Italy Trip 10

Here are some more photos from Assisi. The first is of the Basilica of St. Francis, which sitts on a little hill at the west end of the town. As I alluded to in my last post, there are actually two Basilicas, one on top of the other. This is the "upper" Basilica, which is the more impressive on the outside (while the "lower" Basilica, where St. Francis is interred, is cooler inside):

Again, there are all kinds of interesting things that one passes by in the streets, including hidden alleys and side streets, weird looking steps going up to seemingly nowhere, and plenty of nicely arrayed decorations and gardens that seem to pop out all over:

The day we were in Assisi. it was very foggy (which you can probably see in some of the photos). The worst part of this is that it made it difficult to get a nice view of the valley below the town, which to the naked eye looked spectacular. Here's the best I could do with the camera (click to enlarge and get a little more detail). This is from the concourse in front of the upper Basilica:


Here's the entry to the lower Basilica. One actually sits on top of the other,. and I don't know if that was by design, or maybe the result of over time deciding to create an more impressive external view for the pilgrims. This is fancy, but kind of hidden below street level:

Last one from Assisi-- I noticed these two nuns walking below a foot bridge we were crossing on our way back to the bus. Somehow it seemed a particulary relevant shot of what is a very Catholic town:

The next installment (probably tomorrow) will start to cover our adventures in Roma!