Hello from Assisi! Sorry it has been so long since our last real post. We have been tired. Yup, tired. Yesterday we calculated walking (half uphill) about 9 miles (conservative estimate). Assisi is set on a "hill" called Mt. Subasio. The old city is about a quarter of the way up the mountain, with the newer parts in the valley below. There are olive trees everywhere, and numerous churches dedicated to its hometown heroes, St. Francis and St. Clare, peppered between the old city and the new city. Assisi is capped off by two castles dating back at least a thousand years.
Over the previous two days, we covered pretty much the entirety of Assisi proper, visiting an ancient Roman castle, an ancient Roman forum, numerous churches with amazing frescoes from the Giotto period, numerous historical Franciscan sites, and a lot of simply beautiful medieval streets. We also discovered the joys of antipasto. We are now in love with bruschetta of all kinds, as well as paté. (Yes, believe it or not, it is Melanie who is writing this.)
Today we hiked to near the top of Mt. Subasio to Eremo Carceri, a beautiful and peaceful retreat in the woods on the top of a mountain. The views and the peace were both breathtaking, particularly after so many days with so many tourists. The >2.5 mile hike up was also breathtaking--in the sense that it stole all of our breath. It was STEEP! We climbed more than 2000 feet in the process. Add that to our treks from the previous days, and we are two tired tourists! We were even too tired to walk the few feet up the hill to get a gelato on our way back to the hotel. =) But we have thoroughly enjoyed our time here, and we will miss the place. It is a very special place, and we encourage you to visit some day.
Tomorrow we are off to Lucca, another small Tuscan town. Sorry we weren't able to take any of your suggestions for this leg of the trip, but train schedules did not permit it. We did follow the advice of some locals though, and we have high hopes for the place. We will spend two nights there, and will hopefully let you know how it is.
Now we are off to guzzle some aqua frizzante. (We disagree with paying for water, but we are quite happy that the fizzy water costs the same as regular water, so we can be fancy every meal!) Hope all is well with you! Keep us in the loop!
PS. Happy late birthday to Marko!
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1 comment:
M&A - Sounds like a fantastic time - hiking, eating, scenerying. I can hardly imagine it. All's well here - except that Palin is still VP nom, Yankee Stadium is gone and the economy has tanked. But OU is NO. 1 so it's OK. Can't wait to see the pics and hear the stories. Love you both! Mom Wilson
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