Giorno Otto

Assisi - what a different experience! As a lapsed Catholic, there was still an intense spirituality about the place.  Plus, the Roman ruins were way more apparent, the local scenery gorgeous and there were groups of Asian, Africans, etc instead of the homogeneous Europeans.  We first went to the Basilica of St. Francis.  I had been there before, but the sheer majesty of the building with it’s Gothic arches and every square inch of wall and ceiling covered with art work was beyond description.  We listened to an audio/visual presentation at a kiosk in the upper basilica for 2 Euros which was money well spent.  Really got a lot out of it.  There are 28 panels depicting the life of St Francis. Also saw the reliquary where they had a piece of his clothing with the stigmata.  The town itself is a mixture of religious kitch and Umbrian food.  There were shops that sold porcchetta. One lady gave us a sample.  I have got to have some more of that before we leave!  The Church of Santa Chiara is OK, but the view from the courtyard is stunning.  We then went to a place outside of Spello where they have unearthed a large Roman home with beautiful floor mosaics.
Back to Trevi for the usual aperativ and dinner.  Best barley and lentil soup ever.  Caprese salad and beef with roasted veggies (the beef was just OK - would have made a better cheesesteak).  Fresh fruit for dessert.
Weirdest thing today - at first I thought it would be the Pope bobble head, but then Georgia found some sausage that is called Grandfather’s Testicles.  A winner!!!

The Basilica of St Francis

The Basilica of St Francis

Temple of Diana

Pope Francis Bobblehead

Another Boar's Head

German and Italian Pasta - note the colors

Porchetta

Yum!

View from Assisi

Here They Are!!!!

In case you needed something for your home altar

View from the Plaza at St Chiara

Roman Mosaics Spello

Roman Mosaics - Spello

Giorno Sette

Another beautiful day in Umbria.  Lieu and I walked after breakfast thorough the countryside of olive orchards.  Did a little more exploring of the town as well.  Lunch was at a little restaurant around the corner from the hotel.  I had beef tartar with an egg yolk on a bed of arugula with shaved truffles.  A little out of my comfort zone, but damn it was good!  Georgia and I split an order of creamed pumpkin soup and she had gnocchi with a local red wine and Gorgonzola sauce.  Really did not need the dinner tonight, but suffered through it anyway.
This afternoon, we went to the local museum with religious pieces from the 1300s in the same building as the Olive Oil Museum.  Fascinating as well.  We walked around town a little more.  The town has a walking tour with 38 stops.  There are little painted footprints on the cobblestones and a guidebook in some of the most fractured English ever, obviously not proofread by an English speaker. It starts out “Our land is a not unknown part of Umbria, which has lived intensely every period of the Italian History, as testified by the many vestiges scattered almost everywhere across the territory.”
Weirdest thing of the day was when Lieu and I were walking we ran into an old Italian man who was trying to chat us up, even though we told he we didn’t speak Italian.  Didn’t stop him for a minute.  He kept up quite the one sided conversation.
Tomorrow is Assisi

Olive Groves

Steak Tartar with Shaved Truffles

Trevi

From the Museum in Trevi

From the Trevi Museum

Giorno Sei

This morning we went to an olive press co-op.  You have to have 600kg of olives to be allowed to press.  They press them within 24 hours of picking.  It’s all quite high tech.  We learned how to taste olive oil too - warm the cup in your hand, cover with your other hand.  When warm, sniff, sip, then take in air through your teeth (without aspirating).  It was lovely.
We then went to Spello, a small hill town with tiny little alleys loaded with flowers in baskets and spilling over balconies.  The artists were in heaven. They had really really nice shops with some high end clothing, more like pieces of art.  It was fun poking around.  Had my first gelato of the trip - cherry.  Yummmmmmy!!
Tonight before dinner they had “special Italian music” for us.  It was a guitarist and a woman singer.  They dragged out every old Dean Martin hit you ever heard - That’s Amore, O Solo Mio, Mamba Italiana, and of course Volare.  Cheesy but fun.
Dinner tonight was melon with prosciutto, ravioli with ricotta and spinach and their special “black celery”.  It is a specialty of the area.  The celery is not really black but has dark green leaves.  They took a bunch of it and sliced it into 2” rounds, deep fried it and served with a red sauce.  Unique and quite good.  Dessert was sweet wine and biscotti.
Weirdest thing I saw today - a finger rosary - just 10 little beads on an elastic band with a tiny cross.  When you just don’t have enough time for all those Our Fathers and Hail Marys

The Olive Oil Co-op

Olive Trees

First Olives of the Season

High tech processing

Olive Oil Vats

My Friend Lieu

Gorgeous pottery

Looked like a Chilluly Sculpture

Street Scene in Spello

Boar's Head

Wall Art Spello

More Beautiful Flowers Spello

View from the Wall - Spello

Clever Idea for Planter Boxes

Cute Idea for Plants

Giorno Cinque

Last night’s festival was surreal.  There were three teams of drummers competing, all in medieval dress.  The coordination and practice required must have taken hundreds of hours.   My team won.

Today we went to Todi where they were having their own medieval festival, complete with more drums and a parade of hundreds of people in medieval costumes.  Now I know who makes those costumes in the back of the pattern magazines.  They were beautiful. There was also a group with falcons and owls.  The market had a number of purveyors of cheese, sausage and truffle products and everyone was offering a free sample,  The view from the city was breathtaking.  

Tonight’s dinner was fish in foil that was so delicious - served over a crust of thinly sliced potatoes with capes, olives and tomatoes.  

We learned a lot from our guide today.  Spaghetti and meatballs is an American invention since the Italians do not eat that much meat with their pasta.  Spaghetti bolongese is inaccurate because spaghetti is a southern Italian food and Bolognese is a northern Italian sauce.  It would be paperdelle or tagliatelle.  In the north, they make pasta with eggs, in the south just with their softer flour. Lasagna is only made with bechamel sauce, not ricotta.  

Weirdest thing we saw on TV was Diners, Drive In’s and Dives in Italian.  They have Guy Fiere dubbed in.  There is also a potato chip like snack called Wackos.  

Sorry about no photos.  Will have to wait until I get back.

                                             Candy food truck from Perugia

                                           Trevi drummers

                                          Trevi drummers

                                              Trevi drummers

                                                     Market in Todi

                                            Market in Todi - lots of free samples

                                                       Owl on display

                                                        Owl on display

                                                     Wackos, the new snack food

                                           Beautiful jewelry at a gallery in Todi

                                          Lunch Todi

Caprese salad

Medieval Bread Woman 

Medieval Marchers

Medieval Marchers

Giorno Quattro

Where to begin?  The hotel is in an 18th century palazzo.  Our room is spacious with few electrical outlets.  Nightlight or phone plug in but not both at the same time.  We were greeted with a glass of prosecco, settled in, and went to explore the town.  Population 8000 with buildings dating back centuries.  There is a 40 site walking tour which is wonderful.  We found a cute bar called Open Celery in Italian, a play on open sesame.  The proprietor greeted us with “kinichiwa”.  Then bon jour, guten abend and bono sera. After walking around and having our usual apperativo, we headed to dinner at the hotel.  Stated with potato croquettes in a cheese sauce followed by tortellini in a truffle and porcini sauce followed by eggplant parmesean and a milleflore dessert, washed down with the local vino of course.
This morning’s breakfast was fit for a king - fruit, yogurt, granola, eggs, bacon, cold cuts, Brie cheese and lots of pastries.  We walked around town a little more,then went to Fonti del Clitunno, a beautiful park for the artists to paint.  There were drooping willows, water, swans, etc.  Lieu, one of the women on the tour is not a painter so we took off walking - did 6 miles.  We saw a lot of the countryside - olive groves and olive oil presses, a factory that makes pizza ovens and a truffle shop.  The proprietor let us smell the white truffles -  addictive!  They go for 200 Euros per kilo.  Yikes!!
There was a man alongside the road in a beater car with his trunk open, picking things off the ground,  He handed us a bunch of walnuts and showed us how to open them with a rock.  The weather is drop dead gorgeous.
On the way back, we went to a 2700 year old olive tree where the first bishop of Trevi was hanged and beheaded in 300AD.  Wish I could down load the photos now.
The town is having a medieval festival tonight with drumming, etc.  It should be quite the party.  Wonder what’s for dinner???

                                                   Hotel Entrance

                                          Our Room

                                         Town Square Trevi

                                          View from the wall - Trevi

                                          Fonti de Clitunno

                                          Swans at Fonti de Clitunno

                                                     Fonti de Clitunno

                                           Pizza ovens

                                           Lunch

                                                   The oldest olive tree

                                                    Georgia and me at the oldest olive tree

                                                    Olives on the tree.  Don't eat them- they taste nasty