Blogs from Lucca, Tuscany, Italy, Europe - page 14

Today we toured Lucca. Three cathedrals, a museum, and an old cathedral that has been turned into a museum. Lucca is my third favorite (Rome and Venice being numbers one and two). Sienna and Pisa… eh. They’re alright. After the tour, I stayed awhile, did some window shopping, and had some gellato. Barely made it home in time to go to the Pearl Jam concert in Pistoia. There were between 10,000 and 15,000 people at the sold out show. We ended up not getting tickets for political reasons, but I managed (of course) to get into the show with full back stage privileges. I didn’t actually get to meet the band, because they were on stage while I was back stage hanging out in the dressing rooms. I probably could have met them, but I was ... read more

The path to number 9 The path to number 9 winds along the valley of the Turrite de Cava from the Piazza Nuova .Locally known as the piazza dopo lavoro, (after work) it offers a staging post for all the comings and goings of the village, as it is impossible to take anything but a very small vehicle beyond it. There are no cars here, just the occasional three wheeled api, appropriately nicknamed from the bee, these Lambretta hybrids crawl laboriously up the hill. Heavily loaded with neatly cut fire wood, they pitch and role between the houses, before un-ceremoniously dumping their load in the street outside the appointed cellar. To the straniera (outsider) a log is a log, but the villagers of Cardoso are log connoisseurs and it is important that the correct choice is ... read more

Geo: 43.9728, 10.6793Packed up and walked to the train station to catch the train to Lucca. An hour later I arrived and luckily all over town there were signs to the hostel. It is in the middle of the large, old town. It is a huge, clean, spacious building with a great location. After checking in I went to do some sightseeing. Lucca is surrounded by 4.2km of city walls that can be walk along. Wasn't in the mood for walking, so just like the other tourists I hired a bike. It was fun and much quicker than walking. The city walls are about 5 metres wide- plenty of room for everyone. While riding around I could see the surrounding hills, churches and into people's houses! Gave the bike back, it isn't easy to window shop ... read more

Today was our Free Day in Lucca, and being All Saints Day (public holiday), there was NOTHING to do.....really, there was NOTHING to do. We packed a picnic, went up on the wall together and had some pomodoro and mozorella sandwiches. After this, we mosied back home, after checking out every street in the town (and all the shops that WERENT open) and had an afternoon siesta. I woke early and went out exploring, trying to find a Supermarket that might actually be open, and I lucked up. Found me an Essenlunger (sounds really appetising doesnt it?) and loaded up with goodies and more weird named food (OK, its a little game I like to play!). That night we had a group dinner at one of the other apartments, so we got there about 7pm and ... read more

We arrived by train and got a cab to our accomodation. Jules and I were bunking in with two other girls (Brooke and Claire) from Melbourne. We got dropped off in this dodgy little alley way, and were told to ait until Mel, the tour leader arrived with our keys to get in.... It got darker....and darker....and darker...... So Adam found a bar and grabbed a couple of cold 'Forsts' to wait it out. Mel arrived with our keys and we then trekked up 4 VERY steep flights of stairs. Up until now, I had been bagging Jules' idea of backpacks, wishing I had a case with wheels....now I had to eat a plate of words (as Greer would say!). At the top of this mountain of stairs lay our gorgeous apartment, very nice, had a ... read more