Assisi
Today we sadly bid farewell to Roma to travel back northwards into Umbria. Our destination was Assisi, the birthplace of St Francis – the patron saint of animals. The trip once again took about 2-2 ½ hours, although this time we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the Italian motorways, which were 2-3 lanes the whole way and toll free!
We checked in at Camping Village Assisi and had some lunch and did a quick load of washing (oh the fun of travelling). We ended up deciding to drive Mulder up toward the actual town of Assisi as the shuttle bus was really expensive and didnt run very often.
When we got up toward Assisi parking was at a premium so we parked in one of the underground parking stations (a whole other story happened here which i will leave to tell you in person)and set off on foot even further uphill toward the imposing Basilica di San Franceso.
This is actually 2 basilicas in one with the lower original basilica being built in 1230-32 housing the tomb of St Francis as well as 4 of his closes friars. Around the grate of the tomb people had stuck in photos of their loved ones, including a lot of pets that they wanted St Francis to look after.
The upper Basilica was built in 1232-39 ad continued on the humble but beautiful theme of the lower, the walls and ceilings covered in frescos (some had been damaged (we think maybe by the earthquakes).
Outside the upper Basilica there was a great view over the surrounding areas as the whole village is set very high.
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| The view |
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| The old town of Assisi |
We wandered the streets, again Assisi was the typical medieval town with shops containing local meats, alcohol and oil (olive) for which the region is famous, as well as the compulsory souvenir shops and many gelatarias.
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| The old city Piazza |
We reached the central piazza and sat for a while until we decided to head back to camp with a storm threatening. On our way back to Mulder we made a quick pitstop at the La Bottega del Pasticcere to buy some hazelnut fudge. Unfortunately the 2 pieces of fudge ended up costing us 12€, making tempers flare a little again – but it was yummy and will last us for a few desserts at least.
San Marino
A better day today. We had been advised by our Dutch friends from Florence to head to San Marino on our way north to Bologna. It was not far out of the way so we scheduled a stop.
San Marino as it turns out is an independent country (like the Vatican and Monaco). We arrived at the top of a high rocky outcrop and found San Marino – yet another medieval walled city.
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| Dave hits the streets of San Marino |
When cruising the streets however we found the shops here were a little different to all the others we had encountered. There were some souvenir shops but they were far outweighed in number by the others. The other difference was that the streets were filled with people and EVERYONE was buying. Turns out the shopping was tax free and prices were very good – more of less like duty free in Airports or online. You could buy alcohol (3 bottles for 5€), sunglasses, watches, jewellery (diamond studs about AU$1000 for ½ carat each ear! I made sure i checked up on this J), designer clothes and accessories, furnishings and... guns – heaps of them! Anything from old western pistols, plastic glocks to semi-automatic. If you wanted it you could get it, plus any other weaponary you may have needed such as swords (old style and samuri), knuckle dusters, knives and one or 2 grenades. A boys dream shopping whole the girls are off exploring the boutiques.
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| Some of the lovely boutiques |
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| And some more... boutiques |
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| A great view from San Marino |
With the shopping out of the system we checked out ome of the impressive views – pity the day was a little hazy. A great find that we had never really knew anything about – GIRLS – you must come here for the shopping!
Bologna After San Marino we continued North towards Bologna. We checked in at Camping Hotel Cita di Bologna.
We read thatBologna is the foodie capital of Italy and were keen to put the claims to the test so headed into the city for twighlight site seeing and dinner.
We checked out Bologna’s version of the leaning towers – here there are 2! Called the Due Torri. We then headed further into the city to the Piazza Maggiore and ajoining Piazza del Netuno with the very Muscular statue of Neptune in hte Fontana del Nettuno.
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| The due Torri - double leaning towers of Bologna |
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| The very muscular Neptune |
We found a little restaurant with a good view of the Piazzas and the mostly scaffold covered cathedral and settled in for canaloni and gnocci. We also tried the dessert of Grandmother’s apple cake (apple pie) and a lovely Italian Cabernet.
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| Dinner in Bologna |
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| Bologna's city hall and public building |
The food was nice but all in all we found Bologna to be pretty dirty and full of annoying hawkers trying to sell roses and annoying little toys (the same ones in every city). We were glad we only allocated 1 evening here.
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