Italy Bellissimo Travelogue, continued
- Vilma Packard
- May 30, 2019
- 3 min read
Day 6 of Tour- Assisi and Venice
Travel rewards us immensely. It takes us out of our comfort zones. We get to meet people different from us, learn about their culture, their food, and language. It's good for our brains!
Three months prior to the trip, I familiarized myself with the language using the Duolingo app. The locals appreciate tourists speaking basic greetings. I enjoyed listening how Italians speak. I think the language is beautiful. Until now, I can still hear our Tour Director's voice and accent in my head.
It was a rainy day in Assisi when we visited the Basilica of St. Francis. The church was named UNESCO World Heritage site in 2000. On the way to the basilica, our Tour Director told us how popular St. Francis was that he was canonized shortly after he died. St. Francis was born from a wealthy family but chose the life of simplicity and piety. He showed by his living example of indiscriminately loving and accepting all of God's creations including animals and birds.
Our local guide met us where we were dropped off. We hiked up the hill on narrow, cobblestone street to the church. Before entering the church, we were warned that photography wasn't allowed inside. We entered in the lower basilica first where frescoes adorn the ceilings and walls of the church by late medieval Italian artists including the artist, Giotto. We descended the steps to St. Francis' crypt. The saint's remains were interned in the stone altar where a plaque indicated its location. I felt the solemnity of the place and if I didn't join a tour, I would have spent more prayerful time here.
The upper basilica was even more stunning with its 13th century stained glass windows and exquisite frescoes by Giotto which depicted St. Francis' life. A tourist not from our group, basically ignored the no photography sign here and started videotaping the frescoes. Our local guide was quick to point out the no photography rule and not long, the Italian church guard went up to her, asked for her phone and deleted the video she took.
Rainy Day at the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi.
We had a few minutes to shop for religious souvenir here before we headed down the hill to our bus. I wish we spent a little more time in Assisi, but it was time for us to head north to Venice.
Venice- Queen of the Adriatic
This was the 6th day of our tour and we had seen so many! I still couldn't believe we were headed north of the country. We were just in Naples the day before! Our bus dropped us off at a water taxi station.
Views from the water taxi to St. Mark's Square.
We took the water taxi to St. Mark's Square where we boarded the gondola. The energy in the Square was very intense that I was happy to leave it. Our Tour Director arranged for musicians to play for our tour group and they were in the gondola with another members of our group. At first, we could hear the music but later on they got farther away from us. It was an exhilarating experience, watching other tourists on their own boats. We understood how the city could be a romantic destination and saw several couples on their own private gondolas. My son suggested I should come back here with his dad. I've heard negative stories about the odor of the canals but we didn't smell anything at all while we were there.
Views during gondola ride then some free time at St. Mark's Square.
The gondola took us back to the Square. We were given a few minutes to walk around for a bit before we reunited with our group. We walked back to the water taxi which took us to our hotel. When we arrived, our bus driver was already there getting our bags unloaded. That night we had dinner and wine at the hotel which was nice after a long day.
Next: Venice and the Island of Burano
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