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.

Day 5 Slow road to Assisi

In thinking about some of the nearby towns we were interested in visiting, it was always a choice of the fast road with manic drivers or the slow road with curves, switchbacks but scenery galore for the passenger. I always tell the driver "Don't look!".  Trying to stick with 'the joy is in the journey' for the most part we concluded that going to Assisi was as important as seeing Assisi. The slow road over the mountains won out.

We planned to come back via Todi if possible. One thing to always remember is that there are windows for everything. We 'could' get up early and make it into a town by 9am or so but that's not the point of a vacation. If one wanted to park in town, it's always necessary to get there early though. We often found that parking was either at the base of a hill town with a bus up into town or in town at small lots usually for 1.5-2 hours. That could be enough unless we wanted to have lunch in town. Lunch of course has its own window of about 2.5 hours. Do we sightsee or do we eat? If you know us, you know where we place our priority. 

So off to Assisi we went, leaving Orivieto to climb over the hills to the east. It was a gloriously sunny day and we climbed and climbed. We saw very few cars which made it easier to try and pull off for a view and not having another car tailgating furiously.

While we were facing west there were some trees with brilliant colors, not New England bright but definitely autumn colors. It was a great ride.

Finally there was Assisi across the remains of sunflower fields. We have a good GPS which he calls Petunia, but she does have this way of finding unusual ways into towns. We passed several turnoffs, and as we were now on a divided highway, it was increasingly clear that she was taking us in on one of the last entrances on the east. OK, Petunia, have it your way.