Day 6 A Day in Orvieto -pm

We walked down the main street, Casa Cavour, looking for a restaurant we had eaten in this past March. It had been a great meal and we hoped to repeat it or at least come close. Walking down the hill we found the restaurant and while it did not have the same €12 menu, we decided to eat there. I saw POLENTA and FUNGHI together and that was enough for me. Oh yes, cinghale…the wild boar too.

Inside it looked the same, and I do believe our waitress was the same on we'd had before. No photo of her though. Two men went in just ahead of us but otherwise it was very quiet. I do wonder how the restaurants make a go of it with so few customers.

He had the roast sausage and potatoes, and I did share that cinghale with him tho I ate a good bit too with my polenta.

A very good meal, but not the great bargain we'd had before. Still….nice to find a place we had in our memory bank. Taverna Cavour 222.

Now a bit of exploring another church, St. Martin. Seeing the statue of the Blessed Mother, we noticed the holes for carrying the statue in a procession. Shades of Malta and the Good Friday processions.

Down all the way to the park at the 'bottom of the upper town'. Ah, this time a baby girl was being announced.

An apron I passed on…too pricey and I splash myself above the waist as well in cooking. A menu to suggest to my son. A mannequin we laughed at each time we passed and apparently a brilliant blue is one of THE colors for fall/winter.

Finally time to settle back into our apartment and watch the sun set on the hills.

Day 6 A Day in Orvieto-morning

A lot of time we plan on taking a day to drive off somewhere, and then take a day to explore where we are. Orvieto was an ideal place for this kind of 'staycation' even though the place was far from our real home! A sunny day and market day was a good day to just explore.

Some morning fruit in the apartment and then down to the church of the Apostles Andrew and Bartholomew in the Piazza Republica.

The flower stalls were all open and it's amazing to see such delicate flowers out on window sills or pots by the door. Obviously, the local people know what they're doing!

Down into the market at Piazza del Populi. A good market with fruit and vegetables, lots of cheese, as well as two porchetta vendors. I liked the man cutting from the whole pig as opposed to the man whose pig was ready chopped.

After buying some cheese, we felt the need to sit with an espresso and pastry. Off the main street, this was a 80 cent espresso. I'm laughing cause I have to really stretch my arm to take these self portraits.

Back towards home we still passed more goodies and kept  looking at things we didn't need but found interesting.

While taking our purchases back to the apartment we met our landlady. In true Italian style, we stopped for a chat, and found out where to buy a 'dossacaffe', a container that doles out exact measures of ground coffee for espressso. You know you need one of these!

Now it was time to think about lunch. What else after all that time looking at food in the market??

Day 5 Assisi and back

The arrival in Assisi was interesting to say the least. Petunia had taken us to the last exit on the road to  Spello and so we sort of back tracked in our attempt to actually enter the city. Another city on a hill!  We climbed through a bunch of vineyards, olive groves and houses, and suddenly saw a parking lot. Quick as a hare we popped in, found a space immediately, and then looked at the climb UP.

We saw a bunch of other people parking, and then crossing the road to enter a building. Aha. We had parked at a hospital parking lot. Sigh. Back into the car. We continued up the road, and eventually came to a parking garage, under the city. Why does he always doubt me when I say…Park here!!!  (Why? because I make immediate decisions and he has to p r o c e s s.  On Italian roads, there is not always process time.)

We entered a beautiful garage, which must be crowded in the summer, but was mostly empty this time of year. Up through the garage to the city level we went, stopping for a 50cent toilet break - pricey but a good idea.  Exiting back into the sunlight, we saw that there was still a lot more to climb.

Guess who was already hungry? The first thing we did was stop to eat. He had  a salami pizza and I had a pasta piccante.

Once the boy was fed, it was time to walk around. We knew we wouldn't be doing a lot of sightseeing since we had made that slow road decision. The weather was beautiful and the town had recovered remarkably from the '97 earthquake. After looking at the spacious, and empty piazza, we entered the church.

Himself and a monk in contemplation.  It was nice to actually see a Franciscan here in Assisi, and in a church.

Down into the crypt was a wonderful display of Saint Clare's relics.  It was all beautifully displayed and a nice treat to have time and space to study the articles.

But all too soon it was time to have a bit more of a walk, look at the door of the home of the new baby boy, and head back down to the garage.

Looking back and UP into town, we thought it would be a good place to come back to espcially if we were staying in the eastern part of Umbria.

We decided on the quick road home but that ended shortly with a major traffic jam. Off we went back to one of the slower but still direct roads. There were a lot of others who made that decision but it was still a nice afternoon drive.  A stop for gelato and an espresso and a drive past Lake Corbara.

It was good to get back to the apartment…and plan our next excursion.