MAY 15: LUCCA

This was another day of brief sprinkles, so some of us went to the nearby walled city of Lucca. The main attraction for Marge was an antique market where she could satisfy her cravings for things old and musty, while I had a beer and people watched from a small pizzeria on a busy pedestrian walkway.

I have noticed that there are more smokers over here than in the Bay Area and the smell is more noticeable when you are aren’t used to it. Thankfully we have encountered very few smokers at the restaurants at which we have dined.

Teri, Pat, Dick, Marge and I had lunch at Tripadvisor.com’s highest rated restaurant in Lucca – Cantine Bernardini. The menu featured 4 very interesting pastas, so of course we ordered 1 of each, plus a very tender breaded pork tenderloin. A bottle of wine added to our enjoyment. The wine steward/manager was very helpful and personable and talked about the food as well as our wine.

 We also shared 2 desserts, which must have had lots of calories because they tasted as good as the very artful presentation. We kept switching the desserts every few minutes so we could all enjoy them, which prompted Teri to call it musical desserts. 

  

The 5 of us who ate that large lunch shared a light dinner of mussels, seafood pasta and gnocchi w shrimp at a Lerici pizzeria near our hotel.