Vet Judy

Got to spend the day in Riomaggiore and then took a short train ride to Monterosso. There is a beach there which is small but nice. Took a hike up in the hills in the morning and could hardly move the legs in the afternoon. Spent some time by the ocean enjoying the sound of the waves and the cool breeze. It was cloudy today, which I was grateful for. Yesterday was brutally hot for me.

Today I ventured up the coast, from Lucca to Cinque Terre National Park. It consists of 5 villages on the rocky coastline. They can be reached by train and a lot of hill climbing. I want to stress a lot of hill climbing. It seems I have been doing nothing but climbing hills since I got here, so I gave up the suitcase in lieu of a backpack. Didn’t make the climb any less, but saves the wrenching on the back from the one side.

I am staying in Riomaggiore for the next day or two. There is beautiful coastline from here to Genoa where I am headed anyway. So I think I will hop the train, hike the hills, and basically enjoy the view. It is spectacular.

Had to ride the train for a short time in the early evening today: we were packed in like cattle and holly hot was the trip. I was grateful it was only a 20 minute train ride. I think it was the Sunday crowd going home after spending time in the national park on the weekend. I can only hope tomorrow is better for train travel, as that little work out almost resulted in fainting.

Today I headed off to Lucca. Now this is a cool place for me. It is a city surrounded by a wall. You can rent bikes to bike around the city, sit in an open patio restaurant and drink while watching people wander by in any of the main squares. It is flatter here, thank goodness. My legs needed a break. It is relatively easy to find your way around town and there is less traffic and people in the streets. I shall stay here a couple of days and it is a short trip by train from here to Pisa for the leaning tower. I will have to fit that in while I am here.

Today consisted of primarily trains and connections. I took a train from Assisi to Florence and then found a bus to go to Sienna. If that sounds pretty straight forward, it wasn’t anything of the sort. What should have been a few hours turned out to be the majority of the day. It won’t be long now and I will be a pro: I have learned a few basic lines in Italian regarding the trains now. Such things as “does this train stop at, do I have to change trains, how many stops to etc etc.”

Open arrival, I found out, yes there are more steep hills! I found a place to stay. Hotel Piccolo. I have discovered that every Italian city I have been through so far, has a Piccolo hotel. Most of the ones I have seen or stayed at look clean enough. So if you are ever wandering through and don’t know where to stay, well a piccolo hotel may be as good a shot as any.

I stayed in Siena and used it mostly to work and then to do tours of the surrounding area. I took a wine tasting tour in the Chianti region of Tuscany one afternoon. This was fun, except the turns in the road were so fast and hard, I felt nauseous most of the afternoon. This cut back my wine consumption, but I still learned a lot about making wines and had a good time. It was a fabulous day and a lot of photos were taken.

I also spent a day and went to Florence. I am not much of a big city person, so take this with that in mind. I have lived in and traveled to a large number of big cities. I am at the point in my life where one big city is the same as the next. So for some people I am sure this city is purely magical. For me it was, OK- that is good, seen David and the Uffizi, walked down the Ponte Vecchio (gold smith alley)..and I am ready to abort. I had a nice meal there. You could spend days here though depending on your interests. There are I think 40 museums and at least half as many churches. The Uffizi gallery alone is so huge, if you are an art buff, you could spend days there.

The most interesting thing is the guide warns you about gypsies and pick-pockets and your wallet. I think there is more of a chance of going broke there by pulling out your wallet at one of the designer shops or a jewelry store there. In the entrance of the designer shops, there is a guard. Let’s put it this way, it is highly unlikely I was getting in there with a backpack on to just take a look. Needless to say, Okanagan resort, I didn’t even try. If you have a unique piece of jewelry, leather or outfit you are looking for and an unending budget, this would be the place to shop until you drop.

On the way to Assisi, I was unaware there was a transfer and luckily the conductor came by right before the stop where the transfer was necessary and spoke enough English to indicate I was to get off the train here. Unfortunately, he didn’t speak enough English and I didn’t speak clearly enough Italian to establish where I was to transfer to? I scoured the maps inside the train station. The ticket office and information was closed, which seems to be the case without warning sometimes. Luckily with the help of my translation book, I figured out only one train going to Assisi from the transfer spot today, and luckily (ha ha) it was three hours. The first thought I had was oh goody, time for a few more cappuccino’s.

I arrived in Assisi before dark. You have to catch a bus from the train station to the center area of town. And once you get off the bus, it is quite the hike to the tourist information booth. And by quite the hike, well I mean, it may have well been the Rocky Mountains. The streets are a series of steep hills averaging 15-20% grades and to the center is a very good distance. At this point I was wishing my back pack was a little lighter. Just turning another corner, the words out of my mouth, were generally oh gosh ….not another steep hill. Made the information center before close and got a lovely place to stay at a religious institute. Ice cold, lots of blankets, and beautiful view of Assisi from the window.

I have tried to figure out when things are open and when things are closed here. This is fruitless. It seems kind of random to me. Shops are closed in the middle of the day, and open again in the evening. You can bet you will have a hard time getting anything other than a pastry or pizza in the middle of the afternoon. Wait until dinner though, between 7pm and 8.30 pm: then you can stuff yourself with appetizers, first course, second course, desert, wine etc etc. Okanagan Golf. After all that you just can’t wait to get to bed.

Assisi is the hometown of St. Francis, born at the end of the 12 century. The Basilica was built after his death. It took most of 20 years to build it, and it is extravagant. It is likely contrary to his teachings of simplicity and poverty.

For almost 200 years upper and lower parts of the city fought for control of the land, which left Assisi open to be looted and ransacked and destroyed by invading forces no fewer than four times. It is a wonder such a beautiful place is left. In 1997 there was a major earthquake and part of the Basilica collapsed. It took most of the next 10 years of intense commitment and reconstruction to restore the majority of the fresco’s in the building. There is a video of this process available. It shows the destruction and also the rebuilding piece by piece.

The detail in the artwork is incredible. You can take an audio tour for a small donation to the church at the front entrance. The audio is available in multiple languages. It is worth the money to hear the history of the church and the contents within it.

The massive church has an upper and lower level and also the tomb of St. Francis.

For the best views of the city, take the trip to Rocca Maggiore. You can still climb the towers and get a panoramic view of the city, even though most of the place is closed due to earthquake damage. This trip is not recommended if you are claustrophobic, have difficulty climbing a seemingly endless stream of stairs.

It is worth taking a cab ride out to Ermeo Delle Carceri, a hermitage where St. Francis used to go and pray and meditate and preach. It is easy to see why he spent time here. There are a multitude of trails through the woods where you can walk peacefully. I wouldn’t recommend walking this 4 km long road, as it is on a steep incline and would take the better park of your day just to get there and back from Assisi.