Lucca

Well yes.... I admit it!! I actually visited Lucca because I was in town for the Justin Bieber concert!! Don't hate me!! Tastes are tastes!! :) Having said that...since the concert was scheduled for Sunday evening, obviously I don't travel more than 300km for an evening and then return home straight away, so.....even though Lucca was really packed due to the Summer Festival which is held every years for the entire month of July, I always managed to find a small hotel in the center for the night on Saturday evening through Booking.com at an affordable price. It's called La Gemma di Elena and it's a B&B arranged in multiple structures that has some rooms with private bathrooms and even some places like a hostel-type "dorm". In this case we reserved a couple of rooms with breakfast included and with the possibility of using their private parking. By doing so they canceled our entry into the restricted traffic zone and we were calm until check-out.

It basically went like this: 

With just a car we departed with a colleague of mine on early Saturday morning. After a short stop in Viareggio for lunch, we arrived at our destination. The rooms were ready so we checked in and parked the car to move around on foot. I expected the city of Lucca to be much smaller but instead it's pretty big though, a bit like Florence, everything is quite concentrated so you can get around it on foot without problems. We visited a lot in just 2 days!! In detail here is what I can recommend: 

First of all you must know that Lucca is known as the city of 100 Churches.. and in fact there are so many of them..!! Now.. I didn't count them but I trust you!! Everywhere you turn, there's a little church with its bell tower (I'm going to say what a fuss it will be when all its bells ring!! :D). Among the most important obviously we have the Cathedral of San Martino and the large Church of San Michele which, absurdly (in my opinion), looks like this is the Cathedral...since it is truly gigantic and with a large square that runs all around it ...compared instead to the actual Cathedral of the city which seems a bit sacrificed.. well..! (Sometimes I wonder who and on the basis of what defines that a church is the cathedral of the city compared to another... have you ever wondered?). Having said that... the difference between these 2 is that while the entrance to the Duomo is paid, the other is free. Another important element of this city are the towers. In the Middle Ages it even had 250!! Today unfortunately only 2 remain but both deserve to be visited. We purchased a "package" on site at a cost of €12 which included entry to both the two Towers and the Botanical Garden to be used in 24 hours or so. Since, laughing and joking, it was already late afternoon on Saturday... we started with the Torre delle Ore and its 207 steps... Obviously don't expect an elevator... unfortunately you have to do it on foot!! Imagine the scorching and sultry heat of the end of July...I practically reached the top drenched in sweat! Luckily it was a bit breezy and we almost cooled off! I'm not even going to tell you but obviously the view is worth all the effort so I recommend... and then come on... a bit of movement is also good! ;) 

Back down to earth it was already almost time for dinner so we went in search of a good, not too expensive restaurant that served typical dishes and taaac! Just outside the center there is the Al Corso Restaurant, discovered only and thanks to the help of a local! Many times there is no better advice than asking a few local people out loud! We were lucky to find an elderly gentleman who was out at a bar in the center drinking his white wine... and he even directed us by calling the restaurant himself with his mobile phone to book the table in his name!! What can I say... Tooooop!! At the Corso we tasted the famous Tordelli al Ragù and then a nice kilo of steak with baked potatoes! I'd say dinner won! ;) To digest we took a short tour of the center by night... before reaching our hotel. The next morning, after breakfast, we had the hotel lady explain to us some tactical car parks where we could leave the car so that in the evening after the concert we would be as convenient as possible to reach the motorway and leave immediately without getting stuck in traffic. Once parked, the sightseeing tour of the city resumed. Since we still had 2 entrances to use we went to the Botanical Garden...really very large and full of vegetation from all over the world. The visit lasted an hour and was very interesting. Definitely refreshing too as we were in the shade of huge old trees. After the walk around the park, we headed back towards the city center where we saw the Duomo and reached the second tower of the city, the Guinigi Tower. Here too there are several steps to climb but the view from above is truly special!! Honestly, I had never seen a tower with real trees on its "rooftop"!! 

Once this tour was over, after a quick lunch we decided to rent a rickshaw and circumnavigate the city along all the walls. The journey is quite long but very pleasant! Also in this case we recovered a little from the scorching heat as we got some air while pedaling and since the route was all tree-lined we were a little cool. Finally we took turns pedaling so at least every now and then there was always someone who was resting a bit and then nice and fresh to take over from those who perhaps wanted a break!! :) Also in this case we need a lot of teamwork! ;) Laughing and cycling, it was late afternoon and it was best to start heading towards the Festival. Also because we didn't have the front seats... we still wanted to have a good view and so it was better to go a little earlier! Furthermore, Rkomi would be there to open the concert and since we didn't mind hearing him too, once we finished the tour and returned the Rickshaw we headed towards the entrance to the Festival.

Once we managed to get in we exchanged the money at the cash register for tokens...even though it was truly a steal!! Practically a sandwich and a beer cost almost as much as dinner the night before based on Florentine steak... But peace... we didn't have much alternatives so... once we had eaten a quick sandwich we positioned ourselves to wait for the concert to start, and then go back to the car once it was finished and spend a good 3 hours on the road to get home! ! But we can say that both for the city and for Justin... it was worth it!! It was a really nice weekend!! Although... I must admit that I returned home with a bitter taste in my mouth because unfortunately he didn't do some songs (among my favourites!!)!! :( :( what a shame!