We may have mentioned that it has been very hot the last few days. Well today was no exception with temps once again in the high 30's we ventured off to see perched on another hilltop, the medieval city of Assissi. We scrambled up the cobble streets to be greeted by a Canadian Francescan Monk, Friar Edward who was in Assissi to do English speaking tours of the Basillica for 6 weeks. Friar Edward escorted us into the refreshingly cool interior of St Francis Basillica. Another amazingly beautiful interior with domed ceilings. This time the walls and ceilings were decorated with painted frescoes depicting stories of St Francis of Assissi. Differing to the Basillica in Venice which took hundreds of years to complete this one only took two years. Very impressive. We descended underground to the lower church of the Basillica where we recited a prayer and received a blessing from Friar Edward as we gazed upon the tomb of St Francis.
After our tour of the Basillica was over we had a bit of spare time to wonder the streets of Assissi. Hugging the walls to walk in the meter wide strip of shade in the streets we soon decided that now was a good opportunity for our daily gelato as it was way too hot for a cappuccino.
Experience 29. No siesta for us. Spoleto. 18 June.
Only the stupid tourists were out and about in Spoleto during the afternoon. It was absolutely scorching. All the locals were safely ensconced in their homes out of the heat of the day. I would have been happy to stay in doors but Chez was keen to get amongst it, so off we went.
Spoleto is not a big place...there is an old castle on top of a hill that was used as a prison for a long time, a modest duomo, and an old roman house but the best attraction is the roman built aqua duct. It is an amazing piece of engineering still standing strong. We were able to walk across it, thankfully in the shade. On the far side was a bit of a ruin...old church etc and some nice bush tracks which we followed for a bit...great views back to the aqua duct and loads more shade. This is a popular running spot for the locals..but only very early in the morning at this time of year I would imagine......I was making my plans for the next morning as we strolled about.
At some point we found a nice little restaurant that was populated with a large number of locals. It was dark and cool and the food was fine. I don't have any idea where it was, I was delirious from the heat by this time but managed a bit of food and loads of cool refreshing aqua naturale.
Back in town and the fierce heat had not dissipated at all. Finally we were able to call it a day and I stumbled back to the hotel for a drink or twenty!
I didn't do the run I had planned cause I was too dehydrated from the last few days of touring about.
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