Lucca Day 3 - Montecatini

Well the weather forecast isn't great but I headed to the station tomget a train to Montecatini.

Italian trains are amazingly cheap and I arrived on time. I opened maps and it said the funicular to Montecatini Alto, the historic town on the hill, was closed. I wasn't unduly worried as this happened at Certaldo once and there was a bus.... 

So off I trudged

This looks interesting....

Anyway I arrived at nothing.... Rats. There must be away but I wasn't in the mood to work it out and went to explore the building which was Terme Tettuccio a thermal water spa. It's very impressive but I think they could make more of it. There are some shops and a nice cafe/bar. 1.5 for an espresso in there was a very pleasant surprise.

There were people drinking the water... Multiple vintages? I passed.

Verdi. 

Puccini 

 

A quick tip. In Italy cafes are required to have toilets. In need of one I popped in ordered an Espresso (€1.30) and while the lady made it nipped downstairs...  

This one is in Lucca

It was raining back in Lucca but hey I'm British and rain never hurt anyone. From the walls I saw 8 Great White Egrets!! I assumed at first they would be Little Egrets but they had that yellow beak. 

I stopped at the patisserie by my hotel and an Espresso was €1.30. if you are on one of the tourist spots it goes up.

Not successful but an interesting day.

Lucca Day 2 - Walking the walls

Some people fits loads into overseas holidays doing 2 towns a day. Me?I just strolled up to the walls and had a wander. Oh the marquees are from the recent Lucca comic convention.

The Guinigi tower of which more later.

At this point I wanted a drink so walked down to the amphitheatre.

So the Guinigi tower all 230 steps.... Great views.

Everyone associates Lucca with Puccini but Boccherini was here first!

So after lunch outside.... I wandered around the Palazzo Planner.

So back to complete the rest of the walls.

The closest church to my hotel is Basilica Minore di Sao Paolino. I don't think I've ever seen it open but today....

Birds? Earlier on my walk I saw a bird I thought was a female common redstart it was in trees but in the afternoon I definitely saw a male Black Redstart.... Mmmmm