4-22-10 Lucca (day of rest, sort of) day 18

4-22-10 day 18 Lucca (day of rest, sort of)so this is suppose to be my day of rest. I woke up multiple times but did sleep finally till about 9ish. I went down to breakfast and spoke with friendly hotel guy. Again this was a family run business. The father runs the night desk and the sun is there through the day. Later I met the mom and daughter who were the house keepers.. everyone was giddy-friendly it was totally charming. Anyway the son proceeded to prep me for Lucca. He gave me a map and told me the route I should take.. walk along the along outer wall, it's not very special since it's new from the 1500's but you can see the city from there and its nice view. I asked what the wall protected against. 'Pisa' he said half sneering. He showed me on an old drawing, with great enthusiasm he explained how there used to be a mote and they flooded it with water when there was thread of attack, making it virtually impossible for anyone to invade. He said italy is still a new country (unified) a lot of neighborhood towns still have centuries old rivalries, these days they are mostly expressed on the soccer field. He made the Lucca-Pisa games sound kind of blood thirsty. He explained Pisa had only one important monument and that was not very strong so it leaned. He assured me it was just a joke. Then he said Lucca by contrast had not only many important monuments it also had a tower, it was straight, and it even had trees on top (clearly better than Pisa's) he told me which churches were a must see. The two towers including a clock tower and the tower with trees. Also of the oval of houses that were built on top of an ancient roman collusium. Apparently this was a one of a kind architectural event in history. He showed me the original roman out lines of the town, then the mideavel and then the more modern 1500's expanded town. He said in italy anything that happened after 1500 is not really considered old.. I had to laugh. I felt more than well prepared to enter the core of Lucca. I followed the directions first walking the wall for a while, and it was wide enough on top to support a single lane, fortunately it appeared to be pedestrian zone only. It looked like people used the wall as a place to exercise and to walk their dogs. Apparently it's four kms round. By the main church I descended and found its front. There were hoards of school children in groups and other tourists. I went inside the huge church. I found a cantankerous card sales man who also had the credentials stamp for my pilgrimage booklet. This church, I am sure housed many important things but it was also under some renovations so it was not a peaceful place.. hammering and such were going on. There was a giant jesus on a wood cross, well protected by a cage. It apparently was a true depiction of jesus as carved by one of his disciples Nicolos? According to the plaque it had been hidden initially during the persecution of christians and found it's way to this church some time in the middle ages. I thought the it was naïve art but it also had strong personality and was quite sweet. No photos allowed. I found museums attached which housed amongst other things various jewel ornaments that this wood christ used to be adorned with. These were incredibly elaborate and included crowns. There was a church turned museum that was the sight of the nightly Puchini concert ( apparently he is from this area) and it's foundation had been excavated and one could walk beneath the floors of the church, wherein were the remains of roman rooms as well as proto christian and eventually mideavel architecture, on top of which finally the basilica was built. It's kind of amazing how this is history is so richly layered and all in one location.

Then I lost myself in the town... I found things like the clock tower. I climbed the tower with the olive trees on top, with amazing views of the town.. I got vertigo, cuz I am height phobic so I did not get too close to the edge.. I was eager to get back down to earth... I found the oval of houses that had three or maybe more arches one could go under to get within, if I had not known that this used to be a roman amphitheater I would never have guessed. Little tourist shops and restaurants were on the inside. I had a veggie pizza and inhaled the whole thing. I knew I was suppose to spare my feet... so I went in search of the final big cathedral. I found two... one was closed for another half hour for lunch times so I hung out at a cafe then went in I had only a few minutes. I coffin was being wheeled in and people were filling in for a funeral and tourists were being ushered out. I feel compared to my experience back home I seem to come across car funeral processions and funerals at churches kind of frequently here in Italy. That and all the markers I see along streets dedicated in memory of some accident makes me feel that an awareness of mortality is definitely a very important part of this pilgrimage. I found the final big church, it had a skeleton remains of a woman saint, name escapes me, but the contrast of the flower headdress and the skeletal remains was striking. The outside of the church was beautiful .. after that I returned to the wall and walked along it till I saw the landmarks that would guide me home. I picked up some cured veggies, bread and cheese for dinner in my room since I knew I was running out of steam. I knew prob walked more than I should have on tender feet but lucca was worth it. When I returned to the hotel my host asked me how my day went. When I told him that thanks to him I had an easy time finding really cool stuff. He was totally delighted. I tried to go to bed at reasonable hour and more or less succeeded.