The beauty of staying in the Tuscany wine region was that every day we could make a day trip to different cities around the area. We visited Lucca one day. It was another walled city, but the difference was the top of the walls became a pedestrian promenade where visitors could rent bikes and ride around, which is today one of Lucca’s main attractions! You see a lot of people on bicycles in Lucca, and it is a very pedestrian-friendly city.
The area around the walls is very well maintained with green grass and all trees everywhere. It is definitely a very nice walking city inside the walls with tons of shops and restaurants.
There are a lot of churches in Lucca and we didn’t even get a chance to see them all. This was the Campanile Della Chiesa Dei Giovanni e Reparata from the back side of it.
There were a lot of cute details around the city – little planters by the window with street lamp and a street sign, and when we walked past this little piazza, they had a Laduree macaron cart! I almost screamed! 🙂
The Romanesque church San Michele in Foro has exquisite artwork and sculptures all around. It is so ornate and beautiful.
There were traces of Roman amphitheater that can be seen in the shape of the Piazza dell’Anfiteatro surrounded by private residences built using the remaining structures of the Amphitheater, and occupied by several outdoor cafes and shops. It was such a nice place to sit down and watch people come and go.
We found a cute store in this piazza called Mywalit that sells very colorful Nappa leather wallets, bags, and accessories. I couldn’t resist so I bought a little credit card holder (which is perfect for when we shoot weddings and portraits) and a kitty cat keychain!
Lots of bicycles in Lucca:
We had lunch at this restaurant La Buca Di Sant Antonio and both the food and service were excellent. Darren saw this item Trippa di vitello alla lucchese and asked the waiter what it was because the menu said it was a local Lucca favorite. The waiter said it was beef tripe. Darren went ahead and ordered it and the waiter asked if he was sure! 🙂 Hahaha… we Asians eat a lot of animal body parts! In fact, tripe is one of the more popular dishes in our Chinese dim sum and this Italian beef tripe was even more tender than the ones we are used to! It was delicious!
Lucca is a really nice city, but it has a lot to see and covers quite a bit of ground area. It could easily take us 2 days to walk around and see everything. Maybe someday we can go back and explore the rest of the city.
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