Good morning!
Another beautiful day for you.
Today first day in Italy
We are going to go and explore
the beautiful walled city of Lucca.
And behind me you will see the Basilica of San Frediano
it's actually quite unique in a
couple of ways it's a church built on the site
of an old early church retained
the tower of the previous church it's also
got an amazing fresco, byzantine
fresco on the top but let me show you around
a little bit, it's quite beautiful
that's the basilica san frediano in Lucca.
Come on, let me show you inside.
We're gonna head into the Piazza Anfiteatro
This is an old Roman amphitheater,
sorry, just listen to some Puccini on the way,
This is an old Roman amphitheater where
houses have been built around the
amphitheater, there's a little Papillon again
now no longer functions as an amphitheater
still retains its shape to celebrate its
history the story is that the stands
after it had been used as an amphitheater for a while
the stands were standing empty
people started moving in living in them
then building houses around it and it
became this various events are held in
the square and it's surrounded by lots
and lots of different places to eat
and different things in the middle quite a
remarkable place
so imagine I'm sort of walking through an amphitheater
where a
few hundred years ago
or thousands or years ago
people were racing chariots
fighting goodness knows what
putting on the entertainment for the local people
Next on our places to see is the
church of Saint Michael in the Piazza of
Saint Michael, San Michael in Forro I believe
It's an amazing marble church whose tower
a statue of Saint Michael right on
the top that I'll try and get a picture off
where they've actually mechanized it so
the angel Michael can flap his wings
he's standing on top of a dragon that
he's defeated
well let me show you a little
bit around the piazza and St. Michael's
not sure if it's a church or cathedral
a lot of work you see the pillars up
on the thing and
there's St. Michael right at the top I don't know if
you can see him or not, I'll see if can tilt
you up a little bit
there you go
let's show you around a bit
Next historic site on our tour of Lucca
is St. Martin's Cathedral which outside is
undergoing some repairs and maintenance
at the moment but let's have a good look
inside and see what it's like it's three
euros each to go in
Let's ... go ... in
Oh all this looking around the historic
sites in the heat is enough to make
you tired so apart from drinks
essentials to get a nice Italian
gelato or ice cream
So, let's go in and get an ice cream
Good Evening.
And it's got later in the day the sun is
slipping down the sky it's a beautiful
day still and we're now walking on top
of the wall that surrounds Lucca. Lucca Old
Town. It's four kilometers of huge wall you
can see see how wide it is it was built
in the times to protect against canons
not against bows and arrows so that's
why it's so wide
flat on the top so now
it's perfectly preserved there's little
side paths down into the town that you
can dive off in the investigate explore
but it's really nice in the evenings to
wander around under the trees there is
some trees ahead, honest, and just enjoy
the relaxing evening walking around the
city it's also later in the day gets a
bit quieter 'cos a lot of people come to
Lucca are from day trips because you can
get here like half an hour from Pisa an
hour from Florence so it is easy to come
here from a day trip so the evenings it
does get a lot quieter all the day
trippers go and a lot of the locals
enjoy jogging cycling and just strolling
walking their dogs, as well as the tourists.
No, the tourists are walking
they're not they're not walking the
tourists but maybe some of them are
anyway nice way to relax and spend the
evening as the sun goes down before we
go into the town go into the town and
find somewhere to eat for the evening and
then have a little wander round Lucca
in the evening light before we head home
We have had a beautiful day wandering
Lucca now the sun is setting it's time
to pick one of the many tortora's and
cafes in one of the many squares and get
some food
I'm in Puccini Square or the
square where Puccini's house
it's called Puccini Square
where there's five restaurants here
or at least
I'm just gonna pick
one and eat
let's try this one.
Oh I'm stuffed, after a lovely meal
Some lamb, potatos
and I couldn't
even manage a dessert although they
did look tempting
but I will confess I did have
an ice cream earlier, another ice cream earlier
Be warned once you start having the
ice creams here
ah you'll want another
and then another
and then another it has
been so good
Anyway it was a really nice meal
now I'm gonna wend my way through the old
city back home and show you a few of the
evening sights because some of the buildings
are lit up beautifully at night and it's
quite a nice atmosphere still quite busy
but a lot quieter than during the day
we're just heading from Puccini Square
to the cathedral