting the remains of an old Roman theatre/coliseum (the movie “Gladiator” came to mind). What we saw was an oval plaza filled with stores and restaurants. “So where’s this coliseum?” asked Lissette. I read the entry in the guidebook: there was an old anfiteatro here, but it had been built over and was currently under about 9 feet of stones and tiles. “Gotta use your imagination” I told her (by this time I was adding a lot of “a”s to my words. It didn’t help that we had brought several seasons of “The Sopranos” and would fall asleep watching them on the computer…).
(above) Piazza Anfiteatro
(“You gotta fuckin problem?” “Yeah, didn’t think so”)
In conclusion: a nice town but I have to admit we were just a little disappointed.
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We did have our best meal yet in Italy – Pizzeria Scusa Ameri , outside of the walls just out of the Porta Elisa gate. Great pasta, pizza and salads as well as really good (and cheap) housewine.
We stayed at the Villa Romantica, just outside the walls. Nice hotel (130 euros/night) on beautiful grounds a 5 min walk away from the walls. Clean room, good mattress, toilet seat was falling off for some reason (maybe we were spending too much time on it, hehe). We are giving it a 3.5 out of 5.
Tags: 1, Italy, PHOTOS
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