Schlagwort: Tuscany

Italy with the motorbike, Part 8

Den deutschen Text könnt ihr HIER lesen.

We were twice in the old town of Lucca, one time for a „real“ tour of the city, and a second time for an evening stroll and a visit to a restaurant. I combined the photos from both occasions.

A piece of the very thick city wall.

Lucca is a charming city with a very well preserved old town (Middle Ages to Renaissance). You can walk around the old city center on the city wall from the 16th and 17th centuries and from there you have a wonderful view of Lucca and the surrounding area. I could not find the originals of the photos taken from the wall, so we have to put up with the old and unenhanced ones:

View on the surroundings
View on some really posh houses.

One takes care that the house facades are not spoiled, but in contrast to San Gimignano, where local goods and works of art were offered in the small shops, in Lucca it is more the normal retail chains that hide behind them. (Here you can read about the history of Lucca: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucca). Of course, I took the opportunity and bought a pair of shoes. The Italians do the best, I think … although the Brazilians aren’t bad either. However, these were not shoes with high heels, we had no space for that, but fine walking shoes in beige suede. Pure fair weather shoes, that means in Denmark you can only wear them inside …






The Piazza Anfiteatro is not as crowded as the Piazza San Michele, probably because there are no “sights” there. You can sit there in peace with a beer or lunch.

In Lucca, too, you could see flower pots on the small balconies in every imaginable little corner.

The house where Giacomo Puccini was born is also located in Lucca and is a museum now:


We also found this film poster worth seeing: Steve McQueen in the movie „The great escape“.

And to top it off, a couple of photos of the very famous Basilica de San Michele:


Lucca is equipped with restaurants of all kinds. I can’t imagine that someone won’t find anything they like there. We went to eat fish one evening. That was wonderful. We had ordered whole fish and were concerned about the bones, but lo and behold, the waiter filleted them for us!
Next to us sat a French couple with two small children who were starting to get bored and found it appropriate to ride their bikes between the tables (we sat outside), also where we sat. Not that their parents said anything to them. We found it a little uncomfortable, after all they could have driven in the square, only half a meter away, where there were no cars. We ate a little faster than normal and were finished sooner than the French who had come before us. “My, they ate quickly,” the woman remarked to her husband. 😀 😀 😀

Teatro Comunale del Giglio


The evening pictures are unfortunately a bit blurry, but they still reflect the calm mood of the hour. After 10 p.m. there aren’t many people out and about in the old town. It may be different in summer. We were there in May.

Have a good weekend, everybody! 🙂

Italy with the motorbike, part 6

Den deutschen Text findet ihr HIER (zusammen mit Teil 7)


18 May 2012
We were determined to see San Gimignano, so we started out, via Pontedera with its remarkable (irony) roundabout works of art, and Ponsacco to San Gimignano.

In the distance you can see the towers.


As you can see from the photos, we didn’t have a blue welcome-to-sunny-Italy-sky. It was actually more or less overcast all day, but warm.


Many say that this city is very touristy. Of course it is. In May, however, it wasn’t that bad, and despite the large number of people, the atmosphere was good. I found the small balconies and miniature terraces very remarkable, as well as the small alleys in which local products were sold, especially food, alcohol and handicrafts. And a boar’s head for 300 euros.



I would have loved to take the big vases with me, but that wasn’t possible on the motorcycle. Later a friend asked me why I hadn’t had them sent to me. The idea never occurred to me. Stupid!

Here is another work of art of a very special kind (see also first photo):

The „cornets“ were formed from wafer-thin slices of melon. So totally healthy with all that fruit!

We came across a Roma with a dog and a guitar. He lived in a small bus that was parked a little further away. We liked his music, flowing, easy … and we bought a CD. Often the music on a CD is something completely different then. That was also the case here. It was more in the direction of Django Reinhardt, which we, however, also liked.

And here comes a city tour of San Gimignano:


In the tiniest places people created gardens.


From the impressive city wall, one had a marvellous view over the Tuscan landscape.

This looks very much like a monastery.
!!!!!!!!!




I loved that wild growth on top of the city wall.

From San Gimignano we drove to Volterra, about 15 km away, a town with an impressive castle. But about that next time.

Italien mit dem Motorrad, Teil 4

18.5.2012

Wir wollten uns ja San Gimignano ansehen, also ging es los, über Pontedera mit seinen bemerkenswerten (Ironie) Kreisverkehrskunstwerken, Ponsacco nach San Gimignano.

MC_Ferie_Italien_SanGimignano01

In der Ferne kann man die Türme sichten.

MC_Ferie_Italien_SanGimignano03

MC_Ferie_Italien_SanGimignano02

Wie ihr an den Fotos sehen könnt, hatten wir keinen blauen Willkommen-im-sonnigen-Italien-Himmel. Es war eigentlich den ganzen Tag mehr oder weniger bedeckt, aber warm.

Viele sagen, dass diese Stadt sehr touristisch ist. Das ist sie natürlich auch. Im Mai war es allerdings noch nicht so schlimm, und trotz der vielen Menschen herrschte dort eine gute Stimmung. Sehr bemerkenswert fand ich die Balkons und Terrassen, sowie die kleinen Gassen, in denen lokale Erzeugnisse verkauft wurden, vor allem Lebensmittel, Alkohol und Kunsthandwerk. Und einen Wildschweinkopf für 300 Euro.

MC_Ferie_Italien_SanGimignano07MC_Ferie_Italien_SanGimignano43MC_Ferie_Italien_SanGimignano18

Die Krüge hätte ich am liebsten mitgenommen, aber das ging ja nicht auf dem Motorrad. Später fragte mich eine Freundin, warum ich sie mir nicht hätte schicken lassen. Auf die Idee war ich gar nicht gekommen. Dusselig!

Hier noch ein Kunstwerk ganz besonderer Art:

MC_Ferie_Italien_SanGimignano22

Diese „Tüten“ waren aus hauchdünnen Melonenscheiben geformt. Total gesund also mit all dem Obst! 😉 

Wir stiessen auf einen Roma mit Hund und Gitarre. Er wohnte in einem kleinen Bus, der etwas weiter weg geparkt war. Uns gefiel seine Musik, vor sich hin fliessend, leicht … und wir kauften eine CD. Oft ist die Musik auf einer CD dann etwas ganz anderes. Das war auch hier der Fall. Die war mehr in Richtung Django Reinhardt, was wir aber auch gut fanden.

MC_Ferie_Italien_SanGimignano34

 Und hier kommt ein Rundgang durch San Gimignano:

Diese Diashow benötigt JavaScript.

Von San Gimignano aus fuhren wir in das ca. 15 km weit entfernte Volterra, eine Stadt mit imponierender Burg. Fotos von der Burg kann man hier ansehen: https://www.expedia.de/Medici-Festung-Volterra.d6073868.POI

MC_Ferie_Italien_SanGimignano48

MC_Ferie_Italien_SanGimignano51

Volterra war auch schön, aber es herrschte dort eine ganz andere Stimmung vor, fast ein wenig düster. Wer weiss, was dort einmal geschehen ist. Anstelle von Keramik und einheimischen Delikatessen waren dort mehr Waffen (Schwerter) und Ritterrüstungen vertreten. Aber genau wie in San Gimignano hatte man auch in Volterra jede geringste Ecke für Gärtchen und Blumentöpfe ausgenutzt. Die Burg haben wir nicht besichtigt, irgendetwas hielt uns davon ab. (Hier noch einmal der Link von oben: https://www.expedia.de/Medici-Festung-Volterra.d6073868.POI … Volterra war eine Festung der Medici und wird heute als Gefängnis benutzt. Das erklärt ja so einiges … )

Hier der Stadtrundgang:

Diese Diashow benötigt JavaScript.

 

 MC_Ferie_Italien_Volterra18

Und mit diesem Ausblick fuhren wir dann zurück nach Lucca. Alle Rundgänge in Lucca fasse ich in Teil 5 zusammen.

Bis dahin wünsche ich euch allen noch ein schönes Wochenende!