After a quick stop for lunch after our hour adventure in public transit, we wander up the hills and take in the sights of Assisi, a beautifully maintained and restored old city that includes the cathedral that holds the tomb of St. Francis, the Basilica of St. Francis, which actually consists of an upper and lower basilica.
After taking in the magnificent frescoes, and paying our respects to St. Francis, we continue to wander uphill.
There's a lot to see on another gloriously sunny day, and best of all, few other tourists. We're very fortunate to be able to travel off-season. The great weather is a fantastic bonus.
After all of that climbing, it's time to stop for a capuccino. It turns out we've run across another Italian artist.
It tastes as good as it looks.
We walk very nearly to the top but stop a hundred yards or so short of the old castle, the Rocca Maggiore. Perhaps we'll return, but now it's time to walk back down the hill. Only wimps take buses. To put it another way, we're already spending a fair amount of our day on public transportation and it feels great to walk and to enjoy the vistas.
We take a moment to admire the Temple of Minerva.
Then it's time to walk down the remaining slopes.
We buy one-Euro tickets to ride the bus back to the stazione, and admire the glorious pink tones of the sun-bathed adjacent buildings.
At the stazione Kathy figures out we can be back in Soriano an hour earlier by taking the Eurostar to Orte, only four stops away. We buy up for another 14 Euros and ride in relative luxury all the way back to Orte, where a bus whisks us back to Soriano in time for another dinner at the Tre Scalini.
Yet another great day in Italy draws to a close.
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