Today we woke up and got on a private bus to drive three hours to Assisi. All of us were exhausted, and we all slept. It was a bit of a relief to get away from the business of Rome and to go into the countryside. We saw the Apennine Mountains, which are absolutely gorgeous. There were little sheep farms and little tuscan houses along the way. There were fields of olive trees and grape vines. It looked exactly how I expected Italy to be.
Assisi is a medieval town that is famous for being the birthplace of St. Francis and St. Claire, who was one of St. Franicis’s first followers. St. Claire was a part of a convent, and St. Francis is famous for having seen a vision of Jesus and devoting his life to fixing the Roman Catholic Church.
Assisi is breathtakingly beautiful. It’s situated on top of a mountain so you can overlook the entire valley below. The entire town is made of gray brick and looks how you would expect Italy to look. There were steep, narrow alleyways and Italian flags hung everywhere.
Also, when we were walking, I saw a building with my mother’s name and had to stop to take a picture. Unfortunately we had already eaten lunch, so we didn’t go in.
For lunch we stopped at a place that promised to be unique. None of us were very hungry, but we decided to give lunch a shot anyways. One of the options included lamb head, which all of us decided to stay away from.
I ordered chicken and vegetables. I couldn’t say what type of vegetables I had, it looked like some sort of broccolini. The chicken was covered in a marinara sauce, but there was still bones inside, which I found out the hard way.
We took a walking tour of Assisi and saw the church of St. Claire and the church of St. Francis. In the church of St. Francis there were huge frescos that were very old. In both churches there were many people praying. Some people take pilgrimages just to get to these churches.
After we went to a wine tasting event, but I got sick yesterday and didn’t feel well enough to participate. The wine shop was family owned and they were very proud of what they did. Then we all walked to a restaurant. I wasn’t optimistic that I would have an appetite, but fortunately the food was so good that I didn’t have much of a choice but to eat it.
We started with an antipasti with prosciutto, toasted bread, and a side of vegetables that tasted strongly of vinegar. The next course was a pasta with truffles. I don’t like mushrooms, but I loved this pasta. To me it tasted a lot like garlic. I finished my entire plate for once.
The last course was roasted potatoes and salad. I wasn’t expecting much, but the potatoes were amazing and well seasoned. I didn’t get a good picture because I ate them too quickly. I left most of my salad uneaten because I was so full, but I did confirm that I still don’t like green olives. Some things never change.