Altopascio, Tuscany

Yesterday was our rest day in Lucca, and we sure needed it. Our feet were ok for sightseeing though, so we walked the entire 4km wall which surrounds the old town. It was great to see so many locals out running and walking, and it obviously is a favorite place for them, much like our Dallas Road is in Victoria. The wall is actually wide enough to have a tree-lined road on top of it, thus it was built well to withstand cannons, etc over the years.
The old town inside the walls is quite interesting to explore, with shops ranging from high end designer clothing to little delis and cafes. We went inside a lovely old church that had been built specifically to encourage pilgrims on their way to Rome on the Via Francigena, so it had many beautiful Roman columns inside, the idea being that it gave the pilgrims a glimpse of what they would see in Rome at the end of their pilgrimage.
I really wanted to get our credentiales (pilgrim passports) stamped there, and was lucky enough to find a man who helped us out. We've been getting stamps (timbres in Italian) from every town we stay in, so it makes a nice keepsake.
We also climbed 200+ stairs to the top of a tower that has trees growing on top, quite bizarre looking but great views.
Both evenings we ate at a great little "trattoria" across the street from our b&b. Wonderful food and the menu was all in Italian which apparently is the sign of a good restaurant here! It was not a touristy place...seemed like everyone who came in knew each other and the owners and staff.
Today we were up early and on the walk by 7:30-cloudy and cool which was perfect. It was only 18 km to our destination, so we made it by 12:30. The scenery wasn't that interesting but we were expecting to be on busy roads for most of it, and were pleased that part of the time was spent on quiet smaller residential roads. This town is pretty small however, so we couldn't even find a bar or restaurant open. They take siestas here as they do in Spain. We have the window open in our hotel room and have been listening to dogs barking nonstop, and people yelling at them to shut up!! Russ has nicknamed this town Altoshithole!! Gave us a good laugh anyway.
I will post a few photos of Lucca, including the wall, the tower & a few food related shots!
Til next time...
Linda


Russ Haas
Sent from my iPhone