Saturday 22 August

Again up very early but this time off on a 13 hour tour out of Rome through the region of Umbria and specifically to the villages of Orvieto and Assisi. The coach also drove for a little while through the Tuscan region.

Our tour guide this time was a woman and her name was Mara and the driver's name was Christian. We drove through the reasonably quiet streets to start with as it was very early and went. On to the motorway. We quickly got into the countryside which was quite green and in parts looked like the countryside in New Zealand. There were about 18 of us on the bus but we were the only people from New Zealand. There were a number of Australians, Americans, English and also some people from Lebanon and Argentina. Mara could speak very well in English and also Spanish for those from Argentina.

Our first part of the drive was probably around one and a half hours and then we arrived in the village. Of Orvieto. To get to the village which was up the top of a very high hill we had to go in a cable car and then travel in one of the local buses.

14th century church with the outside under renovation

Market day in Orvieto

Orvieto is well known for it's wonderful ceramics

Typical street in the town of Orvieto.

We had a good look around the town which I really loved. There was a Saturday morning market happening and some of the local people were selling their produce. We went inside the cathedral 

which although it was being rebuilt on the outside was beautiful on the inside. We also looked at the shops with ceramics in them. I bought a few little things there. 

Then it was time to get back on the bus again and off we went. This time it was off to get lunch at a lovely homestead with a vineyard attached. The people there made wine that they sold and also had some little cabins that people could stay in. The nearest town to the homestead was called Maffa.

We had a beautiful lunch of bruschetta, pasta, thinly sliced beef and fruit. We then had a wander around the grounds before we got back on the bus again.

These pictures are from our lunch venue.

After saying thank you to our hosts we were off again. This time to the town of Assisi where St Francis of Assisi lived and died. There are two beautiful churches in the area dedicated to him. The town also celebrates the life of a second Saint - Saint Clara and there is also another church dedicated to her with her tomb inside. Again we travelled high up into the hills and came to the town with it's beautiful views of the stunning countryside below.