Lucca

Monte Carlo, the most densely populated city in the world at 42,000psm, lies just off the bow. It’s 6:20AM and I can’t figure out why people are still in bed. Yesterday morning we met our driver at 9AM and headed out of Livorno. Tony is 28, boyishly handsome and speaks “4 languages… well actually 5 if you count Rumanian” which is his native tongue. As a high school student he started learning German, English, French and Italian. He moved to Rome and after awhile started driving for one of the larger agencies that cover shore excursions and private tours. We drove through the Tuscan landscape with it’s “umbrella” pines and varied agriculture. With the backdrop of the Apennines we entered the “new” city of Lucca. It was a bit of a surprise as I pictured the old city to be perched above the valley. There is a lot of sprawl and it looks like any other city… until you get to the walls. Old Lucca has very limited motor traffic so we were able to stroll the streets with little threat of being run down, a refreshing departure for our 4 days in Rome. The ancient city is quite small and we managed to circumnavigate it in about 2.5 hours. Narrow, cobbled streets connect piazzas about every 2 blocks. Each piazza has at least one church; many have 2 and even 3. Piazza Napoleone is the largest and offers a grove of shady trees at its center. A short walk north brought us to Piazza San Michele, larger and more impressive than Il Duomo [San Martino] but very similar in style and décor. The white marble façade is accented with tiers of multicolored marble columns. Each column or at least each flanking pair of columns were carved, twisted or inlaid with various contrasting marble. San Michele has a bell tower like San Martino but it is completely covered in white marble; San Martino’s, only the top. San Salvatore was the next piazza over then we headed east to L’Anfiteatro, a grand circular piazza surrounded by 3, 4 and 5 story buildings squeezed together and painted a soft yellow to a rich butter color. Several arches provided access and egress. We then came upon the Torre Guigni with it’s oak trees [one is over 150 years old] growing like a wild head of hair at the very top. My companions declined the opportunity to climb its 230 steps and I graciously accepted that decision. We then headed to the botanical gardens for a quiet sit-down. Tony picked us up and we headed to lunch. THEY DON’T SERVE PIZZA UNTIL THE EVENING! What kind of world is this? Our approach to Pisa took us down a tree-lined avenue that was also line with a variety of genus prostitutiensis. They all looked of the female persuasion but we learned from our guide that they were at least half “half.” About every 100m or so there would be one sitting in a chair [lawn chair, office chair, stool, you name it] offering the passers-by their wares. Pisa was a quick stop. We were let off next to the tower, did our photo thing, wandered for another 30 minutes, returned to our car and headed back to the ship. Tomorrow, Monte Carlo and Saint Paul de Vence.