Compact and friendly Lucca (Lucca)

Member Name: dangaroo

Product:	Lucca
Date:	01/11/08 (21 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful, nice, friendly, cosy town

Disadvantages: Ampitheatre square not as good as I expected

Lucca was probably our favourite town in Tuscany, whilst hardly a hidden gem, it is less trodden than nearby Florence, Pisa and Siena, yet lies a mere 30 minutes or 20km away from Pisa. We arrived on the train from Florence and left in the direction of Pisa. Despite our visit to the town being very wet, we still enjoyed it more than anywhere else in the region.

The town itself is made up of little neat streets that lead from square to square and are mostly just regular residential housing, in the very centre most bottom floors contain shops of some kind - butchers, supermarkets, wineries, coffee shops and so on.

The so-called amphitheatre, a circular shaped 'square' of yellow buildings is pleasant and the focal-point of many a regional postcard but was certainly not of that much interest to us, we preferred circumnavigating the marvellous city wall which featured a wide road used as a cycle and jogging path and contained various forts from which there were splendid vistas either away from or into the city.

Before the rain got too heavy, many a jogger and dog-walker were enjoying themselves and this added to the jovial atmosphere of the city.

There is plenty to see in this town which is definitely the most liveable of any we came across in Tuscany. I will be doing more in-depth reviews of the sights in this town, separately - so keep an eye out!

Summary: Very nice place