Vacanza

This was my first weekend in Perugia, and Italy, but already, we were out seeing more. I went to Assisi one day with my roommate Cara, and one day with my friend studying in Florence, Caroline. Assisi is only a 30 minute train ride away, so it is conveniently close. Both days were wonderful; beautiful weather, lovely buildings, and delicious food. Saturdays trip was a bit more adventurous. Caroline and I spent most of the day seeing the small hillside town, its churches, and eating at a "slow food" shop that Rick Steeve's recommends. The remainder of the day was spent hiking to the very top of Assisi to a 1000 year old fortress that overlooks Assisi as well as the surrounding countryside. From the center, it took probably an hour up steep hills in the hot weather (in a dress too!). But once we made it to the top, it was so worth it. The view was spectacular, and not making it all the way to the top would have been a mistake.

After we got back to the apartment, we decided to go to Cortona on Sunday. I wrote three papers on Pietro da Cortona, and wanted to see some work by him in his hometown. Cortona is similar to Assisi-small, intimate, beautiful, but it has even steeper hills and is less touristic. Sunday morning, we took off on the train with two friends in my program, Grant and Adam. We didn't really know what to expect from the day. We realized quickly enough that the buses were not running until mid afternoon, so we just started hiking up towards Cortona, which is set much higher on a bigger mountain than Assisi. We hiked for probably an hour and a half and finally made it into the center where we had a delicious lunch outside. Also like Assisi, Cortona has a fortress on the top of the mountain, and since Caroline and I had such a wonderful time on the top of Assisi, we couldn't pass up Cortona. The hills were steeper than San Francisco's, but it was an amazing experience. Grant and Adam are in the Marines, so Caroline and I were proud of ourselves for being able to keep up with them. The fortress was housing an art exhibit, which was a very interesting juxtaposition to the old stone walls. We are planning a trip to Amalfi and Capri next weekend, and are thinking about hiking Vesuvius. This time, I will not be in flip flops or a dress. 

This was the map drawn for us at the very bottom of the hill, telling us how to get to Cortona. Clearly we couldn't have gotten there without it. Courtesy of Caroline.

Outside of St. Margaret's. A gorgeous church.

The wall that extended out of the fortress and into the hillside.

The view of the lake from the top.

It is so easy to travel around Italy. The trains are convenient, and the public transportation is fairly simple. This coming weekend will be a blast along the Amalfi coast. Hopefully we will see Pompeii as well! It has been a whirlwind of a week in Italy so far, and I am so excited to see what else it has to offer.