Day 14: Stage 11: Assisi, 28 kms, Sun 25°

Special Or Unique Distractions!

As I write this post tonight, I’m sitting in a beautiful little piazza in Assisi. I was out to survey the various little grocery stores in the old town looking for something to have for my dinner tonight. I had this amazing pizza for lunch at 2 o’clock, so I’m not super hungry. At one of the little grocery stores in old town I spoke with the owner and it turned out that we both had a little of each other‘s language. This always makes it a whole lot easier for both parties. So I ended up with some nice crackers and some nice prosciutto and some really nice looking cheese with a little bottle of white wine. I suppose that dinner tonight will be a little bit of a charcuterie. The prosciutto is apparently the best type they make, and I’m eager to try that. Of course!

On my way back from the store I was walking up another hill, because it’s hilly everywhere in town, when I saw a small bar. I decided rather than go back to my little apartment all alone that I would sit and write my blog at one of the little outside tables in this beautiful piazza while enjoying a cold beer. The woman that serve me also brought some nice looking potato chips to go with my cold beer. Almost a whole meal! This beer is a blonde ale made by Flea. I’ve seen their beer around, but never had one before. So what the hell! Looks pretty good, right? Now I see that it’s made by a company called Costanza! It took me a little while to figure that out!

My view!

Back to the walk today. 

I left a Perugia in pretty good time this morning. It was early enough that I ran into all the commuters coming into town over the following two hours. Sheesh!

Early on I could tell that the walk was going to be a bit of a slog today. I was walking on lots of roads with very little in the way of a verge so I had to walk carefully because of all the traffic. However, I did get a couple of nice photographs of Perugia as I descended off the hill.

Completely unexpectedly, I passed by this really cool looking castle. I can just imagine some wealthy people owning their own castle here. The maintenance doesn’t make it sound too appealing to me, but really nice to look at!
As the walk began to look a little more desperate I kind of decided that this was simply going to be a transit stage back to the main route to Rome. I think I knew this all along. So I put my music on and decided I would look for special or unique distractions to help take my mind off the grind. First up. 

Then I came upon this really interesting wooden bridge. I wasn’t expecting that. Mind you I had no idea what to expect today😂

Just above the bridge was a full size weir. Lots of water coming over it.

And in the pond behind it there was a decent reflection of a train bridge. 
Another unique distraction was this beautiful egret. I was very surprised that it didn’t fly away as is usually the case here. Sorry Dennis, I didn’t see any white feathers for J, but I am looking.

I followed the river on top of a dike for a couple of kilometers. Things were looking up!
At least this cat didn’t hide, or look like he was going to attack me. There were actually two of them just sitting there outside a huge dog compound. I couldn’t figure out if it was a dog pound or a kennel. There must’ve been 200 dogs in there.

I thought that might be Ripa across the way on top of the hill. I really enjoyed my stay there.

I found these beautiful patterns in the barley. With the wind stirring the grain stocks, the changing patterns are almost hypnotic. 

And yes, Louise, there were still poppies!

And then another unique miracle happened!$

Yep, there was a break spot! I must say, there haven’t been very many of these on this route. There were lots more on the Via Francigena last year. This was pretty darn excellent!
The next small distraction was this beautiful rose. Annemarie tells me that my rosebushes are in full bloom right now. I can just imagine.

Then I came upon this really fun bridge which took me over the river. 

And on a busy road I found three car washes that distracted me from all the traffic. 

And then, my first few of Assisi!
I was definitely distracted by this delicious looking ice cream ad. It jumped right out at me! Oh, and Assisi is behind in the distance. 

Really?

Rob, our favorite, Italian tree is beginning to show up! I must be getting far enough south now to begin to find them.
This sign distracted me. At just 11 o’clock it was a bit warm and humid. 

Further along I stumbled onto the Basilica of St Mary  of the Angles. It was huge and apparently something quite special. It’s rated 4.9/5 on Google maps! 

So I went in. 

Very cool! It’s not often that you see a tiny older church inside another church. As a matter of fact, the only other time I can remember seeing this I think was in Cordoba, but that’s a Christian cathedral inside an Islamic mosque. Also, very cool! 

This is the Porziuncola and as far as I can sort out this little church was gifted to Francis and his followers by the Benedictines. They repaired it and it became central operations for the Friars Minor. Francis died here at the chapel in 1226. In the 16th century the basilica was constructed over the Porziuncola to provide more room for the faithful who come here in large numbers every August 2nd for a specific Papal forgiveness. 

You aren’t allowed to take photos inside the Porziuncola. I can only tell you that it was very special inside and I was fortunate to stumble on this. I’d never have walked all the way down and back otherwise. 

I had arrive just in the nick of time. A priest started to ring a bell and clear the church as it was closing for the afternoon. I had no idea this was on my route today. I really should try reading a little more ahead of time.😉
Seriously, I’m wondering if this means that Saint Francis is in this church? I’ll do a little reading because I thought his remains were actually in the Basilica here in Assisi. Further report tomorrow.


You don’t see it in this photograph, but there was a ton of traffic coming and going to the left of me. The purpose of this photograph was to show you the walkway

Isn’t this cool!? People from all over the world have donated money to have this walkway installed all the way from the place where there is a little church inside a big church up to the main Basilica in Assisi. It’s kind of like when I was a soccer coach, and the parents and players kindly recognize my efforts one year by buying a brick inside the expanded football facilities where I coached. Here, I guess your name goes on the top to recognize your contribution and your donation. This walkway runs for over 2 km! Maybe even three?

I’ll be back on the main route the day after tomorrow and I believe that I head up along the side of that mountain. 



Arriving. 

Late lunch, which has more or less become my dinner. A mushroom pizza. I realized that I was still waiting for that first pizza. They get better the further south you go in Italy. I figured I was far enough south! 

I found that focusing on many special and unique distractions as I passed by helped transform a slog into something a little more fun. I suppose there’s a good life lesson in there somewhere🤔

I have a full day here tomorrow before I get down to some serious walking. I know, it’s time. I’ve never taken so many tourist days in such a short time during a walk. 

Lastly, Happy birthday to Puck away up in Holland. I hope you had a special day!🥳🎂🎉🎶🎶❤️