For the six of us who traveled the past several days with Oscar as our Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) tour leader, our arrival to Lucca marked the end of the pre-extension tour and the beginning of the base trip, Tuscany & Umbria: Rustic Beauty in the Italian Heartland. Bruce and I had enjoyed our time with Oscar very much, so we didn’t want to say goodbye. He assured us that our new tour leader, Ben, was the best, and we would like him. After all, he had been trained by Ben, the senior tour leader for OAT in Italy.
Upon our arrival at San Luca Palace Hotel, we said our Ciao’s to Oscar and were introduced to Ben. Yeah, Oscar was right; Ben seemed like a nice enough guy!
One step into our hotel room, and we both said, “Wow!” The room was huge (and very Italian!) and the bathroom quite nice. The location was perfect—situated within the walled historic city and close to everything. Ben gave us a brief orientation tour, and then we explored on our own, taking advantage of the beautiful day and our free time, before meeting up with the other nine incoming travelers joining the tour.
(For all pictures, click on the image to see full screen view.)
Although I had been to Lucca previously, it was sixteen years ago while on a cruise shore excursion, and the walking tour just wasn’t enough; I wanted to see more. I had never forgotten Lucca, and it was one of the reasons I was drawn to this tour’s itinerary.
How wonderful to walk its streets again!
Lucca is known for several things: Its Renaissance-era city walls, well-preserved city center, the Piazza dell’ Anfiteatro (which dates back to the 1st century A.D.); and, the great composer, Giacomo Puccini, who was born in Lucca along with several other world-class composers. Lucca is also known for making paper—everything from toilet paper to high-quality writing paper. Additionally, the city of 89,000 hosts a fabulous summer music festival as well as a comics and games festival.
We were scheduled to take a walking tour the following day with a local guide; however, it would have to wait another day due to a schedule switch. (We will return to Lucca in Italy #11.)
Coming up next (instead): CARRARA MARBLE QUARRIES & A HOME-HOSTED LUNCH
Elaine-iaK's Travels: A Traveler's Tales of People, Places, Photos, Pools... and CHOCOLATE! 