The past few days have ben busy as I’ve been exploring the local areas. To be honest, I think you would need to stay here for a month to truly see most of Tuscany, but I’m only here for a few days so I decided to visit the things that interested me.
LIVORNO. When I was in the Royal Navy I was based in Naples for over two years and would come to Livorno quite often – but I could not remember what it was like. From the campsite I headed north along the coast and eventually got to Livorno. Maybe it was a mental block, probably alcohol induced, but I could not remember the city at all. I spent a few hours wandering around, ate some pizza and nearly bought a new phone – as the Apple phones are cheaper here than they are in the UK. I managed to resist.
PISA. I have been here before and wanted to come back. I am glad I did. It was a really hot day today so armed with my hat and wearing a good layer of sunblock I got as close to the centre as I could and parked the bike in a side-street. One of the great things about a bike is that you can really park it close to where you want to be as in Italy there are bike bay’s everywhere. The Torri di Pisa is magnificent. I did think about going up the tower but there was about a zillion people in the queue. Also, I wasn’t sure my knees would make it to the top. Instead I paid to go on the battlements along the outer wall and I am so glad I did as you get to see the tower from many different angles. Coming back to the bike a few hours later – and there was another Suzuki V-strom parked next to mine. Same model, and a few years younger. It was an Italian guy and we had a little chat before I got my helmet on and made my way back to the campsite.
LUCCA. This is another town I wanted to visit. The last time I was here (around 1990) I got a parking ticket on my car, but this time I parked near the centre in a free bike-bay. It really is a beautiful medieval town, with huge ramparts surrounding the old-town. The highlight is a circular Piazza, which in Roman times was an amphitheatre. It was a hot day, I was starting to ‘wilt’ and as much as I wanted to visit the Guinigi Tower – I went back to the bike found some shade and once I’d cooled down headed back to the campsite. A beautiful town and well worth the visit.
VOLTERRA. This is another town I wanted to visit was Volterra, which is a walled mountaintop town. Its history dates from before the 8th century BC and it has substantial structures from the Etruscan, Roman and medieval periods. And I wasn’t disappointed. I parked again near the centre of the town in a bike-bay and spend the day wandering around this old town, visiting some of the Roman ruins and visiting their museum, which had a wonderful collection of Art from the renaissance period – all created in the town. It was a great day and I enjoyed visiting Volterra.
Livorno
Pisa
Lucca
Volterra
