The City Walls of Lucca, Italy

It’s a rainy day in New Jersey–the perfect time to indulge in Part Three of this summer’s trip to Italy.  To me, travel is composed of three equally enjoyable segments.  Part One is the planning stage.   Part Two is the actual travel, and Part Three occurs when your mind leaves your body as you relive those travel highs.

Our villa was a few miles from Lucca, a short (but harrowing) drive to the city gates.  It was close enough so that we could see Lucca’s towers from the patio outside my room.  The photo at the top of this post (if the”featured image” application works, that is) was taken from that very patio.  But just in case it doesn’t, here’s the photo again. 

There are city walls, and then there are CITY WALLS.  Lucca’s are the latter.  We are talking big, serious structures.

One day, we rented a “bicycle built for four” and tooled around the entire periphery.

And yes, those ARE trees growing on top of the wall.

That photo doesn’t give you an idea of how big the walls are, or how high up that bike path is–so here are a couple more shots to put it into perspective.

In fact, the wall is big enough for a restaurant and bar (the site of my birthday prosecco  celebration), and a sculpture garden.

Lucca also has an old Roman amphitheater within its walls.

No, I didn’t hang from a helicopter to take that aerial view.  That is a photo of a poster in the Lucca Tourist office.

The Italians, being masters of recycling, built houses out of amphitheater walls.  Originally,  poorer people lived in those structures, but now it is a very trendy locale, with great little cafes and shops.

That’s all for today–but that’s not all there is to Lucca!