Pisa and Lucca

Our initial plan for today was to visit Cinque Terres and hike some of the coastal trails. Last evening, we were researching some of the information on the trails and found that most were closed due to some severe flooding in the area a year and a half ago. It looked like maybe only a few kilometres had been reopened so we decided that a three hour drive wasn't worth it. 

Even though not highly recommended, we decided to venture to Pisa to see the leaning tower.

The identification of the need for geotechnical engineering...

We tried to get tickets for the Cathedral but the line up to buy the was an hour long ... Not worth more than a five minute wait in my view. The exterior looked good but if you look close the nearest corner is suffering the same problem as the tower.

The Lonely Planet Guide mentioned a few other areas in Pisa to explore away from the crush of tour groups and souvenir vendors so we quickly took that route. Some interesting sights.

We stopped at an Italian equivalent to a Subway for a sandwich. Only difference was the toppings and the availability of a cold beer on a 33C day.

Earl afternoon we drove to nearby Lucca, an upscale medieval walled city populated with some high end shops.

We were one week late to see Bryan Adams and one week early to see Neil Young, two Canadian performers.

Lots of beautiful people riding bicycles. I wonder if the platform shoes have pedal clips?

We stopped at one of the interesting oval shaped squares to enjoy a cold beer. Here is a panoramic view of about 1/3 of the facade.

Another interesting street performer...

We had a brief look in the Cathedral, old, from the 10th century but not as elaborate as others we have seen.

The drive home was another challenge with a number of missed turns etc.

Late day showers again then a humid sunset.

Tonight we decided on a light meal in the apartment. We bought a few ingredients and cooked fresh omelettes with some of the olive oil our landlord in Split had given us and some of the vegetables provided by our landlord in Tuscany. (We also had some of his Chianti).

I took out the tripod and took a few night scenes of the area ...