Day 53: Lucca, cloud & sun, 20°

Let Me Be Your Guide!

I must admit that when I’m on my own I usually struggle a little bit with rest days. I usually feel like I should be on the trail walking. When I’m with Annemarie we seem to find lots to do and we hang out in the Piazzas and sample foods and wines together. However, when I’m on my own on the Via Francigena, I’m definitely on my own!

I didn’t get to sleep too early last night. As a matter fact it was after midnight by the time things finally quieted down. Saturday night and it’s a bit complicated. My two interior windows face on to a vertical chimney-like opening which is quite common in old town Europe. Unfortunately at the bottom of the shaft a floor down there is the back door of a Trattoria where the kitchen is located. As you can imagine it’s pretty noisy with clashing dishes, food orders being shouted and at the end of the evening all the cleanup. I have two more nights of this to look forward to😑

My B&B hosts didn’t offer breakfast in their restaurant a few doors down until 8:30 this morning. 8:30? I’ve usually been on the road for at least an hour by that time. Again, some of the adjustments when you take a rest day. Before I arrived for breakfast I took the opportunity to see the old Roman arena which has over t8me been converted into apartments and of course restaurants. Yesterday it was full of people, but at 8:30 on a Sunday morning I had it to myself, and the sun was out! 

The outside of the arena across from the door to my B&B.

Some of these churches look like wedding cakes!

More interesting on the outside than the inside. Costanza I got a timbro! 



After the first church or two I just basically walked the streets taking in the sites and watching the city slowly wake up. I never could sleep in. 





Lots of towers in the city.

As I likely won’t walk out of Lucca through the main gate I decided to walk over there and have that experience. What a beautiful city core!



On my way back I saw these four clearly heading out to walk their very first stage to Altopacscio just 18 kms down the road. I noticed that they were leaving very late at 10 o’clock! Wow! I then saw two or three more pilgrims heading off and it really dawned on me that my quiet trails are going to be busier going forward. As Annemarie said to me yesterday I’ve really made the most of my quiet time on the road these past many weeks, so I guess it’s OK if I have to share now. Part of the experience. I also remembered that Lucca is the first place that you can send your packs ahead and walk with only a day pack. The short stage is dead flat, I’m not planning to walk the stage because it goes through a very industrial area which most people take the train through. I possibly have somewhat different plans, but more on that in a few moments.

I walked back into the centre of town and decided I’d have a look at one more church. Often the only building open on a Sunday morning. 

I thought it was pretty cool with an amazing wood ceiling and roof. There are also some nice glass windows and some very old frescos painted on both sides of the transept area.



I also really liked the rose window!

Now finally a little churched out I decided to walk the city walls, and on my way to the entry point I passed by a tower that Costanza told me about yesterday. A tower with a bunch of trees at the top. I believe you can climb to the top of some of these towers for the views and I may do that depending on the upcoming weather and my other plans.

The walls are 4 km long, completely intact and very wide. There’s a road on top that many people ride their bikes along, but on a Sunday morning most people were walking or running. I’ve thought about walking these walls for over 25 years. Caitlin and I almost walked them in 2005, but I had a rather unpleasant kidney stone event and we were forced to miss both Pisa and Lucca until that darn stone passed in Florence. 



After about a kilometre I realized that I could record this route and add pictures to it. So here’s my video from the rest of the walk around the walls and some of my meandering through the streets of old town Lucca. 

Church service over I finally was able to get inside this church. I think it’s probably the most beautiful church in the city both on the inside and the outside.

As a sun intermittently popped out from behind the clouds I had a bit of fun trying to photograph the colours cast from the  rose windows that run along the tops of the long supporting sidewalls.

There are about 16 of these rose windows. Someone spared no expense when commissioning this church. 

Then it was time to find my lunch. I found a great little place where I could sit outside and listen to visitors from English speaking countries attempting to make their orders in Italian only to find the waiters all spoke English. In places like this I find that you actually have to tell them that you’re trying to learn Italian and then they will play along with you, all the while smiling as you butcher the pronunciations and use the wrong accents. All part of the fun! 

I sometimes like having lunch out then pulling something together in my lodgings in the evening. It’s actually almost time to do that now. I have a very interesting dinner planned. Smoked Norwegian salmon on top of Pringles potato chips with a veggie and some cheese. Work with me! I have to be innovative sometimes depending on what’s available. I also have a good bottle of Chianti Classico to help wash it all down.🍷



Concerning the next two days, the weather is rather variable with a risk of rain both days. There’s a newish not well travelled or pilgrim known 27 km variant that I researched and mapped when home that goes up into the hills west of here after first following a 3 km long aqueduct to its source. Cool, right? The route then comes down out the hills and works its way through small towns and agricultural areas then into Altopascio. I have a bed booked there for Tuesday night, but if the weather looks better tomorrow I’ll walk the variant then take the train back to Lucca where I will overnight and hang out the next day before taking the short train ride back to Altopascio. With this option I can strip my pack down to essentials and leave most of my gear in Lucca. After the last 8 weeks this sounds almost like holiday walking! The other option would be to stay in town tomorrow and walk the variant with full gear Tuesday as originally planned, weather permitting. I’ll sleep on it, but I’ll prepare my gear tonight for a walk tomorrow. My gear will include my rain gear! I also bought some news paper to help dry my boots if needed in the coming days. Today is voting day in Italy, and most people I’ve talked to seem indifferent about it and resigned to a right wing government coming in. I hope not, but I have no say. Costanza explained the voting process to me and it’s pretty archaic. She can’t pre-vote, and because she’s on vacation away from where she lives, she can’t vote at all. Wow! 

Time for a nice glass of wine! Cheers!