On the good advice of Doc and a few friends, I took a solo trip from Pisa to Lucca while Doc was teaching at the University. From Pisa Centrale it's a 27 -30 minute and 2,50 euro train ride (one-way fare) to Lucca's train station, which happens to be just outside the city's famous 12 meter high city walls (more on that later). But in addition to the medieval protection that makes Lucca famous, there are a few more historic attractions to see, and one of them is the torre guinigi..
Don't even ask me how to pronounce it.
For 3,50 euro you can take the short walk up to the top of the tower...
...and look out over the Tuscan hills for miles and miles...
Something else that's cool about the torre guinigi?
There are 6 trees planted at the top of the tower! This leads me to believe that in a past life I was an architect in Lucca...
Another cool thing about traveling to Italy in January? I only had to share the top of the tower with a young french couple who were just there to makeout, and an older woman. It was almost like having this gorgeous view completely to myself.
And after about 30 minutes of relaxing in the shade sans coat (it was in the upper 50s F that day!), I embarked on my least favorite part of visiting European historical sites...
...the down part. I don't mind the up part, I love the up part in fact, it's the down part where I fear for my life. Those rusted railings and the slightly shredded cloth holding them to God knows what do not inspire confidence in my descent, nor did the fact that the first two flights of stairs going down from the top of the tower were so narrow that I couldn't extend my arms sideways.
And the rip on my tote bag as a result of the narrow stairway will always serve as a reminder of the time I survived the descent from torre guinigi.
A la prochaine friends...
Honey
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