Lerici

The main square by the harbour.

But we are off to the castle, around the corner.

Me and my three lovely fellow travelers.

But not to go into the castle, you understand, but to go under it.

Through a tunnel in the rock.

To a secret restaurant with a sea view.  Another love spot of mine.  I don't mind sharing my secrets.

I Had a House in Tuscany

Yes I did, No. 1 Fontanedo.

The new owner  has done good work on the garden.

A view once very much appreciated.

Much of the hamlet still derelict with only three, may be four, houses inhabited.

Volterra, The Views

What to say?

I'll be back.

Volterra, The Town

By a complete stroke of genius by Dorothy, our newly recruited sat nav expert, we were delivered to the quieter back gate to the town.

First, lunch.

My favourite Ristorante was closed this day, damn it..  And a I was so looking forward to meeting the two Etruscan waitresses again.

The town square preping for a show.

My favourite Tuscany town.

Camera attention grabbing all the time.

And the art. The tree of life, olive, of course. Lots of alabaster, a major source for thousands of years. No grotesque quarrying as behind Cararra, alabaster is mined, with no sign of landscape scares around.

Gek above the theatre.  No good picture of the arena.  The sun wasn't playing ball to day.

Florence - Mike's Square.

Walking up the hill to Michelangelo's Plaza, would you Adam and Eve it, a lady from Japan painting water colours in miniature.  I did buy a couple, ok, four. 

At the top of the hill, to the left,

Centre,

And right.

David was here as well.

Florence - Signora Plaza

On our first visit to Florence in 2001, we stayed in the apartment with the two open windows.

What is going on here, no idea but for sure pretty violent.

David is still posing for photos.

To the Arno, and a surreal photo,

contrasting with what was going on just above these guys heads.  So busy, I took to a tour  guide tactic to have Gek and co not loose me.

What a day for the camera.

Florence - Going Passed the Duomo

View one.

 View two.

Now we have got that out of the way, between the Duomo and Signoria someone is having a laugh.

A naughty cherub, he has had enough and making his escape.

Garagnana

 

From Lucca we drove north west up the valley between the Alpi Apuane and the Garagnana Mountain ranges to Garagnana itself,

very colourful and smart,

 in contrast to as the Second World War left.  One thing is for certain, we humans will never learn from experience.

But, hay ho, t'was a gorgeous autumnal day, so we headed into dem thar' mountains.

Vagli Sotto with fab backdrop of rugged mountains on the other side of which is Carrara, the town of marble fame.

 Situated by a reservoir, ideal lunch picnic stop.

The beasty Jeep.  Another great bump up with a lot of grunt which came in very handy in this terrain. Brand spanking new too.  Who's a lucky boy then?  Ok, fortunate then.

Lucca

 Lucca was founded by the Etruscan's over 2,500 years ago,becoming a Roman colony in 180 BC.  The building of this final ring of walls began in 1504 and it is unusual in the fact that it is still here, intact.

It's peaceful purpose is now for gentle relaxation.

 San Martino Cathedral, just inside the wall

 The narrowest of streets where two cyclists would struggle to pass each over.

Round a corner to the sound of a violin playing  in the music school. Magical.

 And on to what used to be an amphitheater where deadly 'sports' were practices, now a piazza, for a selfie with Alice.

Back to the cathedral to discuss the imagery.

Pisa

This trip was to show Alice  'my' Tuscany in five days.  Tall order, I know, but I was game to give it a go. Guess where to first?

That place with the tower that refuses to fall over.  Rebecca in a very conventional pose, considering what all about her were doing. It is a mystery to me how I got this shot minus a myriad others.

Oh, that's where they all went.

Dragging ourselves away from the crowds, though the square,

and to the relative calm of the River Arno. And it really was that blue.