Ramblings with Randy & Heather

Day 10 - Assisi then on to Orvieto Our stop in Assisi was to learn about one of the most famous saints, Francis of Assisi. We had a wonderful guide for the day named Poula. We spent three hours walking the streets of Assisi learning about the history of the town and St. Francis. The town has a long history dating back to before Roman times. There are numerous Roman remains including part of the aqueduct and an almost complete temple to Minerva. Group photo with our tour guide and her husband.  Part of a Roman wall Random shots from our walking tour.  Roman temple to Minerva Back to St. Francis. St. Francis was born in 1181 in Assisi to a middle class merchant family. He seemed to lead a fairly carefree early life. Was a bit of a partier, did some military service but eventually had a conversion experience while visiting the run down church of San Damiano just outside of Assisi. Francis basically took a vow of poverty and eventually formed a new Catholic order around a simp...

Day 9 - Cortona to Assisi Our hotel was situated at the base of Cortona (bottom of the hill). Randy started the day by hiking up to the top where the Basilica of Saint Margherita was located. The valley below was covered in clouds, so it was quite the view. He was able to enter the Basilica and take some pictures. When we drove up the hill later in the day, we found out that a construction crew was repaving the parking lot, so the church was closed. After breakfast, we took a quick trip back to the Cortona Cathedral which we had visited for about 5 minutes on Monday before it closed and we had to leave. The Cathedral is also by the edge of the town, so we had a good view into the valley. The earlier fog had started to burn off, so it was another picturesque view of the valley.  Next up was to visit the local archeological museum in Cortona dedicated to the Etruscans. The Etruscans inhabited much of the area in present day Tuscany around the 9 th  century.  Much like the G...