 August 31 Today our itinerary would take us through some of the historic sites of Umbria. Artifacts can be found from the Etruscans, the Romans, and many centuries of Christian civilization.
South of Assisi lies the ancient city of Spoleto. Two of the dominant structures are the castle (Rocca) and the Roman aqueduct (Ponte Delle Torri). Traveling on, we came to Todi. One of the subplots of our adventures with Kelly and Andy was the need to find shipping boxes for their bikes. We had found one in a bike shop near Assisi, but we needed another. Driving into Todi, we spotted a bike shop. It was closed, but the owner was due back soon. When he returned, Andy asked about a box and the owner said "sure, follow me" (or words to that effect, none of us spoke Italian). He went racing off on a Vespa and we followed as best we could in the Audi. A short distance south of town, he turned in to a small, modern, suburban area and pulled up to house with attached garage. Two minutes later, we were folding a bike box into the trunk of the Audi and he was zipping back to work. We had the impression that we had solved a disposal problem for him, just as he has solved a packing problem for us. With our box safely stowed, we returned to the town. It's no accident that fortified towns are
 Once again, we parked and hiked UP into town. We felt we must be getting some good exercise, we climbed the hill into town with little effort. Todi is full of interesting buildings and side streets. On the way back to the car, we decided to take a shortcut on a path that appeared on our map of the town. Well, the shortcut appeared on the map but not on the ground. The four of us went traipsing through a backyard, then down a pathless hillside. (See the picture "tourists on a shortcut" for an idea of our route.) With only a few scratches, we returned to our car, dumped the rocks out of our shoes, and continued on our journey.
As evening settled in, we headed back to Assisi. We plotted a nice route that would take us along the shores of Lago (Lake) Trasimeno. One thing about road maps of Italy – they show all roads with prominent numbers much like US maps. On the ground, however, one seldom sees those numbers posted on the road signs. Instead, there is a sign pointing to "Paciano" or "Panicale," usually at the point of the intersection and not before. The prudent driver would stop and study the sign and map before deciding which fork to take, but that is not done in Italy. So, our drive home was a bit like our walk out of Todi – circuitous but ultimately successful. Tomorrow would bring another adventure. |