We travelled from Hotel Cruise in Lucino to Lucca on Thursday 5th June. The roads were busy around Milan and the Italian drivers were crazy as usual. When we turned off towards Spezia the traffic was less and although the roads had lots of twists and tunnels, the scenic views made up for it. We stopped for lunch just before turning off for Lucca and arrived at the apartment about 2pm. We located the keys and accessed the underground garage. After parking the van we located the apartment and unloaded our bags. We then walked to the station (about 10 mins away) and got the train tickets to go to Pisa the next day. We needed to do some shopping to get milk and plug adapters so we walked to find the supermarket. Later we walked into Lucca centre and found a nice restaurant for our evening meal – Bruscheta and tortellini – very enjoyable.
The next morning we caught the train to Pisa and then got a bus to the Leaning Tower. We had tickets for entering the Tower but we had to download them first and leave our bags at a left luggage room. We climbed up the 296 steps to the top of the Tower from where the views were amazing. Pisa itself was very busy but we enjoyed walking around, having a coffee and then some lunch before getting the bus back to the station.
Later we walked into town and onto the walls to find out where the start of the Park Run would be. We had a lovely pizza at the Old City Bar and then walked further into the centre to find the meeting place for the walking tour we were doing the next day.
On Saturday morning I did the Mura di Lucca Park Run around the city walls. We met Steve from the UK (but lives near Lucca) and he showed me where the actual start was. Most of the 90+ runners were tourists from around the world including the UK, USA and Australia. I managed to do it in 33m 23s which I was pleased with as it was a bit warm. After the run we went to the Old City Bar for coffee and a pastry, along with several of the other runners.
Afterwards we walked to the meeting place in the centre of Lucca to join the walking tour. There was only one other couple (from the USA) in our group and we enjoyed a leisurely and informative guided walk with Antonella.
We had lunch in the old Coliseum area and then went back to the apartment. In the evening we went to the Old City Bar again for another pizza!
