Medieval Towns

 We had a total of 6 days on the Amalfi coast and it was pretty cool. Crowded for sure, but very scenic. But after our day in Positano it was time to move on. We dropped Matthew, Mindy and Everest at the train station and drove to the Tuscany region, where we would spend the last week of our trip. 5 days in Lucca and 2 days in Sienna.
 Lucca would be our home base for visits to Pisa. Florence and San Gimignano and of course we would be spending a day in Lucca itself. We also intended to meet up with Matthew, Mindy and Everest again to hike Cinque Terre a second time but unfortunately weather intervened on that plan so we spent an extra day exploring Lucca. While we missed out on being able to see Cinque Terre a second time, the Tuscany region itself did not disappoint. The first thing you notice about all these medieval towns is that they all have their own Torture Museums. Kind of macabre admittedly, but I'm betting they found all these torture devices in the basements and dungeons of all the old castles, and thought, what the heck. Joani and I never bothered visiting any of them but I did take this photo of one Museum.

The first town we visited was San Gimignano. Almost completely pedestrian except for a few locals who have special permission to drive here. Another thing that you notice when entering these old towns is that you always have to enter through a stone gate. In the old days these gates would have gatekeepers in place to keep riffraff like me out, but Joani would always be welcome.

Beautiful scenery from the town walls.

More beautiful scenery.

How did this guy get in a picture? He's just showing you the towers that San Gimignano is famous for.

Another gate that Joani had to escort me through.

As always we had to take a hike around the outside of the town. Those are the walls behind Joani, that encircle the town.

Just threw in this shot because I thought it was artsy.

Anyone fancy a snack of wild boar sausage?

They love their colourful ceramics in Italy

We spent one whole day in San Gimignano and after a night's sleep headed for Pisa to take care of some unfinished business. The first time we had been to Pisa we found out that you couldn't get to climb the tower unless you book ahead. I have climbed the CN tower, The Eiffel tower, The rock of Gibraltar, The Great Wall of China, and mountains in the Rockies, Spain, France, and Greece. I had no intention of seeing the tower of Pisa and not climbing it to the top!

So climb it we did. Joani said that the climb to the top was tough, not because of the number of steps but the slant of these same steps. One might think that everyone who climbed this tower had a little too much to drink.

I found it humorous that they had defibrillators at every landing.

Of course we made it to the top. Was there ever any doubt?

Joani didn't allow me to ring the bell to announce our arrival.

The views were awesome.

People look tiny when you're way up.

The town of Pisa from way up.

And then it was time to climb down. Mission accomplished.

Now for our time in Lucca. The most amazing thing about Lucca is the walls surrounding this town. These walls are not your normal medieval wall 3,4,or 5 feet thick. These wall are thick enough that there are roads on top of them! Trees planted on either side of these roads. Walking paths on either side of these trees. Playgrounds and Parks adorn the top of these walls. We are talking enormous. They were originally built as defensive stalwarts in olden times, but never were used for that purpose and mostly just became tourist attractions. But they were built completely around the old town and so worth seeing.

This is a photo of the top section of a portion of this wall. On the right you can see the town.

 You have to walk down a flight of stairs to walk through this town!

There are private gates for the locals to drive into.

Inside the walls is a network of tunnels.

They welcomed Joani with open arms and doors.

But as usual, I had a bit of a problem until Joani put in a good word for me.

I didn't bother with too many photos of the interior of Lucca. Not that it was not a nice town, but I definitely felt it's most striking feature was the exterior.

I did see this tree top tower the last time we were here but Joani hadn't, so we had to find it,

and of course, climb it!

Joani as usual made friends with the locals. This guy played us a tune as we left. I grouped the towns together but will cover Florence in another entry.

On to Sienna for the last two days of our vacation.

 Garry