Another early start saw us on the road
to Assisi. Today has been a complete change from yesterday, instead of grey and
wet skies we have a blue and sunny outlook. Although the wind was cold the much
better weather is much appreciated.
Today is about exploring the birth and
burial place of St Francis of Assisi. It is a small town located in the
countryside of Umbria. Although it functions as a modern town, it is a
beautiful time capsule from the 14th century.
A view from the city of Assisi
More views of the Umbrian countryside
Our first activity was to climb up the
incredibly steep road into the city and on to the double church of St Francis.
This building is literally one church built on top of another earlier church.
The lower church contains a crypt where St Francis is buried and the top church
is decorated by a fresco painted by Giotto.
The group in front of the twin churches of St
Francis
Unfortunately we can’t show you any of
the beautiful interiors as it was forbidden to take photographs inside, but we
were treated to the beautiful singing of a boys choir in the lower church as we
entered because a mass was in progress. The church also has a bell tower which
contains many bells. Thus when the mass ended we were excited to hear the
pealing of these bells.
Once the tour was over the party broke
up into several groups. Some went shopping for souvenirs and some of us went
“adventure walking”. We took the small mini bus (a full size one would not fit
in the narrow streets) up to the top of the hill and then walked down through
the narrow Medieval streets of this beautiful town.
A view in Assisi
Some of us in one of the streets during our
“Adventure Walk”
Matthew Lane and his Mum
Sometimes “adventure Walking requires us to
climb up to have a look at the view
One of the many Shrines we saw throughout he
town
Everyone enjoyed their afternoon and will
have many stories to take home about sights seen, hills and steps climbed,
treasures seen and purchased.
We met the bus at the bottom of the hill
and were taken to our hotel for the night.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments will not be posted until approved by St Paul's College
Comment as: Name / URL, Enter your name and leave URL blank