Assisi

Good news! Today's weather forecast says sunny skies and a little warmer, so I am going to take advantage of this and head to Assisi.

I arrived in Assisi and again the tourist info center is located WAY up high on the top of the mountain, in the historic area. These historic parts of town are always on the top, because that's where they put them for safety purposes. Luckily I ran into a couple from Arizona and he had Google maps going on his phone so we grabbed a bus and traced the path to make sure we were headed correctly. Guess who's going to get a SIM card???? :)

As some of you might know, Assisi was the home of St. Francis. His story is fairly interesting and I'll just give you the very abbreviated version: a long, long time ago, Francis was basically a playboy and the son of a wealthy cloth merchant. One night he was supposedly visited in a dream by God who told him to start a church, so Francis had a spiritual awakening and went down to the town square, denounced his father and all wealth, handed over his clothes and went into the wilderness. He took vows of chastity and poverty (along with something else I can't recall) and eventually drew followers, who became the Franciscan Friars.

The Basilica of St. Francis is HUGE. Imagine a huge cathedral and then multiiply that by about 3. I found it somewhat ironic that the basilica to honor a guy who eschewed wealth and ostentation and sought to live a life devoted to humility, quiet contemplation and service to God would be honored in this fashion but whatever. The basilica is really something to see. It is covered in frescoes by Giotto that depict the story of St. Francis. I had downloaded an audio tour of the chapel by Rick Steves and listened to it in order to understand the whole story behind St. Francis, the paintings, and where to go to see the relics, etc.

After touring the chapel I walked around Assisi, which is a super attractive town. Cobblestone streets, medieval homes, arches, etc. Really pretty. I was walking into another church and who is walking out the front door but the Australian family I met the day before in Perugia! Small world! We talked for awhile, they gave me some tips on seeing Spello (tomorrow) and we parted ways.

The Rick Steves tour of the basilica was so good that I decided to do his walking tour of the rest of the town and did that and took pictures for about another hour and 1/2. These "hilltowns" are so pretty and quaint that they almost don't feel 'real'. You can momentarily think you are at some Disney park or something.Read more