Visit to Barga

We walked the wall this morning. Did not seem as busy as the other day. The sun was out and warm. One of the warmest mornings we had so far. Wendy debated taking her jacket off.

As soon as we got back to the apartment, I had a quick breakfast and headed out for Barga. The bus station is only about a 5-10 minutes walk from the apartment. The bus ride took about 1 hour. The first 15 minutes we did an entire circle of Lucca.  Barga is more in the mountains than Lucca. It was a good bus ride going thru small towns picking up and dropping the odd person. There was never more than 5 people on the bus at one time. It was a regular size bus. The good thing with the bus is it takes you to the town of Barga as compared to the trains which is about 4 KM away. The train does not and could not get up there.

First we had to drive all around the wall to pick up people (2).

Olive trees along the way

Italian version of a food truck on the highway

Why is there a hugh anchor in the middle of a traffic circle that must be at least 50KM from the water?

Narrow twisty road going up to Braga

The bus dropped me off at one of the gates to the village. I followed the sign for the information center. Not much is going on in this place at this time of the year and day. A couple of shops and bar/restaurant but most were not open. It looks more residential than touristy. At the info center I got a map and ask what I could visit. She said the Cathedral was open and I asked what else was open, she repeated the Cathedral is open. I walked up to it as it sits at the highest point in the village.

The church below the Cathedral with the mountains behind

I visited the inside as the door was open and it was free. Very dark inside as there were very few windows. Once your eyes got adjusted for the light, it was simple but pretty. This was the first church that I was allowed to walk behind the alter. Outside the Cathedral was flanked by rows of cypress trees on both side of it. 

Walked out to the back of the church and took in the views, Wow. You could see the snow peaks off in the far distance. The village is surrounded by other mountains villages and closer to the village by farms with terraced fields. I stayed there for about 30 minutes and then took in the other views from around the church looking in the other directions. What a beautiful spot.

Took in the views from the front of the church which were also very good. Followed the wall as the old part of Barga is surrounded by a wall. The streets are so narrow that a car can just drive in them. Found a house for sale, not sure if Wendy will go for it. Only 700,000 Euros.

Wendy, nice views from the From and Back of the house for 700,000 Euros, and it comes with a statue right out front



Another Fiat 500L, L must stand for Luxury???  I guess the back rack is for groceries?

And she was not tall as I am.  No sure how I would fit in there.  Ron, no chances for you to fit in.

I decided to take the bus to the train station as the roads coming up were very narrow and I was not 100% sure where the train station was. I grab 2 pieces of pizza at a bar across the bus stop. Not the best pizza I ever had but still good and it hit the stop for 3 euros

View from the bus stop on top of the hill

The bus I took down was also the bus that picks up the students from the high school and drops some of them at the train station and keeps going afterwards. The bus was now overcrowded with lots of chatter going on. I am happy to get off at the train station as it was too loud for this old man.

The bus went up this road to the school.  Just inches to spare when passing another bus

The ticket machine at the train station would not take bills, good thing I had coins.  Chose my ticket and put in the coins which it returned. Good thing I had a credit card with me also. That worked ok.

The views from the train platforms were also very good. A few farms and mountains in the background.

Not much action in the town of  Barga when you have a policemen and a policewomen monitoring the train station.

The train ride took about 50 minutes with a few quick stops and some of the villages along the way.

Devils bridge at 70km or so an hour

Walk thru town instead of the wall to get home.  They were taking down the ice rink.

No more ice rink in Lucca

We decided to go for a walk into town before supper as we were not hungry yet. On the way back towards the apartment, Wendy and I both heard someone calling Andre, Andre. We turn around and we see this lady calling my name.. We asked ourselves as we both did not expect to see anyone we knew in town. It happens to be someone that Wendy had conversations on Trip Advisor about Lucca. She is from Maine.  She recognized Wendy's jacket from our pictures on the blog.   We chatted with her and her husband for a while on the street and decided to go wine at the Cycle bar which was near we were. We chatted about Italy, the weather back home and here, and a few other fun things. They are staying in Lucca for 11 weeks and have been here before. Lucky them, 11 weeks. We will meet up again with Stephanie and Paul when we get back from Bologna next week.

Back at the apartment I made chicken with a mustard sauce topped with arugula similar to what Wendy had the other night with pork. A side of potatoes risotto. No wine with supper as we had enough at the cycle bar.

Played crib where Wendy had no luck. We are both tired and it will not be a late night tonight.