Best of Italy

Part 2

20 & 21 April Assisi  Hotel Giotto

I have come Home! A beautiful place and we have a fantastic view of the town and across the valley from our ‘Juliet’ balcony window.

 Fantastico!! I loved --- Oh, the bells from the church in the valley below are ringing (St Mary of the Angels – Santa Maria Degli Angeli) a beautiful, beautiful sound. NOW the ones in the tower outside our hotel are ringing too!

 To continue – I loved the Basilica of San Francesco. Beautiful gothic arches and stained glass windows that have survived earthquakes and wars for 800 years. I loved the little chapel dedicated to Mary that is decorated with Stars of David. The town has a proud history, including saving all their Jewish citizens who lived here during WWII. St Francis promoted peace & love and the place exuded that feeling.

Swallows are flying overhead and I heard an owl this morning. There are lots of owls so I want to find out what the association with owls is/was. (Found out later it is the emblem for Minerva the Goddess of Wisdom – Roman equivalent to Athena, and in the main piazza there is the Temple of Minerva now a church - Santa Maria sopra Minerva ) -  so they still keep reference to what the original structure was built. I like that idea – not destroying the past but incorporating it.

Pity we only have one night here – I could stay a couple of days at least! (updated note – we DID return in 2012 and stayed 6 nights! Fabulous!! Will be writing up that trip later)

Have had 5 gelato flavours so far – 2 together last night – all delicious but I think the hazelnut is my favourite so far.

21 April Venice (Mainland side)

On the way to Venice we stopped at a wee place (Ravenna)with the Basilica of St Apollinare – beautiful mosaics done in the 900’s.

Then we had lunch at the local Trattoria for €12 each we had wine, salad and a fantastic lasagna. Apparently this dish originated in this area. The waiter gave us a card with their website on it so we can get the recipe.

As soon as we got to Venice about 3:30pm we got into Gondolas. Anna put us in the gondola with Barbara & Tomas as it was their wedding anniversary a couple of days ago and Eddie’s birthday next week. “You will go together in the most romantic gondola”, she said. We had an accordion player in the middle of the boat and an old man sitting up front. After a couple of tunes the old man stood up and started to sing! Some Italian songs and some not, such as Tom Jones’ ‘Delilah’, but sung in Italian (or Venetian). We also had sparkling wine to drink. A fun way to introduce us to Venice.

Then a guide took us through some back, narrow side streets – but still full of shops – to St Marks square. No time for shopping as Anna had hired water taxis to take us on the Grand Canal back to the parking area. When we got back a young woman presented us with photos she had taken as we went past one of the bridges. €5 but a worthwhile souvenir.

We go back to Piazza San Marco tomorrow for shopping and sight-seeing. We are now out of the cash we brought with us so we’ll have to find – and use – a Bancomat for the first time! Another new experience of Italy!

22 April – Venezia

Back to Venice proper after a wee tour around the Lagoon. Before being ‘let loose’ for a few hours Anna took us to the show room of Murano glass just down a small side street of Piazza San Marco. We were shown a brief making of a vase with handles – took the artisan all of 3 minutes to complete! The we were taken into one room of their show rooms and the salesman told us about how they produce the colours. Then he did a sales pitch about getting a decanter & glass set for only €790 or €990 if you wanted the red! That DID include shipping to your own country however (very generous of them)!!

Surprisingly we did not want the glass set but were taken by the figurines of birds & animals. We bought a beautiful owl for €230. Then we asked, if we bought masks from downstairs, could they be shipped as well for the same price. Federico (married to an Australian) went downstairs and asked. ‘Si’ he told us when he came back and took us down to the mask salesman. We bought two! One for our daughter who had travel to Venice on her OE but couldn’t get a mask as it would have squashed in her backpack. We got her a full sized one and a smaller blue & white one for us.

On the way out we found a Bancomat and got our money out with no trouble at all. Another couple were outside a coffee shop so as we were not going to have anything to eat until around 3pm for our group ‘linner’ or ‘lupper’ at Burano we decided to sit there too. Another tour couple came shortly after so the 6 of us sat and people-watched while we drank the best cappuccino I have tasted since being in Italy!.  After that we wandered and found a t-shirt for our youngest granddaughter.

We then went and looked in the Duomo – beautiful! Even more? No, different, but equally as fabulous as St Peters.

We then went up the lift of the bell tower. Anna had told us not to go up at 12 noon as they ring the bells. So, we went up about 12:40pm. However, we were still there at 1:00pm and they rang again!! Everyone there had to put fingers in their ears! It was fantastic though, seeing these 4 BIG bells ringing, taking a while to get full swing before their giant clappers hit against the inner sides of the bell. One was only a couple of feet above our heads!! A thrilling experience. No wonder Quasimodo loved his bells!!!

The views from the tower over the island city were amazing. I took numerous photos and did not feel nervous as I usually do when high up.

 At 2pm we went on another water taxi ride across the lagoon, pass the Island of Murano where the glass is officially – and only – made, and onto the cute Island of Burano with its colourful houses. There we had our ‘lupper’ – 4 courses plus coffee and/or fruit! We didn’t finish eating until nearly 5pm. We had to get the taxi back at 5:25pm so only had a quick look around the shops. I bought 2 beautiful hand embroidered scarves as gifts for friends back home for only €15.

We then came back here to the mainland Venice for an early night. Had a bath as I felt a bit achy in feet & shoulders.

We have to get up at 6am tomorrow, as we have to make sure we get to Milan in time to see “The Last Supper”. Tickets are hard to get but Anna managed it as we are a small group (only 25 allowed in to see it at a time and we are 24!) However, as it’s a Friday the highway could be quite ‘trafficated’ (One of Anna’s expressions) so we have to allow extra travel time.

PART 3   The last days of our Best of Italy Guided Tour