3 Boys in Europe: A holiday within a holiday in Umbria

Another editors pick...

It was hot in Umbria, evidently hotter than you should expect. We had a lovely pool so it was quite hard to get in the car and talk George into visiting a church! It was lovely to be with Bronwyn and Andrew, Rachel and Ben and do some grown up talking and superb eating. We went paddling in Lake Trasimeno. It was as hot in the water and out as the lake is no more than 7m deep. The paddlers saw some dice snakes swimming about and catching fish. We looked forward to our home or THQ (temp. headquaters as Henry would have it) with the pool again. Incidentally the place we were staying at is for sale 1.25 million euros, 5 acres with pool and 8 bedrooms in two apartments. Interested anyone? Your own olive trees and bottling room. I don't seem to be able to find a picture of us swimming and eating and there was plenty of it too.

We did visit Assisi and it was a lovely sight. A slightly pinky/white hue of rock causes all the buildings to match. I have a tourist photo of the duomo in grey hues due to a patina of lead with buildings clustered round, the shutters were painted to match.

Everything was very neat and tidy, with hardly any tourists. We had come to expect crowds, especially since it was the holidays then. George was impressed that St Francis church (San Francesco Basicilla) was two churches in one. The Giotto frescos of St Francis’s life were interesting and underneath the church is another church with his altar and tomb under that in the crypt. Sadly we bought our postcards after the crypt or we could have had them blessed for a small fee. We also visited the new Duomo church. It had a hole in the forecourt. (Glassed over) Underneath are roman ruins that became visible after an earthquake opened the ground. It was largely hollow underneath. The last church was St Clares or Chiara who met St Francis or Frank as he was back then and thought his renouncement of material things was all good. She started her own order for the women “the poor Clares” and was good at her work. So they built a church for her too when she died. It is a copy of the bloke’s one but not so well built in that they had to add extra large buttresses to stop it falling down. They also kept some of her hair and her clothes so it was fascinating to see her habits from 1253. The bascillica had frescos also in the Giotto style from his school of painters. But perhaps "The Church" was worried about the women getting too many art admiring visitors and they chipped off most of the art work!

Yummy Gelato

A horse display was visiting our town and they gave pony rides.

Another horse that doesn't make your eyes run was also popular.

Our landlord, Lucca has has own gourmet shop. The hams, salamis, mozzarella, and melons were great with free home grown olive oil and white truffles.

The town was so warm and friendly. The sounds of the bells drifted to us on our hill with the views and the pool. It was delicious in every way.

A restaurant in San Gimignano where the owner was very friendly, but it was hot. We poured our own water down our shirts when he wasn't looking. Just a little bit to be sure. We tried to discuss excellent pizza making with his wife down in the hot room, but it was a bit tricky to understand.

San Gimignano has 14 of its original 76 13th century towers! Not only that but they have rebuilt the town from 1300 when it was in its heyday in a large room entirely accurately and out of ceramics. The associated displays and tour guide was brilliant. This is why the focus gives the scale away above.