3 April - Exploring Lucca

We made the most of the Sunday before school to investigate the city.  The very thing that made yesterday so challenging - the narrow paved streets, pedestrianised piazzas and inaccessible roads - made the city a joy to discover without the car.  We were grateful therefore to have brought our bikes - they are everywhere here and nobody seems to worry about one way streets or the occasional 'no bikes' sign on the busier lanes and alleyways. We followed our noses without reference to our map to start with and every street corner and piazza seemed to be a place worth stopping to admire and photograph; it seems that everything within the walls is the best that Italy has to offer in terms of architectural style.  We happened upon uncrowded 

St Francis' Church

alleyways, quiet squares and old churches as we cycled the old stone slabbed streets and if we got lost (and it is easy to do before you get to know the city) we just headed in the one direction until we came to the old wall that surrounds the historic centre in order to get our bearings.  After working out a route to the school for the following morning we lunched in the sunshine on a quiet piazza and then finished our exploration by cycling up onto the paved promenade on top of the old wall and doing a full circuit of the city before returning to the flat.  We finished the day with some light study in readiness for whatever school may offer and marking up a map of Italy with the places we hope to visit. Tomorrow the next part of the adventure begins!