Monday September the 20th
Total distance driven: 7.910Km
Today’s distance: 149 Km in 3:01h
Walked distance: 16,8 Km
Last evening I found a camping site very close to Lucca called Il Serchio. It’s actually a camper area and it had rain during the day with the result that the ground was really muddy and uneven as campers where coming and going.
So I spent the night at a room rental called Stella. You can imagine the pleasant surprise when I wanted to get breakfast and the lady at the reception provided me a voucher for the pasticceria nearby. It turned out the pasticceria is also called Stella, same owners. One of the most renowned in Lucca! Good morning 😋
The rooms are just few hundred meters from the town centre, surrounded by massive defense walls. Characteristic is the fact that such walls are so thick, that people can walk and even cycle over it.
The old town has been preserved very well, thanks to the defensive measures and has more towers that I could wish 😁
Lucca is very active culturally with museums, concerts, expos and arts.
One of the main sightseeing spots is the Amphitheatre Square. Have a look at the photo below to understand the curvature of the buildings.
Nice place. Everything in Lucca is at a short walking distance and soon I face the cathedral with its tower calling me.
Lucca has lots of towers but one in particular attracted my attention: the Guinigi tower. Why? Well it has some real trees 🌳 on the top.
Trees! 
The first tower 
We leave Lucca with a relaxed feeling and head to a city on the sea in Liguria called La Spezia.
We are quite close to the Cinque Terre but La Spezia in itself didn’t impress me much. I hoped for more life on the coast with restaurants and bars. Instead I faced only expensive yachts and the whole Infrastucture to support them, including brokers.
In the effort of figuring out the most interesting spots to reach the Alps and from here, I decided to visit the city of Parma.
It was already quite late and I stopped half way in a beautiful B&B with view on the Alpi Apuane.
