Sounded like a steady rain last night. Good timing for that. Firenze is very quiet in the morning. After breakfast, it was a short walk to meet the bus. The streets are usually so narrow that the bus drops you off a couple of blocks away. Packing light pays off but I still have lots more clothes than when I go backpacking.

 On the way to Assisi, we stopped at San Gimignano, an Italian hill town in Tuscany. San Gimignano is encircled by 13th-century walls and has many towers. Before arriving, our bus driver stopped and gave us the opportunity to take some photos of the town up on the hill. There were rows and rows of grape vines. Some of the vines had roses growing on the ends of the rows. This is to detect disease since the roses are affected early than the grapes. Dolora and I wandered the winding streets for a while and then surprise!, stopped for a gelato. Dolora had champagne/grapefruit and rosemary/fruit. I sampled the truffle and decided on expresso. This gelato shop has won international awards. We then stopped for a light lunch. The rain was on and off while there. There was a nice grocery at the bus pickup spot. We bought a few things for a group get-together later tonight.

Off to Assisi with a stop on the outskirts at the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels. The basilica is built around the tiny chapel where St. Francis worshipped. No photos allowed. The chapel was very modest. Not so the basilica. This was a nice stop since the basilica is outside of the old town of Assisi where we are staying and it probably would have been a bus ride to visit.

We parked the bus and loaded our luggage on a van for transport to the hotel since the streets are too narrow for the bus. It was a ten minute or so walk to the hotel. After check in, our group had a nice happy hour(s) with more food and wine than we could finish. The temperature has really dropped and it was cool tonight, low fifties, but at least the rain stopped.

Assisi Album

Food In Italy Album