Relais San Lorenzo Lucca

... and we stayed until we were ready to retire for the evening.<br><br>Sat 14 Nov<br>Next day we had a sleep-in and then went for a run around the 4km city walls. Twice around was enough for Kim and I managed a 3rd. After a shower we were back in town for more meandering and I had one of the best Cupuccio's (Capuccino) ever!! We found a few hours during siesta to catch up with the ...

I had thought about going to a town which was half an hour away by train to look at a chocolate shop there which was supposed to be quite unique, but I didn&#8217;t feel very well and the thought of being on another local train didn&#8217;t appeal to me. I decided to look at the local chocolate shop in Lucca but it was closed on Mondays. The ...

... and then coming back to Riomaggiore station, walking through the tunnel to the town for a quick look, then went back to catch the trains home. What was amazing between La Spezia and Viareggio was the mountains where they quarry the Carrera marble and the large blocks of marble that lay in the yards. Both of the railway stations, despite being fairly grotty, had subways lined with marble as well as marble seats. We arrived home fairly late and were all tired.

Just realized those not on facebook haven't seen pictures from Pisa and Florence. No long recap of Anthony and I's weekend in Tuscany, for obvious reasons. Also note that "Anthony and Alison's Great Adventure" was like taking a knife.<br><br>Love you guys! :)<br>

... and also what looked like a whole boned roasted pig which they just cut slices through. It wasn't even refrigerated. We then went to hire bikes and ride around the wall. Tara wasn&#8217;t too keen on it, so her and Greg went tandem. It was lots of fun and we managed to go around twice which was 6 km. We walked through the city, getting a gelato as usual and window shopped (many of the shops were closed for siesta ...

Buon Giorno! This morning we arrived in Italy! Livorno to be exact! Italy's third largest seaport. The port city for Pisa, Florence and the Tuscan region! Our tour of choice - Pisa! Gotta see "The Field of Miracles"! <br><br>The Leaning Tower of Pisa or simply The Tower of Pisa (La Torre di Pisa) is the campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa. It is situated behind the cathedral ...

... the church, and he was probably there that minute! We hurried back and, sure enough, he happily brought us inside. Finally! It&#8217;s shadowy and ancient&#8211; twelfth century&#8211; and we had to put half a Euro into a little box to turn on the lights for nine minutes. (Why nine and not ten?) Ancient art, stone walls and Romanesque arches&#8230; statues&#8230; it was nice and cool and beautifully simple ...

... of Pisa, but it's still a surprise when you see this beautiful marble tower tilted at such an alarming angle. Most churches in Italy, together with associated bell-towers, baptisteries, etc are built around piazzas in the middle of the town or city. The unique thing about Pisa is that a whole complex of sacred buildings is built on a campo, a huge field of green grass on the edge of the walled city, known as the Piazza dei Miracoli (Miracles) - there is the Cathedral ...

So today I got up early and caught a train down to Cinque Terra. Thats a region of Italy that has five small little fishing towns right on these cliffs on the Mediterranean. The train was a good ride, I had a car to myself so I just slept for the 3 hours. I went to La Spezia to transfer, another small town near the Mediterranean, which was kind of nice. Then I went into Corniglia, which is the most ...

... they constructed the entrance via the small village where we had arrived. The owner at the time was the Lucchese ambassador to Versailes, and he built two formal fountains on this new front lawn as direct imitations of the Versailes fountains. This family still own the villa. The current owner is probably in his sixties; his mother having married into the family and living here till she died in her mid 90's only a few years ago. The relevance of this is that it is one of ...