On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Just after Labor Day I was lucky enough to go on a trip to Lucca with side diversions to Pisa, Montecarlo (the Italian one), Volterra, and in and out via Milan. Traveled with my two oldest friends in the world and a spot-assist from my brother, who is an interpreter: A very helpful thing to have in a family, I highly recommend it! So the trip was all one could want: Fun, restful, delicious, entertaining and beautiful, with only a slight edge of grumpiness to keep things lively.
Oh, and being separated from my suitcase for the first five days! But that’s a story for another day…
Inspirational flooring in Milan airport.
Who knew?
Street sign of the innocents
Lucca is a gated fortress city. Here is one of the gates by night.
Volterra is famous for its alabaster. This is a workshop we just peeped into.
Obligatory
A close-up of a frieze along the tower wall, for the BJ animal peeps.
Ahh. So many places still to see in the world, makes it hard to go back; but maybe someday.
Mary G
Love the little animals!
something fabulous
I should not still be awake, but I am! What a fun surprise to show up in the twitter sidebar! It was a great trip.
something fabulous
@Mary G: Aren’t they fun?! All kinds, just winding all the way around. Looked to me like the tower got recently EXTREMELY sandblasted clean. All the little details were so clear in that afternoon light!
Laura Too
Beautiful! Thanks!
Barbara
Lucca is where Puccini was born. I spent a day there with my mother while my husband took the kids to Viareggio (the beach). It’s a beautiful place. Thanks.
satby
@something fabulous: so beautiful! Thanks for sharing, and for the close up of the little animals. I didn’t know those were there.
Dorothy A. Winsor
What a lovely place.
arrieve
@something fabulous: What wonderful pictures on a gray drizzly morning. Thanks for sharing.
J R in WV
Great pics… what memories you must have. And the leaning tower, what a builder’s mistake to mess up your foundation. It makes everything around it look half a bubble off.
Thanks!
smintheus
We went to Lucca (and Volterra) last month, they were both fabulous places. There are several astoundingly beautiful churches in Lucca, though the thing we liked most about both cities is that they are real lived in cities. There are relatively few tourists, and relatively few of those are non-Italian, so the cities have not been spoiled in the way that so many other destinations in Italy have in the last few decades. I went to Volterra about 40 years ago, and it’s actually more attractive to visit now then it was then.
something fabulous
@smintheus: You’re right! The un-spoiled-ness was a big draw; hadn’t thought about it quite that way. I was lucky the my friend really enjoys planning: she’s the one who chose Volterra, which I loved and never had even heard of before our trip. So lovely. Glad you had a great time too!
something fabulous
Thanks everybody! Am mostly a lurker, and usually feel out of sync on west coast time, so was nice to take part a bit more! What fun to see them posted here.
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
Late to a dead thread, but Mr Colette (who is part Italian American – Lucchese) and I went to Volterra and Lucca, among other places, on our honeymoon 24 years ago. Both were lovely and atmospheric and romantic (well, it was our honeymoon – even train stations seemed romantic). In Volterra we stayed in a convent that featured both a magnificent high four-poster double bed and a strict curfew, and felt like teenagers rushing back to make it before the gates closed for the night! Thanks for the memories. We need to go back!