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| It was a long driving day. After lunch we boarded the coach once more and drove for another 2 hours to Assisi.Our city tour guide met us at the bus and walked us through the gate into the city. | |||
| Assisi is another medieval city that sits behind a high wall. We visited 2 churches here. The first was called St. Mary of the Angels. It is a beautiful church that sits on the edge of a cliff. We visited the tomb of St. Claire, the founder of the Order of Poor Claire’s Nuns. |
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We wandered up the steep hills and through the narrow streets of Assisi. There were lots of stores that sold religious souvenirs and hand- made lace. Prices in Assisi are outrageous. We reached the top of the hill, where we visited our 2nd church, St. Francis' Basilica. This is another very large church which sits on the hill side. There is a beautiful view from here. | |
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| There are lots of birds around this basilica. This church is actually made of three churches stacked one above the other. We saw the tomb of St. Francis which was on the lower floor and viewed lots of mosaics and frescos by Giotto. |
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Cranes line the skyline as repairs still continue from the pair of earthquakes that hit Assisi on Sept. 26, 1997. Ten people lost their lives that day, including two monks. We had about an hour before dinner to enjoy walking around town. I window shopped but didn’t purchase anything. Dave and I stopped to get our afternoon gelato. Our hotel, Hotel Subasio, was located next door to St. Francis' Basilica. We had a beautiful view from our room. A huge window, with a lace curtain, opened outward with a view of the beautiful colored fields of Assisi. The bath tub was very small and although equipped with a shower, there was no curtain on it. Dinner was served in the hotel. Spectacular view once again. ½ of the restaurant had a grapevine as a roof. Colin ordered a bottle of wine, a Pinot Grigio, and shared it with Dave and me. It was one of the best I tasted in Italy. I skipped the main course again (Veal or Fish) and decided that while everyone was finishing dinner I would take a walk |
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Although my hips hurt and my feet were very tired, it’s always good to have a little time to yourself. The shops were all closed. The streets were very quiet. Not a soul in site. As I got closer to Santa Maria degli Angeli, I saw a group of people out in the piazza. As I got closer, I could see that it was a group of teenagers and a monk. The monk was dressed in a denim robe. They were all in a circle singing. I sat down on a step and watched them for a few minutes. They looked like they were having so much fun. They were all dancing around in a circle and clapping. One person would step out of the circle and sing something and then jump back and everyone would join in singing and clapping, including the monk. It was a lot of fun to watch. It was beginning to get dark, so I headed back to the hotel. It was so strange, on the way back I only passed one other person. An older man, who was out for a stroll as well, tipped his hat and said "Buona Sera". It was as if the entire town was deserted. All the cars that kept running us out of the street earlier, must have found their way back home. I got back to the hotel and had a nice soak in the small tub. I opened the widow in the bathroom and could hear music and laughter coming from the restaurant close by. Sounded like they found another bottle of Grappa. |
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