Headed to Lucca this morning, despite the rain. After the 37 degree C heat that we have been having, to start the day with 17 degrees is a bit of a shock. 1.5hr drive to Lucca, which is another historic walled city. Not as impressive as San Gimignano but that could be because (a) it is raining (b) it is not on a hilltop (c) it doesn’t have as many towers, or (d) we are becoming a little blasé.
We started by circumnavigating the old city (3km) along the top of the old wall. This seems to be a popular route for walkers, runners and cyclists. This gave us a feel for the city, looking down onto some beautiful gardens, and the usual tightly packed Tuscan rooftops and buildings.
We then ventured down into the town itself. This is the first time that we have received a free map. They seem to be largely absent here, and figured that it was another way of extracting the maximum tourist dollar. The first thing we noticed was how many churches there are for the size of the place. As we have said before, they certainly know how to squeeze them in. We went into both ‘San Frediano’ and the ‘San Michele’ before we got churched out for the day.
Once again we were impressed with the grandeur of these places. Pipe organs at the front and ‘Sub-Woofer’ ones installed at the rear seems to be the standard. Fantastic artworks, and marble floors that have stood the test of time. In one of the alcoves in the ‘San Frediano’, there was a shrine/alter which looked like it had a preserved dead body in a glass case. Sometimes these take us by surprise. We really do need to do more preparatory reading.
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