The drive to Assisi was actually quite beautiful. I found myself gazing out at the Longstreet hi of mountains, rolling hills, cypress trees and patches of poppy flowers in awe. It brought me back to the first time I saw the mountains in Wyoming on my drive to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado – the little taste of beauty was nature’s way of telling me that I was getting closer and closer to something really special.
And it was. We unloaded at our beautiful hotel (probably the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed at considering the surrounding area) and we went off to see Assisi and the Basilica of St Francis. The whole thing was a huge work of art from the timeless biblical paintings to the uniquely textured architecture of the city. The weather also helped. It was bright blue and sunny and let the whole town shine – I think I even got a nice tan which was a real treat after experiencing so much rain in Rome.
I ate lunch at Monnalisa Caffe and had a lovely time. I ordered Mango Peach Green Tea which came with the cutest pot, cup, and even a timer! I then ordered a veggie burger consisting of mainly quinoa and corn and it had to have been the best (and most visually pleasing) vegetable burger I’ve ever experienced. That was probably because the ingredients were so fresh. The owner of the cafe even happened to come in with a gigantic bundle of fresh asparagus and laid in on the table in front of me.
She explained how special it is to get these veggies and that she loves to cook with them when she gets the opportunity. Talk about farm to table right? She then put them in a big glass container of water and caressed them like a mother would to her child. If only more people cared about their food and the art of cooking more, we’d all have better meals!
Dinner was a pesto like pasta and although the portion was huge I ate every last bite. It was delicious.
After dinner we went back to the hotel and my roommates and I went on a quest to capture a great picture of the sunset over the mountains but what we stumbled upon was so much greater.
We found a large open field off of the main road with a perfectly narrow path to walk through. With the mountains as a backdrop, it had deep, bright red poppy’s scattered about and the twinkling town of Assisi glowing as the sun slowly sunk down.
The soft green of the field was so vivid and the clouds looked like water colors splashed on the sky. I was in a surreal labyrinth of color and quiet bliss.
No wonder this town is so religious – how could a person not be with such a wonderful painter blessing the sky like this at the end of each day?
Kimmie Prokurat