Wandering in Lucca, Italy.

If you remember from last week's post about the torre guinigi, I took a solo trip to Lucca from Pisa as the two are ridiculously close to each other, and I had the most gorgeous weather in which to embark on such a trip...

One of the other famous things about Lucca, other than the torre guinigi, is its 9 meter high walls that surround the city. On top of this fortress perimeter there is also a great walking/running/cycling/roller blading path that surrounds the perimeter of the city.

Walking straight from the train station (its literally across the street) I was so excited to be on a solo trip to a new city that I completely missed the main entrance to the city, and found myself walking through awesomely-graffiti-filled-windy-tunnels until I found a way through the wall to the otherside.

Once I had successfully infiltrated the city's walls, it was up to the walking path and to try to get my bearings in an unknown city...

...because as much as I like to be prepared for such occasions, it's just as much fun to be completely unprepared and just wander.

And wander I did...

Through my wandering, I stumbled upon a little mom and pop place called China Massagli...well, actually I'm unsure of whether that is the name of the drink and the store, or just the drink, but it was the only sign I noticed on the shop...

...but whichever the case may be, it is definitely an amazing little shop that makes its own liquers, limoncino and grappa right in Lucca.

They have three main types of liquers that they make, two of which are made from an old pharmacy recipe cure-all, and one that involves serving the drink with pine nuts (!!!)...

I picked up a bottle (read: three), thanked the shop owners for their hospitality (did I mention there was a tasting involved with my purchase?), and continued on with my wandering.

My wanderings next took me up to the top of the torre guinigi...

...and then off to scout out some espresso and treats.

I passed a dozen cafes and yet couldn't get myself to go in any of them because I just wanted to keep on walking. When I saw this place however, Di Simo Caffe, I had to stop, as it was actually the place that I was non-actively-actively looking for in my head. I had heard that this place was amazing and it didn't disappoint. I had an espresso and grabbed some pine nut (are we noticing a theme here?) cookies to snack on during the train ride and to share with Doc once I got back to Pisa, and started to make my way back to the train station.

I hopped on my train heading towards Pisa just as the sun started to set over the hills of Tuscany, with less than 4 hours to spare before the general train strike hit Italy.

It's a good thing I made it back in time, as I had only bought 6 cookies at Di Simo.

And I'm an angry hungry person.

Thankfully, crisis averted.

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey