Around and above and beneath Lucca

If there’s one thing you have to do when visiting Lucca, it’s ride around the walls on a bike. The top of the walls are the perfect mix of flat path, no cars and great views. So that’s how we started the day. In fact we went round twice.

The other obligatory activity is climbing one of the two remaining medieval towers. We chose the clock tower and it provided amazing views of the red roofs and the surrounding green hills.

Lucca is a major day-trip destination. So the main streets are full of groups but if you go just off to the side it’s quiet and, a bit like Venice, you can imagine yourself going back in time. That’s even more true in the evening when the day-trippers have retreated. We spent a fair bit of time last night and during the day just wandering.

In the afternoon we visited the beautiful Palacio Pfanner with its wonderful manicured gardens.

Then we descended under the streets to see the remains of a Roman house, now three meters below current street level. Truth be told the lack of actual ruins was in direct proportion to the wildly enthusiastic guide. Still it was fascinating to see the layering of Roman, barbarians, dark age, and renaissance building laid out in front of us.

Another walk around the walls with a stop for an aperitivo capped off the day before dinner at a lovely restaurant on the Piazza Napoleon.