Day 29 Lucca to Altopascio 18.1 km

Day 29 Tuesday 8th October  Lucca to Altopascio 18.1 km

Easy, mainly flat walking today. Most of it along Roads.

We're up, packed and ready to leave by 7:30 am, say "ciao" to the emergency guys on duty,

 then head off out of lovely Lucca.

Kids everywhere heading to school in Lucca

We exit through one of the portals in the walled town

I can't believe the weather... sunny again! It just rained for our day trip to Firenze... I've strapped my newly purchased umbrella to the side of my pack, just in case.
Not a terribly interesting walk today, through suburbs, industrial areas... 

Stop off in Porcari to look at the church, Chiesa di San Giusto - vibrant mosaics decorate the facade.

Inside

and more mosaics on the ceilings 

Continue walking through the town... nearly 12 so we decide to stop for an early lunch!! wow, great Osteria! a €10 euro menu fissu for prima, secondi, contorni, aqua, wine and coffee - all delicious! 

We are the first lunchtime customers, shortly after we walk in - the place is packed! Osteria Vecchio Bigio on the Main Street, on the way out of town. Osteria Vecchio Bigio Di Fornaciari Massimiliano

I have spaghetti with fresh tomatoes and basil - delicious! secondi of chicken, and contorni of chickpeas (funny, just a plate of nice tender chickpeas, no herbs or dressing... add your own from the olive oil and vinegar on the table ) we only have about 6 km to go, so I decide to have a white wine... make that two! Might make the next six km more enjoyable than the first 12km!

The Afternoon walk after lunch was more of a similar walk to this morning... suburbs, cars, streets, trucks... oh, we'll - I guess this visually and sensorially unappealing day will make the next few days even more glorious! (hopefully!) 

Arrived at the library in Altopascio at 2:30 pm, just to the left, and behind the commune.. a lovely surprise!

The library is situated inside the old Pilrgim's hospice behind the commune , a very interesting building. Lovely environment to study in!

The old piazzas and portals are interesting, founded by the knights of Tau back in the 11th century.

We spend a bit of time checking out the old village, and then settle ourselves in at the "La Loggia" inside the loggia in the old quarter.

What a find! 

Lovely generous people, brought out about 8 plates of different delicious antipasti for us to  share, bottle of red wine, then delicious pasta!! as we were leaving, the owner told us to wait, and gave us a bag of biscotti- dolci for walking tomorrow!

MAGIONE OF THE KNIGHTS OF TAU
Address: no. 6 Municipality or library of Alton, Piazza Hospitallers 6
Phone: 0583 216280 - 3665708802 (only after 14)
Email: turismo@comune.altopascio.lu.it
Type: Hostel Pellegrini
Open: All year.
Price: Offer
Number of places: 10
Use of kitchen: no

If you're running short on time, I recommend catching the train from Lucca to Altopascio in the morning missing the unappealing walk we did today and walking on from Altopascio to San-Miniato