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Lucca has a big wall around it which means it's somewhat stuck in the 16th century. It is the only place in the world with a year-round festival. Yes, a performance every night, 365 days a year. Elton John and Amy Winehouse are coming here later this summer! Crazy- just because it's so small, though I'm sure people from surrounding areas come. The reason of the ongoing 'festival' is that Puccini (opera- that's all I know about him lol) was from here. The performances are expensive so I passed, but i did walk by a soundcheck on a stage near Neptune Piazza. One cool thing is that I went by a brick building that had some awesome drumming going on. I peaked inside and it was medieval-like, with flags on the walls. I would have loved to investigate further but the door was only open a crack and it seemed like a practice or something. So I took a video instead. Really cool. It was there that I met a local named Elis (like Elis island, though I swore he said Alice lol). He was telling me he thought Lucca was quiet and boring and that one day was enough to see it. Even so, it's quite charming. Anyway he said he wants to move to America so he is taking the test to do so. I told him I probably couldn't even pass that test. He was nice, showed me the way to my hostel (I was sort of lost at that point).
There are some big churches in Lucca (the biggest actually roped off the renovated part and was charging for entrance lol). There are also several towers, including one with 2 trees living on the top of it! I climbed the tallest, Torre Dell'ore Great view of Tuscany. (holy crap I'm in Tuscany lol) There's some mountains in the distance. I read that i must walk the wall at dusk, so i did. The first night it was already pretty dark and I admired the lit up walls and paths outside of them. On the second night, I walked during sunset and it was gorgeous! The sun setting behind the mountains was quite something.
The medieval walls themselves are really cool. It's not just a wall, it's wide (there's a path, parks, a restaurant etc on the wall) and has ramparts, sally ports and cavaliers. Some ports are locked, some you can walk through (underground like through the wall!). Anyway it's super cool.
As for food, I had pizza (both nights lol) and bruschetta (very good- prosciutto with cheese, oil..) oh and there's a place that sells a litre of wine for 8 euros! Excellent price.
Next stop: cinque terre!!
Ranelle
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