Il Castello Lucca

... a browse through their beer selection and as I was doing so the waitress extolled the virtues of the Aventinus Eisbock.
She said it was a 12% beer that still had a Belgian fruity quality but with the 12% kick.
Had to give it a go and after half a glass on top of the 9% tripel I just had before am really feeling that kick as I write this!!!
Lucky she gave me some bread and crisps to go with the beer...

... river! It was pretty cool. We discovered that this church was built in the 14th century to house a thorn from Christ’s crown. Kind of interesting.

Crossing the river at Ponte di Mezzo, we sluggishly walked onward to Piazza dei Miracoli, where Pisa’s massive cathedral, baptistry, and famous Leaning Tower all are. The piazza itself is one of the loveliest we’ve seen – sprawling green lawns, teeming with ...

partie tot ce matin pour faire les 4.5 heures de train entre milan et pise, nous avons traverser plusieurs petit tunel. le paysage de la toscanne est beaucoup moins plat que ce que nous avons vue du nord-est de l'italie.

une fois nos bagage depose a l'auberge, on est partie vers la fameuse tour de pise. effectivemnt, elle ...

... kitchen.I went down later that eveing to chat to the people staying there and marvel at the double bed inthe kitchen.

Really quiet in the off saeason with a lot of places noteven bothering to open or open reduced hours.

Was sitting outside the only bar in RioMaggore and Jess who I shared a dorm room with in Salzburg walked past. Turns out she's staying in the same dodgy room as me again!

Was lucky there was a bunch of good people ...

We are finally home and it is actually Nov. 20th. We finally got in last night around midnight and could not download anything for the last several days because WiFi is too advanced for the small town we were in. It was the most relaxing of all the ...

... market (without the sampling) with lots of lovery deli's, cafe's and patisseries. Ofcourse we had to buy the local pastry called a buccellato which is kind of a cross between a biscuit and a fruit loaf... yummy with the morning coffee.

Before too long Kim pointed out her favorite bar from last time and pull me in to join her in a wine or 3. The tapas were as good as Kim had ...

... her at the airport (though she recognized me), but her son Adriano (in his late forties) and grandson Nicola (18) didn’t recognize me. Nicola I’d never met, and those family photos that my mother sends them over the years must be dated! It was like a bunch of strangers piling into the car, but we all laughed when I told them that my giant new American Tourister suitcase from Sears meant that I was ...

... there, Patricia purchase all sorts of diferent local fresh mushrooms she would prepare for dinner!! We then headed off for a long drive along Lucca's countryside. Along the way, we stopped by Devil's Bridge. This bridge will probably be one of my fondest memories. I loved it! We then headed off to a nearby castle wher we all enjoyed the scenery and took many ...

... This brings up hundreds of sites of realtors who cater to short term rentals of days to weeks. We had picked Florence for an extended stay because, frankly, we are lazy and don't look forward to the idea of packing and unpacking and repacking to make another of a series of leaps and jumps. We decided on a term of three weeks for our vacation with most in Florence ...

To mark the end of my two month trip, I though some awards were in order. Where was the best restaurant, worst, best hostel, best town, best city, best times. So the awards go to: Top 3 of Portugal 1. Lagos 2. Porto 3. Coimbra Lisbon is right up there too! Top 3 of Spain 1.Barcelona 2.Valencia 3.Sevilla Sevilla might have been higher if I hadn't been staying alone - amazing amazing city! Top 3 of Italy 1.Venice 2.Cinque Terre 3.Rome Best meal 1.Coimbra - Bacalhau e ...