Assisi: More beautiful than I imagined
when I say that I was unprepared for how beautiful Assisi is. It probably helps that as we were driving in, my host, Anne, pointed at different walls, saying, those are 14th and 15th century, those with the pointed arches above the windows are from the 13th century, those hinges are Roman, etc. Anne is the only American authorized Regional Guide of Umbria.
It probably also helps that I have missed the tourist season, although someone today told me that people who come to Assisi are more specifically pilgrims. And I did cross paths with a woman from Minneapolis who said she was here on a pilgrimage. I agreed with her when she said that there is a special feeling here, a sense of serenity and tranquillity.
Right now, I feel like I am in the best situation: staying in the countryside on a 9-acre farm, with someone with professional Assisi and Umbrian knowledge and expertise. Not bad for my first visit to Umbria! And I am looking forward to trying more of the local wines and participating in local activities, such as the upcoming Festa di San Martino.
It’s already hard to believe that I arrived here less than 24 hours ago, after leaving Lefkas, Greece on a bus at 13:45, a midnight ferry to Bari, then train from Bari to Assisi, then a 20-minute bus ride followed by a 20-minute car ride – total travel time of 32 hours! I am so glad that I slept on the overnight ferry.
On the ferry, I spent my best 5 Euros ever to get an “Air seat”, a seat like one on an airplane, which I took because I thought it meant it reclined. Not only did it recline, but there was a lot more space and legroom, plus, since that compartment was almost empty, I could lay across 2 seats and sleep. Most people laid across 3 and 4 seats, and one really smart couple had booked the equivalent of the bulkhead and slept on the floor in a space about the size of a queen-size bed.
The ferry served as the transition from my 2 weeks of living on a sailboat in Greece to living in the countryside in Umbria, for my first time in this part of Italy.
Below is the prayer/writing from St. Francis, which I am sure every pilgrim reads, hard to not pay attention to since this the focus of the town.
