The rest of our time in Italy will be spent in the hill towns of Tuscany, beginning with a one day stop in Lucca. While we had an okay day here, it was our least favorite place in Italy, but I decided to include it as a separate entry because I wanted to see if anyone could guess the one-hit wonder (song and artist) that the blog title is modeled after.
Lucca is known for its walled fortress, first built over 2,000 years ago and rebuilt between 1550 and 1650. Normally somewhat devoid of tourists, I think there were actually more local tourists in town than normal because of the Italian holiday. I say this judging mostly on the amount of second-hand smoke we inhaled as we wondered the city’s narrow, signless roads.
The highlight of our day was renting bicycles and riding the 2.5 mile perimeter of the city’s ramparts. We got some good views of the ancient wall, the city, and the outlying hills and mountains, which are really pretty. Also, we enjoyed the amount of greenery in the parks along the bike trail; believe it or not, this began with Napoleon’s sister, who received Lucca as a gift from her brother.
Sarah’s big moment of the day was a haircut in an Italian salon. She was a bit nervous, and I don’t know that the dude spoke any English, but she now has short hair and it looks and (she says) feels great.
The rest of the day, we sort of wandered the many ordinary shops of Lucca. It was okay, but smoke seemed to permeate the air. We did eat well, though, enjoying some really good pizza for lunch and good pasta for dinner. We had tried to follow our friend Lee’s recommendation, but either the street name has changed, or the restaurant’s name. In any case, the food was a highlight.
That night, we spent the night in a noisy but clean room that evidently bred mosquitos, which was a surprise since I thought smoke drove those little turdpies away!
Cute haircut, Sarah!
Thanks! I’m loving the shorter hair – much cooler and easier to take care of!!
Suzanne Vega, yo!
Winner!
Nice hair cut, go hit a mountain hot springs or spa, that was a highlight for me anyway. Also, please drink more wine…..Italian wine yummy…
Thanks Fritz! Italy was amazing and so much fun! We have drank enough Italian wine to fill the Tiber River, but it was all so yummy! We have a few new favorite types too that we will be hunting for when we get back to the States.
Is Lucca the jumping off point if you want to get to Cinque Terre? Beautiful area, but it was so hot, I literally had a melt down at town three. I vaguely remember sobbing something about not moving another step. Fortunately, my husband and friends were patient and kind – we took the bus to the fourth city and skipped the fifth city. I have great pictures!
No, we went from Florence through Pisa. The hike between Corniglia and Vernazza is a hot one! Cinque Terre was one of the prettiest places I’ve seen.