Today dawns partly cloudy with a chilly wind but since we have a car, we can bring all our rain gear and not have to worry.  Unfortunately, though, we dock at this bizarre pier with no facilities and where the staff is telling us we can’t walk down the pier to the exit. What?  We aren’t at the terminal where Liberty Rental Car has their little kiosk, so we haven’t a clue how this is all going to work.  There is a shuttle to the centre of Livorno that we definitely don’t want to take (at a cost of 10 euros) and we are just hoping the Liberty lady (Eva) will be there to pick us up as are all the private tour guides outside with name signs.  We wander around a bit, looking for our name and for Eva, but see nothing. Finally we use Skype to call Liberty (T-Mobile for all the good things is not good for international calls at .25 cents per minute) and the guy who answers says “Stevens! Of course, of course, we’ll be right over to pick you up.”  Ok.

Disobeying the “no walking on the pier” rule, we follow everyone else (guides, passengers, etc.) down the pier to the gated entrance and end up there at exactly the same time as the Liberty guy with our name sign.  Phew.  We weren’t really looking forward to a day in Livorno…..but….we could have done it if we had to.

The main Liberty office is a very short distance away, and we are deposited into their garage in no time. Here begins the best rental car experience ever!  Eva isn’t there, but the 2 guys who are there are the sweetest!  They tell us Eva is disappointed she couldn’t be there to see us (ok, so we have relationships with rental agents across the world! They all know us!) and they proceed to ask us what we are doing, where we are going, etc., and giving us their life stories.  The one guy (never got either of their names) who filled out the paperwork (well, made us sign – it was all filled out already with all our information from the 4 or 5 other times we’ve rented from them) tells us about his girlfriend in the Philippines who he is going to visit in December for a month or so, and   how the Pandemic put a hold on their visits and maybe they’ll get married and….and….and….  We may just stay here all day and chat, they are so sweet!

Out in the car – a Panda, my favorite – sweet Philippine girlfriend guy gives us our GPS (we are favored clients and get that free), sets it up for English and even plugs in the parking for Lucca for us.  Couldn’t ask for more!  And then we are off – onto the autostrada and quickly on our way to Lucca.  (One of the bonuses of going directly to the garage is that it is super easy to get in and out of there – getting to the terminal at the other pier has always confused us, and we’ve only made it there once without getting lost – this port is a huge massive warren of intersecting, crossing and dead-ending streets that can be totally complexing, even with GPS!)

The drive is easy, finding the parking not so much.  We normally park in another lot than programmed into the GPS, but when we get to that lot, it isn’t there?  Granted it has been a few years since we’ve come here directly, and we are definitely at the entrance gate we want, so we are a little perplexed.  But, figure, what the heck? If the GPS has the parking, we’ll just go there.  It’s only a 5 minute walk away from the gate, so we park in the GPS directed lot and walk back to the city walls. 

Along the way we realize that we have just missed Comic Con. Thank God!  It was last weekend and ran until Monday or Tuesday. That would have been the worst – as we’ve driven through here when it was going on and it is a mass of people streaming across the streets and into the town and all over. All the debris (both literally and figuratively) is still all over town – the trash in piles being collected, tents and venues in various stages of disassembly, signs and posters everywhere.  Timing is everything!

Wandering through Lucca, we stop at a café for cappuccino with all the old ladies who obviously go there every morning for their coffee and pastries (totally local, so fun), then meander around a bit, heading toward the town walls for a morning walk.  On the way, we pass by Lucca in Tavola, our favorite restaurant where horrors upon horrors – there is a sign in the window that says they are closed today. No!  Timing may be everything, and it has failed us in this respect.  Bummer!  We’re hoping that maybe the sign is from yesterday and they’ve not taken it down yet – it is early after all.  Figuring we’ll check after our walk, we head down the street to the rampway up to the wall walk. 

It is a beautiful fall day to be walking the walls.  Falling leaves with vibrant colors line the wide walkway atop the walls that circle Lucca.  From up here you can see the beautiful architecture within the town, as well as some of the older structures that are more ruins than fixer uppers.  And of course, all the fortifications of the old city walls are eye catching and photogenic in the pretty fall colors.

Finishing our walk, we pass by Tavola again, but sadly, the sign is still there, meaning we are on our own for lunch plans.  Not a problem as there are plenty of choices here, but still a disappointment after looking forward to going there all this time.  Oh well.  Setting course for the middle of town, we wander around the Chiesa di San Michele in Foro, then head off onto side streets finding a little restaurant tucked away in a cul-de-sac a block off the Cathedral.  Ristorante Da Francesco turns out to be a local working man’s place, just like our Bikini Bar restaurant in St. Tropez.  Workers, business men, older couples, all local, are crowded inside and spill outside onto the huge terrace area. 

Sitting outside, we enjoy a fantastic lunch of antipasto, pasta carbonara for me and spaghetti a cinghiale for Ed (how can we not have cinghiale when in Italy?).  All excellent and inexpensive and while not Tavola, an excellent alternative in our minds! 

Now we are free to wander to our hearts content, and we do, snapping pictures of all the great architecture, the towers, the churches.  It is just a lovely old town we have enjoyed for many years now.  We are trying to go to the Piazza dell’Anfiteatro, but somehow manage to miss it on our first pass.  Making a complete circuit, all the way back to the Chiesa di San Michele, we realize our error and backtrack to the Anfiteatro, which looks like a mini Sienna. 

Thinking about having a drink, we decide not to stop here where most every table is filled and retrace our steps toward San Michele, stopping along the way for our first – and only – gelato of the trip.  Last day in Italy – it is our way of saying Ciao!

Across from San Michele is a little café that is perfect for our afternoon drink and snacks, with tables overlooking the church.  Potato chips, peanuts and drinks ensue as well as a conversation with one of the waiters there about Comic Con and the people.  We had found a picture online of the piazza where we sat that was so filled with people you couldn’t move.  The story said there were over 300,000 people here for Comic Con.  We asked if they stayed open during the festival, they had, and the waiter said it was great – funny, but great. He said the people were funny (with the costumes and everything), but the best was that Quentin Tarantino was there on the piazza and there was line of 6,000 people waiting to meet him.  The waiter actually saw him, which made his day.  Crazy!  That many people in this little town.  And we think Asheville is bad!

After that, it is an easy walk down the main street, outside the walls and to the carpark.  Then a super simple drive back to the rental car garage and a quick ride directly to the pier – where our driver (another Liberty guy who was so nice) sweet talked his way onto the pier and dropped us right at the gangway.  Excellent last day in Italy!

Another night on the Dawn – one of our last – and tomorrow Cannes, maybe.  If we make it, the weather looks bad and it is a tender port, it will be our last port on our month-long journey on the Dawn.