Tour Day 9
As we left Florence on Monday, Cinzia had planned two stops along the way to Assisi that were not documented in the pre-tour itinerary. The first was the American Cemetery located just outside Florence and the second was the Tuscan hill town of Cortona for lunch and a walking break and gelato. Both of these are detailed on the Activities and Tips page on this site.
Assisi |
Assisi was a pleasant surprise for us with many places to see and visit with great food and good shopping. Upon arrival Sauro dropped us at the transportation hub where we offloaded the luggage which would be picked up by the hotel truck and we rode the escalator up to the main street. Bill and I had prepared a small load of laundry that we dropped off at the local drop-off/pick-up laundry near the top of the escalator (thanks to the RS Italy guide book) and walked with our tour group to the middle of town where our wonderful old world style hotel was located. We found our room and then hurried to St. Francis Basilica since it would be closed for the Pope's visit the next day. The interior was painted by Giotti and was one of our favorite churches in Italy. There were really two beautiful church floors one above the other. No pictures were allowed inside but Denise snapped a quick one through an open window as we passed by on the outside walkway. See the Home Page for Cinzia's Daily Plan posted the previous day which gave the travel schedule and news of the Pope coming to town.
There was time before dinner to walk part of the RS Assisi walk up to the Amphitheatre where we had great views of the backside of the Assisi hills and countryside. Dinner was delicious at one of the trattorias in the RS guide book where Denise had the "set dinner" for a reasonable price and was quite full by the end of it. After dinner we finished the RS walk around Assisi seeing the Cathedral of San Rufino, patron saint of Assisi.
There was time before dinner to walk part of the RS Assisi walk up to the Amphitheatre where we had great views of the backside of the Assisi hills and countryside. Dinner was delicious at one of the trattorias in the RS guide book where Denise had the "set dinner" for a reasonable price and was quite full by the end of it. After dinner we finished the RS walk around Assisi seeing the Cathedral of San Rufino, patron saint of Assisi.
Tour Day 10
Today is the day Pope Francis is in Assisi and there is a visible security presence on the streets and in the sky. After chatting with Cinzia at breakfast about possible activities for today, we ventured out and found the turkeys painted on the ceiling of the public building in Piazza del Comune near our hotel and the Temple of Minerva and plaza fountain. We then headed up the hill toward Basilica of Santa Chiara which has the distinct wings. The interior is beautiful but simply adorned however the crypt where we saw the relics and tunics was quite ornate. The plaza in front had a wonderful expansive view of the Umbrian valley below and the security helicopters (today only!)
We spent the remaining morning with a slow, leisurely walk continuing up to Rocca Maggio and it was definitely worth the effort. Many of our RS tour friends chose the same activity today and we appreciated their insights on how to get to the North West tower for the best viewing.
After a lunch of torta, we rested a bit and Denise went our for some souvenir shopping, mainly Christmas tree ornaments, even a carved wooden nativity. Cinzia hosted a social hour in the Hotel Umbria courtyard with water, wine, cheese, wild boar sausages, chips and bread and our travel buddies. See the pictures on the Activities and Tips page. Dinner was again delicious where we were seated on an outdoor patio on a side street. Some of our best meals in Italy were in Assisi - light cafe lunches and wonderful atmospheric dinners at Tratorria da Erminio and La Lanturna - and the local white wine was the best in Italy, light and fruity with dinner.