Lovely Lucca

We had a wonderful time relaxing in the Tuscan countryside, but we knew it was time to move on. We had a great opportunity to stay with some friends in Lucca, just a short drive from Pisa.

Karen is a dear friend of mine going back to my university days in Ottawa. Although we haven’t seen each other for almost 18 years…it was almost as if no time had passed at all. It was the first time we were able to have our families get together, so it was very special for us to meet her husband Luigi, Erik (13) and Carla (6) who are just wonderful!

Lucca is a medieval city within a Roman wall that is still totally intact. We started wandering about the city in the evening and just loved the charming atmosphere. There are beautiful piazzas and buildings throughout the city. Our first piazza was the Piazza dell’Anfiteatro which was built on the ruins of an ancient Roman amphitheater. In the past it was used as a place for public meetings and gladiator events. Now it is a marketplace with pretty little shops and lots of benches for resting and people watching.

The Piazza San Michele is also known as the Piazza delle Catene because of the columns that surround the square that are linked by heavy chains. There are also all kinds of medieval palaces around the square such as Palazza Gigli.

Another neat place is the Lucca Cathedral and the Bell Tower. It’s one of the most visible landmarks of Lucca because of its height. The tower is part of the Cathedral of Saint Martin which was found in the 6^th century and then rebuilt in the 10, 11, and 12^th centuries.

One of the squares I enjoyed the most was the piazza with a statue of Puccini – the Corte San Lorenzo . The great composer lived in Lucca and the square is dedicated to him. I think it’s neat that there’s a restaurant called Madame Butterfly there too. It was just a lovely square that was very picturesque.

Pucinni

Madame Butterfly restaurant.

During the day, we were able to meet Karen and Erik for lunch and then in between a couple of quick rain showers we rented bikes from a local shop and rode around the city on top of the walls. We all really enjoyed riding around and seeing the sites from up high.

Riding our bikes on the walls of Lucca!

Lucca candy store!

Lunch time!

If you look at some of the above pics – you’ll notice our hair looks different….we needed haircuts badly and were happy that Karen could take us to a stylist and make sure our needs were communicated properly in Italian! If you take a close look at Mikhaila – you’ll see her new look. She cut off her hair to her shoulders and it looks fantastic! (Zoe is planning to do her big chop when we reach Asia.)

We had a lovely time in Lucca and we really want to thank Karen and her family for hosting us…hopefully it won’t be too long until they come to visit us in Canada. We can’t wait another 18 years to see each other:)