After our rude awakening and after my traveling companion had given the bathroom a good washing, we set off to explore the city that is Assisi. (Incidentally, I have pictures of the entire trip posted with captions online, but some of the photos are personal and I've been trying to decide how to handle this. At some point, I will transfer over the personal ones to a private album and only leave the public ones up and post a link here. However, until that day comes, I have to know you and you have to email me and request the link.)
Assisi is commonly associated with St. Francis, who believed that the church should be more interested in simplicity and not so pretentious in its displays. The city itself, is really rather hilly and you can't get much of anywhere without walking up or down, and it remains basically unchanged from more ancient times. It even still have the wall to the city intact. For me, this was much more like the Italy I had wanted to see, much less touristy and far more authentic feeling.
One thing we learned was that after doing Rome in three days, doing any other city was a piece of cake, more or less. We were able to walk the entire span of the city in very little time and the number of sights to see was far less compared to the ancient Roman city. This afforded me the time to take a long secluded three mile uphill walk (and hike) to St. Francis' private sanctuary. (They even still hold Mass in the woods up there.) Most people take a taxi to the Sanctuary, but my feeling was that if St. Francis could do it, I could do it.
The sanctuary is really an amazing area for nature lovers and they have hiking and biking trails that you could likely explore for many hours. Unfortunately, by the time I got there, I no longer had many hours. However, the journey up was a bit humorous to me, as lots of people making the walk up have hiking shoes and gear. I had basketball sneakers and a pair of cargo shorts, with my trusty iPod. I'd get to a resting point and take a two minute break and see a few hikers (usually from Germany) come up with their big packs and they'd look at me - this strange little fellow with none of the required gear.
Hours later, I returned (going down was so much easier than going up - except for the falling rocks) and we went to dinner, which was good because I had neglected to eat the whole day and had built up a bit of an appetite. The restaurant we chose was really cool. There were no other patrons there when we arrived and it was definitely off the beaten path. I had pasta and Italian sausage and my companion had rabbit, which she wanted me to try, but after having the sausage, there was simply no way I could do it. I simply could not bring myself to blemish the delightful flavor that was still swirling in my mouth. I have never had sausage that good. (Minor caveat - when I go to an Italian restaurant in America, I am always served bread and there is olive oil on the side with herbs in it. I was never served this way the entire time I was in Italy.)
The next morning, we left for Florence - the city that I awaited with great anticipation, after so many people (not the least of which being Jill) told me what an amazing city it is.
Assisi is commonly associated with St. Francis, who believed that the church should be more interested in simplicity and not so pretentious in its displays. The city itself, is really rather hilly and you can't get much of anywhere without walking up or down, and it remains basically unchanged from more ancient times. It even still have the wall to the city intact. For me, this was much more like the Italy I had wanted to see, much less touristy and far more authentic feeling.
One thing we learned was that after doing Rome in three days, doing any other city was a piece of cake, more or less. We were able to walk the entire span of the city in very little time and the number of sights to see was far less compared to the ancient Roman city. This afforded me the time to take a long secluded three mile uphill walk (and hike) to St. Francis' private sanctuary. (They even still hold Mass in the woods up there.) Most people take a taxi to the Sanctuary, but my feeling was that if St. Francis could do it, I could do it.
The sanctuary is really an amazing area for nature lovers and they have hiking and biking trails that you could likely explore for many hours. Unfortunately, by the time I got there, I no longer had many hours. However, the journey up was a bit humorous to me, as lots of people making the walk up have hiking shoes and gear. I had basketball sneakers and a pair of cargo shorts, with my trusty iPod. I'd get to a resting point and take a two minute break and see a few hikers (usually from Germany) come up with their big packs and they'd look at me - this strange little fellow with none of the required gear.
Hours later, I returned (going down was so much easier than going up - except for the falling rocks) and we went to dinner, which was good because I had neglected to eat the whole day and had built up a bit of an appetite. The restaurant we chose was really cool. There were no other patrons there when we arrived and it was definitely off the beaten path. I had pasta and Italian sausage and my companion had rabbit, which she wanted me to try, but after having the sausage, there was simply no way I could do it. I simply could not bring myself to blemish the delightful flavor that was still swirling in my mouth. I have never had sausage that good. (Minor caveat - when I go to an Italian restaurant in America, I am always served bread and there is olive oil on the side with herbs in it. I was never served this way the entire time I was in Italy.)
The next morning, we left for Florence - the city that I awaited with great anticipation, after so many people (not the least of which being Jill) told me what an amazing city it is.
Its funny what impressions we give/take from other peoples posts. I have this image of you in a restaurant with a big shit-eating grin (no pun intended hehehe) on your face, loving every moment!
ReplyDeleteHope you brought plenty of water with you on your hike! Sounds like loads of fun!