Beautiful Assisi

 My only regret regarding our visit to Assisi is that we didn't spend enough time there.

We arrived late in the afternoon on Sunday and left at 10:00 the next morning.

Assisi, birthplace of St. Francis, is a beautiful town located on a hilltop...or maybe a mountain?... overlooking farmlands below. The city of Perugia, site of the Amanda Knox trial, lies nearby.

The town consists of narrow streets, stone-paved walkways, and flowers everywhere. Oh, and it also has 29 churches. That's a good number of churches for a population of about 27,000.

I loved this town and wish we'd had more time to explore it.

We got up early Monday morning to a light rain. The four of us wanted to explore, though, and perhaps even find a few shops open.

Soon the rain turned a little heavier, so Jim and Lynn decided to head back to the hotel. Ken and I forged ahead.

We found an interesting walkway leading up, up, up into the residential area.

Everywhere we saw pots and window boxes of flowers. Flowers everywhere. I couldn't stop myself from taking dozens and dozens of photos during our walk.

This is one of my favorite shots, because there's a nun standing at the top of the stairs. How fitting for Assisi! (Double-click on this photo so you can see her, too. In fact, double-click on any photo if you'd like a closer look.)

I was amazed at how artistically the walkways were built, and how clean all areas are kept.

I loved the arches above. Just beautiful.

We encountered Jim and Lynn again on our way back to the hotel. We also encountered an open shop. Not just any shop, but a leather shop!

Lynn and I ogled the handmade bags and shoes. Not only did we ogle them, we each bought a pair of sandals and a wallet.
Ken got into the shopping mood long enough to buy himself a new belt. (Ken's shopping moods never last long, unless he's buying rusty parts for his Model T and Model A.)

After I'd paid for my purchases, the shop owner (and leather-goods artisan) suddenly kissed my hand. I was a bit surprised, but not as I surprised as I was when he then kissed my cheek! To add to my utter shock, I then kissed his cheek! What was going on here, anyway??!!

I scurried out of the shop before things got way out of hand.

Our final view of Assisi was from the roof of our hotel. There we could see for miles, and we could see that blue skies were returning for the next leg of our journey: to the port where we'd sail overnight to Greece.