Today we took a coach tour with guide William and driver Luca with 40 new 'freinds'. We left the hotel at 715 AM to join the tour which began at Orvieto, one of many hilltop towns in hte agricutural Umbrian region of Italy. The farms grow mostly Tobacco, olives, grapes, and corn and the soil looks very clumpy and clay-like. Orvieto is 60 miles north of Rome and you access the top of the promontory it sits on via a funicular. The town boasts a lot of good wine, nice ceramics and winding cobblestone streets and alleys dating back to the 12 century. One ofthe popes lived there in the 14th century and ordered the construction of a 500 foot deep well to supply the town in the event of a siege. The project took 10years and the town NEVER had to endure a siege. As with all Italian towns, the prominent feature in the Piazza is the Cathedral. We had 30 minutes of free time before reuniting oon a bus down tothe funicular and in the process lost two of our flock for over an hour (they got lost).
After lunch halfway between Orvieto and Assisi, we reached Assisi and were met by a young lady who provided bilingual commentary (english and spanish) about the town and, of Course St Francis and Sister Clare. The towns strucutres are made of locally minded limestone with pink and white hues and they are remarably well preserved (no acid rain here). We toured the small town and saw where Francis was born, lived and where St. Francis is now entombed.
We left Assisi around 515Pm only to have to backtrack 30 minutes later to look for two alleged passengers who had been left behind, not by our bus, but apparenlty by some other. Never found or saw them so re-started our 1 1/2 hour commute back to Rome arriving at our hotel at around 10PM. We grabbed a quick meal of pizza and salad at Florian's and were joined by Leslie and Linda for wine and conversation before retiring.
Tomorrow we are boarding the Ruby Princess for hte next 30 days of our adventure. Stay tuned...
Assisi
No comments:
Post a Comment