Lucca in May

It's the last day of our short holiday in Massa Carrara in May and the weather forecast is once again threatening. But we set off optimistically for Lucca, to find a veritable deluge on the way there. Nevertheless the rain stops as we arrive and we manage to find free parking in a residential road outside the walls. Outside the walls but handy, we just cross the road and go through an arch and we are in the historical centre of Lucca. It's a bit cloudy but nothing too menacing as we start our stroll.

Our first stop is to admire the fine mosaic on the facade of Basilica di San Frediano, a fine Cristo Pantocratore, which we are always on the lookout for. 

The basilica is nice inside too, the clean lines of the columns and arches, the wood ceiling, the huge 12th century baptismal font, some nice frescoes, worth a stop.

From there it's just a few steps to Piazza Anfiteatro built on the site of the former Roman amphitheatre and so with the same oval shape as the ancient one. There are lots of restaurants and bars but we settle for a stroll around in the increasingly strong sun and some photos.

After, we continue through the old centre which is very pleasant with a lot of red brick, for example Giungi Tower with its garden at the top, 

and tall houses in pastel colours. There are a few tourists around but not that many, and strolling the streets is very pleasant. Lucca is supposed to be the city of 100 churches, although I don't count and many are closed, there really is one every corner you turn. 

The most famous is the Cathedral of San Martino and although we don't go in we have a good look at the outside especially when a sudden downpour makes it a good idea to shelter beneath the arches in front. This is also an opportunity to look at the enormous doors 

and the mysterious labyrinth cut into a single stone and placed vertically into one of the pillars.

When the rain stops we venture out into the square and admire the rather asymmetric cathedral facade and then we sit on some convenient and still dry steps to take in the scene, watching the world going by and some young artists sketching the charming Piazza.

It's getting on for lunch time so we head out of the centre a little, wondering what to do, we only want something quick but it's a little cool and damp for a picnic with focaccia and so in the end we compromise and go into a bakery place selling focaccia and cakes etc but with a few stools and a bar along the side for people to eat in. It's a good solution and the place quickly fills up.

Afterwards there's time to visit another church - San Michele in Foro, fine from the outside but unfortunately closed for lunch so we can't go in. We do peer up at the angel statue at top which apparently has movable wings which move in the wind. 

Time is getting on but the sun is coming out to so we climb up some of the steps onto the wide path along the walls, it's an interesting and different view of Lucca and it's towers.  Part of the path is a really wide tree-lined boulevard but only for bikes and pedestrians so a relaxing place to be. To go right round the walls would be about 5/6 Kms but we have other plans for the rest of the afternoon and we just follow the walls back round until where we left the car.

I want a last look at the beach and sea, proper beach and sea, not like in Marina di Massa, before going home the next day so we drive to the nearest available wildish sea at Torre del Lago where the nature reserve begins. 

Here I am satisfied, it's a wild windy I must go down to the seas again sort of day, exhilarating and we walk a while along the beach, 

but not too far because we are little uncomfortably aware that there are uhm 'people' around with other objectives in mind. Nobody bothers us but we decide to call it a day, time to go back to the flat and pack up.