Wednesday 7 July
The day started in typical Italian style.
After an early breakfast, we headed for Termini to catch the train to Assisi. On arrival, we found the electronic board listing the departures – we could see our train listed, along with the departure time that matched our ticket – but alas the platform was not listed. We spotted the departure listing on the wall and sure enough, our train was to depart from platform 1, so we made our way there.
Oddly enough, there was not a train in sight at this platform, but we decided that the train was obviously late in arriving from wherever it was coming from, so we settled onto a seat at the platform and waited. Shortly before the listed time of departure, an announcement came over the loudspeaker in Italian that mentioned the line that we knew that this train was supposed to be on – 30 seconds later, the announcement was made in English – our train was to depart from platform 3 in one minute! For those who have never seen Gloria run (make that a fast trot), well I can only say that you just had to be there!
We made it to the platform just in time and the conductor waved us onto the nearest carriage, which, of course, was several carriages from where we were supposed to be. We dragged our suitcases onto the train and suddenly the train started moving forward.........
Assisi is a remarkable and very, very quaint place and well worth visiting. It is situated on the top of a hill and the streets are a maze because of the way that they are set out on the hill. At the top of the hill is a ‘fort’ named Rocca Maggiore and the view from its tower is magnificent – sweeping views of the valley below made the climb up to the tower very worthwhile. The ‘fort’ contained several displays and a number of information boards around the place explaining the history of the place
Assisi is Michelle’s favourite place in Italy and we understand why. We could have spent another day exploring the town, including the church of St Francis of Assisi – the whole place is full of history. Nevertheless, we saw several churches and each one of them was different and each one of them was very, very old.
Perhaps a return visit may be in the offing.
