Went to Italy...

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Sadly, the star attractions for me there in Assisi, of both the tomb of St Francis and the Giotto frescoes all over the Basilica, had 'no cameras' signs all over the place. But here are some of the photos I took of other stuff I saw...

A view across and down at the city of Assisi whilst on my way climbing up to Monte Subasio:

A former Roman temple to Minerva in the town square, now used as a church ("Santa Maria sopra Minerva")

There's more...

 

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The Alps from 11,000m in the air:

A view over the Spoleto valley through an arrow slit in the Rocca Maggiore (an ancient fortress that dominates the surrounding country):

And old friar taking a walk:

 

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The Eremio delle Carceri - a sanctuary built by St Bonaventura to preserve the hidey-holes and what-not used by St Francis and his pals:

A baker's shop window:

 

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And a view of Assisi from the south, looking up at the Basilica San Francesco from the red brick road that leads all the way down to Santa Maria Deghli Angeli:

 

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Y'all enjoy now

(The rest are all on my Flickr, obviously.)

Oh, and here's a piece of advice: although Italy is a REALLY good place to buy new shoes, climbing Monte Subasio is not a good way to break them in.

 

[Valiant]

Beautiful Despite every weird thing about italy, I love it.

 

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Thanks

Can't think of anything weird about it myself, but I suppose from a French perspective it isn't really that much different... heh.

 

[Valiant]

Love France too, and yes it is almost as weird as Italy for a scandinavian person But we sure are weird, too. In some ways. But we have much more calm traffic I don't like driving, and Italy is like a nightmare for me But that's about it.

 

[Alchemist]

I love Italy. The food there is just phenomenal. Phew, those baked sweets look really good. I guess I'll go cook now, hahaha.

-A

 

[mippus]

Your post nearly made me cry for wanting to go back to Italy.
Thanks, I guess
When processing your photographs, have you tried to put them into B/W? I feel that Assisi is one of the few cities where that really works well...

 

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Well, I have a good printer - or that is, a printer that prints very nice photos when it's working well, but at the moment it isn't working well. So I put most of the pictures on my Flickr - which I do anyway, since I've never been one for hoarding physical stuff, I'd rather have it all stored and viewable electronically, without taking up any actual physical space in my home.

I did get some printed for the benefit of my technophobic acquaintances, heheh, but they never come out as well as when I do them at home. The sky is a deep blue on most of those pictures where the sky is involved, but they came out at the shop much paler. I've a mind to get my money back actually...

 

[EffEmDoubleyou]

Italy is my dream destination. I never considered Assisi as a place to visit there, but these photos are making me reconsider. I guess I'll just have to go more than once!

I love the photo of the Alps from the plane...it reminds me of a photo I took of Mount St. Helens from a plane.

 

[Tigerlily]

W/B, glad you had a nice time.

Your photos are breathtaking. I think L and I are going to have to stop over in Italy the next time we're over that way (likely next year).

Thanks so much for sharing. I'll check out your flikr ones in a bit.

 

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Thanks

Yeah I'll go back there again anytime, for sure. No offence to England, but being back is a real come down! hahaha...

 

[CzeCze]

Welcome back!

And my goodness I would gain a lot of weight if I lived in Italy. Those baked goods + daily intake of cured meats and cheese + copious amounts of olive oil. Yep, I would go there with pants a 1/2 size too large in anticipation.

 

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Actually with it being Lent I'm not eating meat at the moment - which is no problem in Italy, there's SO much gorgeous food without having to go anywhere near the meat!!

But I actually lost 3kg because of all the mountain climbing haha!

 

[Griffi97]

Your pictures are beautiful - thanks for posting them.

My husband and I are off to Italy next week, going to Rome, Florence, and Venice. I can't wait!

 

[Falcarius]

I love the pictures, and welcome back.

 

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Thanks again. I didn't go to Rome - I could've done it, but the guy I was staying with said it wasn't worth it unless I could spend at least a week there, he said there's just too much to see and you can't get a proper taste of the place in less than a week. Whereupon, I abandoned the idea of going there and figured I'd do it as he suggests, spend a week there some other time.

Being the medieval dickweed I am though, I must go there sometime. There, Santiago de Compostela and Jerusalem are must-go's for me. I'd like to see old Antioch and the other crusader kingdoms too, see what my naughty ancestors left behind there...

 

[cascadeco]

I love the first photo, and the photo with the gray horse. And the photo of the baker's shop reminds me of..all the cities in Italy!!

I don't know...I felt like I got a good taste of Rome with only three full days. But like anywhere, you're not *really* going to understand the place unless you stay there for quite some time.