Week 2: Day Trip to Assisi
I was feeling a day trip after our weekend trip to Sorrento last week. I didn’t want to deal with finding a hostel and worrying about getting back and all the chaos that comes with the weekend trips. So my room mate, Mallory, and I decided to take a day trip to the lovely little town of Assisi.
There were multiple reasons I wanted to go: first of all, I went to St. Francis high school, and in case you didn’t know, St. Francis was from Assisi, so that was a pretty big incentive. Second of all, I love the small, old little towns outside of Rome, they were my favorite part of my last trip to Italy. I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Third of all, I’ve heard that time hasn’t really touched the town all that much, and I’m all for feeling like I took a time machine back into the past. Since I’m a history major, I’d say that’s my favorite feeling in the entire world (aside from eating delicious gelato after a fantastic dinner, of course).
So Mallory and I booked our tickets and got up at 7:30 in the morning to get to the train station. We made it in time to sit down and have some coffee before our train left, which was nice. The train ride was full of tunnels that made my ears pop like crazy, so that was certainly an experience.
We got to a small town near Assisi, and had to take a regional train there. It was a 20 minute train ride, so not too bad. It was getting up to the city center that was difficult. We bought bus tickets, but the bus ended up being a zoo so we just took a cab. I’d say that taking that cab was one of the best life choices I’ve made here so far.
We had some pretty good lunch, although we had no clue what we were ordering so when it came out, Mallory and I tried it and said “not what we were expecting, but we like it!” We were expecting long noodles, but it was actually a noodle that was stuffed with cheese, like ravioli. It was delicious.
We visited the church of Saint Clare and the church of St. Francis, which was super beautiful and amazing. Everything was covered in beautiful paintings and frescos. I was a huge fan from the second we walked in.
After that, we walked around and we were craving some gelato. We stopped at this place called Santa Monica, which looked to be a cute coffee shop and gelataria from the outside. We walked in and were instantly confused. There were giant sweets that looked like Bundt cakes on the shelves. We had no idea what it was but we liked it. We finally were able to ask, and they told us it was CHOCOLATE. All of these giant things that we originally thought were cakes were different kinds of chocolates. We both ordered espresso and some chocolate, because when are you ever going to get to do that again!?
We got seated in a small little courtyard they had attached to the restaurant, and we had our espresso brought out in cute, decorated cups along with our chocolate. It was probably the most heavenly combination I’ve ever tasted (which is saying something because I’m not that into coffee).
It was wonderful. We left feeling super happy. After that we got some pastries from a bakery near the taxi stand. Since we were so high up in the mountains, it wasn’t like the taxis were coming every five minutes. So we headed down to the bus stop, which was a good 10 minute walk. We realized if we waited for the bus, we would never make our train. As we were starting to freak out, we saw a cab coming up the hill. We booked it to the taxi stand in order to catch it before it left. Thankfully we made it!
Taking the regional train all the way back to Rome was probably not the best life choice. The regional trains are very different from the big companies. They cost less, but you seriously get what you pay for. Since it’s so cheap, the seats aren’t comfy, and there is no air conditioning. I fell asleep but woke up because I was so warm and sticky. It was a mess.
Finally, we made it home and felt very fulfilled after a successful day. But we were glad to see our beds and not have to worry about checking out the next day!
Day trips are wonderful because they are short, sweet and to the point. But I know a lot of people who are taking weekend trips who are also enjoying themselves! My tip for this blog entry: travel around. If you’re in one place the entire time you’re abroad (whether for school, work or vacation), you aren’t going to gain the rich cultural experience that you would from travelling around the country or the continent you’re on. Take advantage of the cheap(er) transportation and GO SOMEWHERE NEW!
That’s all I got for you guys!
Ciao for now!