After you have visited all the highlights of Italy, Assisi is a place to go and spend at least one overnight. It is serene and beautiful in the evening when the hordes of tourists/pilgrims have left. But it is pretty busy even first thing in the morning. But before everyone arrives we get to enjoy breakfast with a beautiful view.
We walk over to the Basilica and rent the audio tour. This is a must for anyone viewing the enormous complex. There is an upper church and a lower church and there are frescoes on almost every surface. The audio tour explains it all. St. Francis was revered in the church and treated almost as the second coming of Jesus. The frescoes show his entire life and his sainthood. We spend about an hour and a half looking at all the frescoes and listening to the commentary. There are no pictures allowed. (Not even sneaky pictures!) As we exit I take a picture of the upper church.
From here we walk uphill (this town seems to be completely uphill!) to the art museum. It has a lot of great old frescoes and paintings. Here are a few of our favorites.
Lunchtime! Our favorite restaurant is not open!!! We have just walked up a lot of vertical feet!! However, we find a nearby restaurant that has a lovely terrace overlooking the piazza. We have a tasty lunch consisting of salads and a pasta.
Since we are trying to waste some time because Sarah is going to San Ruffino’s and it is still an hour away from opening, we have some dessert.
John and I head back to the hotel for an afternoon of doing nothing. We need a little rest. We pass by some interesting stores and some beautiful quiet lanes.
Later on we meet for drinks and an hors d’oeuvres type of dinner.
One more beautiful nighttime picture of the Basilica of St. Francis-
