Our trip to Italy ends in Lucca
I’d considered visiting Lucca during our Cinque Terre & Italian Lakes trip but there wasn’t really any spare time in the itinerary. Others on motorhomefacts.com had also raved about the place so it seemed an ideal stopover on our way back to the UK.
That night we checked into a very nice Area Attrezzata complete with electricity, wifi and laundry facilities which allowed us to catch up both online and offline the following day, when the weather was not so great. The man on reception was always cracking jokes and after a chat we discovered he was originally from Germany, though to me he sounded Dutch. Joy asked his opinion on what to see in Germany and thankfully his recommendations closely matched what we had planned.
On Wednesday the sun was shining and so we headed out with our cameras. Joy even bought a new Sigma 18-200mm lens, partly for the wide angle but also to avoid having to change lenses all the time. The centre of Lucca has many old interesting buildings and there is even a suggested walking route that is well signposted which we followed.
Both Joy and I noticed how much cooler it was now that we were heading north, something that would become even more noticeable in the coming days. In the late afternoon we returned to the motorhome and left Lucca deciding to drive a short distance to a sosta in La Spezia. This was to be our final night in Italy, a country I had mixed feelings about. I’d seen some wonderful things but there was no denying that I was itching to leave and cross the border into Switzerland.
On Thursday morning we headed into La Spezia town to a garage where a mechanic re-attached the passenger side wing mirror, a victim of the impossibly narrow Italian streets. With the repair complete we left La Spezia and continued north passing signs for Milan and then Lakes Como and Maggiore. Finally we crossed the border, stopping at a free place in Locarno, on the northern end of Lake Maggiore. It felt good to be in Switzerland, even if it would only be a short visit.