Not lost in Lucca

Lyn is always lost. Not "I think it might be this way" lost. We're talking Ludwig Leichhardt or Hansel and Gretel. She regularly points in the opposite direction to the correct one. Today she threatened to get lost on a circular path. I often suspect she is messing with me ... but no ...

Our Saturday excursion was to Lucca by train. We found the ticket machine easy to use and by 09.30 we were on our way. The trip was shared with hundreds of others with the same idea. 

It was gloriously sunny so we invested in sunscreen. Lucca still has the full circuit of its renaissance walls. The wall is now a 4.2 km treelined promenade. We walked about half the distance while I explained the intricacies of siege warfare and military fortifications to Lyn. She looked interested but she was thinking about shopping. 

Then we descended into the city. We found the piazza which was once a Roman amphitheater and now hosts numerous restaurants. We shared a great gelato and admired the facade of San Freddiano. Lyn went shopping. Stockings and earrings were purchased. 

Lucca's cathedral of San Martin doesn't need Lyn's photography to look lopsided. They recycled an earlier fortified tower into a bell tower. The end result is a bell tower with cathedral attached. The style of the facade is called "never use the same decorative pattern on a column twice". 

It is beautiful inside. Lyn prayed a lot and admired the way the sun sent the images of the rose windows onto the opposite walls.

San Martin supposedly was a soldier who cut his military cloak into pieces for the poor. In this sculpture there appears to be collateral damage.

We had an awesome set menu lunch at a cafe and then walked along the wall until I found the tower with trees growing on top. 

Then it was back to the station for the trip back to Florence. Tonight we walked to Ponte Vecchio for the buskers and patted Il Porcini for luck in Mercato Nuovo.