We left Umbria after 6 days of wonderful tours, meals, making new friends and never reaching for our wallet all courtesy of the Umbrian tourism authority and Travel Bloggers Unite. We took a nice train ride of about 2 hours into Rome’s central train station. I got off the train and desperately needed to relive myself of that morning’s espresso [...]
My wife Mary Ann has a job in a very modern, well funded library in Sharjah UAE. Thanks to the benevolence of the ruler of Sharjah who I unashamedly give a nod to whenever I see his photo. He supports education and the arts at great expense. Shukran. Her title is Electronic Resources Librarian. In Umbria we got to see [...]
This is a simple photo essay. The photos were all taken in medieval towns in Umbria.
The last winery I took you to was new and experimental. See that post at http://theothersideofthecoconut.com/2012/05/04/beyond-assisi-winery-tour-stop-1/ Lungarotti is well established and traditional. Lungarotti wines can be found around the world. If your wine shop does not have any, educate them and have them buy a case or two. You will end up buying all they stock! Lungarotti is the creation of Giorgio [...]
Between winery stops I am going to tell you about a visit to another medieval town. Umbria has these beautiful little towns on hilltops wherever you go. They are just far enough apart that one can imagine a person living in the 15th century in Assisi or Bevagna for their entire life and never traveling to the other. I would [...]
The bloggers conference was over. I did not mention meeting Steve McCurry, maybe the best travel photog on the planet. Now the Umbria Tourist board treated us to one of six 2 ½ day tours around Umbria. We choose the wine and crafts tour. Others chose the chocolate tour or the adventure tour with white water rafting. Umbria has many [...]
If you are ever lucky enough to get to Assisi, do yourself a favor and stay at San Crispino. In fact if you are ever in Italy, go to Assisi so you can stay at San Crispino. Take this all the way and just plan a trip to Italy specifically to stay at San Crispino. Honestly, I liked it that [...]
Assisi is perhaps the most visited site in all of Umbria. This is deservedly so, even though Umbria is spotted with wonderful places for all kinds of travelers and tourists. Assisi is the birthplace of St. Francis, born in 1182. Yup, that makes him older than me. I grew up knowing about St. Francis of Assisi and his love of [...]
I do not know where to start about my last ten days in Italy, so I guess I’ll start at the start. Back in December ’11 I ran across a website called Travel Bloggers Unite. Dyslexic as I am I thought it said Travel Bloggers Untie, so I perused it. Oliver, the head honcho (maybe the sole honcho) at TBU [...]