Pistoia and Pisa
We woke, again, to a crisp, clear sky and decided to head 40 minutes up the train track to have a look at Pistoia, another Tuscan town. As we speed through the beautiful countryside, we marvelled at the mist, gently rising over the fields, a spectacular winter vista. But then we began to rise, at first slightly, but definitely noticeably as we entered a tunnel. We emerged from the tunnel into either fog, or low cloud. Not sure which, but the distinction doesn’t really matter. We hadn’t appreciated that Pistoia was little- not a lot, but enough – higher than Lucca, and there was no escaping it, we were in cold, damp conditions.
So what did we do? Find a cafe of course! Everything is better after Italian coffee and cakes.
Becky liked this cafe for the pastries …
I liked it for the view and company!
To be fair, Pistoia was (is) pretty,
there was a colourful market, a sculpture I didn’t find the meaning of, and plenty of shops selling pretty things
but we couldn’t get away from the cold and damp,
so after a few hours we headed back, briefly to Lucca
Our flight is 4.40pm tomorrow, and our original plan had been to stay in Lucca for one last night and then head to Pisa in the morning, have a mooch around the city before heading to the airport. But a couple of weeks ago we discovered that tomorrow (Friday 12 December) was a day of general strike in Italy, and we can’t guarantee that the trains will run, so we said “Arrivederci” to Lucca
and “Ciao” to a much warmer Pisa where we would spend the night
We headed out as the sun set, took in the lights and a street market, buying a Christmas bauble memento
and I was delighted to once again spot an original Fiat 500
We headed up to the tower – it wasn’t lit up – bit the space was pretty, and we both liked the sculptures of two horses …
Before enjoying a delicious last supper, a pleasant stroll back across the Arno to our apartment, ending the day much warmer than we had begun it.
