Dan's Parents Visit: Lucca

January 17th

Lucca - 

We left Pisa and took a train ride to visit the walled city of Lucca.

One of the gateways into the city.  It has a double portico on the inside.  

You weren't getting in or out unless they wanted you to.

 This lady was super excited about feeding the pigeons.

We happened to come on weekend of the monthly antique market. Every piazza and alley had someone selling something.

One of many piazza markets and churches.  I think every third intersection had a church.

This is where we had lunch. It was a cold and rainy day, so soup was a good choice.   The proprietor had a wonderful mustache and hat. The food was quite tasty too.

Something something churches.  These churches had super ornate edifices.  Each column was made from a different material or was carved in a different style/pattern.    I mostly like top part is solely there to make the church look more grand, but from behind you can see the stairs some poor monk or altar boy would have to take to tend to the angel statue.

This piazza used to be a Roman Amphitheater, but now it has apartments and shops where the spectators would have sat.  The main archways into the piazza are where the main entry ways into the amphitheater used to stand.

Me with Puccini.  

Giacomo Puccini's family started a musical dynasty in Lucca.  If you are not familiar with Puccini, he is considered the greatest composer of Italian opera after Verdi.  Some of his operas include, La Boheme, Tosca, Madame Butterfly, and Turandot.  Seriously, check him out.

We went to the Puccini museum, but no photos were allowed.

Hey!  That church has a tower we can climb (the one from the beginning that's hiding behind the market).  Guess what we're going to do?

The stairs up to the top!

Looking out at another church just behind the one we're in and out onto some of the antique market.

Looking out over Lucca.  Look how many church bell towers there are!  

This place must be loud on Sunday morning.

Some views inside the church.  It turns out it also had some Roman ruins in the basement.

Ye olde ancient Roman mosaic flooring.

Alright religious scholars out there, which saint is depicted with a violin/lute/guitar/ thingie?

The very fancy organ loft, or....something.

We didn't wander too much after this.  We had all had enough of the wet and cold weather.  We grabbed at train back to Pisa, stayed the night, and headed home to Naples in the morning.

This concludes the Lucca portion of our adveture.