Savouring the serenity

After a catch up and a good sleep, we were ready to face Collestrada, a small shopping centre with an enormous supermarket/department store. It takes a long time to walk around it and almost as long to go through the check out. A relaxed night of dinner and Scrabble and then bed. 


Marg whipping up chicken filled
with buffalo mozarella and basil,
wrapped in prosciutto.

 

Predinner nibblies on
the terrace

Tuesday was our first trip into our beloved Assisi. After some exploring and shopping, Jan, Marg and Win indulged in pizza and wine in one of our favourite laneway restaurants while Di immersed herself in frescos.

Jan makes friends in a cafe

The next morning while Marg was out walking and the rest of the house sleeping, Jan spotted a herd of deer grazing in the field next door. She wanted desperately to tell someone but had to settle with sharing it with God. Since then the deer have been seen twice as well as a cute black squirrel. It’s wonderful to be surrounded by countryside here.

Wednesday we headed for Deruta, the city of ceramics. Our first stop was Senor Tomassini’s factory where we were greeted as old friends. We had emailed to let them know we were returning to Italy. They said they knew we had arrived because they recognised our laughter! Win and Di made a few purchases and we then drove up to the old town and renewed acquaintances with some shopkeepers. We had a delicious lunch at Taverna Gusto before ordering a few beautiful pieces of ceramics from delightful Gabriella.



Lunch at Taverna Gusto - yum!

Thursday was a great adventure. We met Birgitta at Mr Grumpy’s and she drove us to some thermal springs in Tuscany, near Siena. She thought we might like to go to the factory outlet en route to do a ‘little shopping’. This place was amazing: designer clothes and household goods spread across an acre or two. Three hours later we dragged ourselves away and with a full boot headed to the springs.

We weren’t sure what to expect, but San Giovani Termopolano was amazing! The first pool is around 39 degrees where the water spurts from two scary stone faces. The temperature gradually drops as the water flows down through a series of pools. It felt strange underfoot as the calcium and minerals settle like silt on the bottom. Many people smeared this chalky substance on them for its claimed cleansing and healing properties. We entered the water at 3pm and came out 4 hours later. What a wonderful experience - swimming in bath temperature waters with a back drop of Tuscan hillsides and hilltop villages. Jan decided she was born to be Italian!

 

Birgitta makes herself beautiful with a mineral mask

 

Jan enjoys the hot springs from the grumpy faces



Note ancient hilltop town in the background

Bathing beauties?

Finally dragging ourselves away we hit the road again – flying. Birgitta is a confident but FAST driver. When Jan saw the speedo hit 154km per hour she shut her eyes. We mentioned that in Australia we have a speed limit of 110km on our freeways and after a little thought Birgitta said, “So does Italy”. (Note speedo in photo below.)

Di and Marg rose early yesterday to visit Eremo delle Carceri, the hermitage in the forest of Monte Subasio. It’s hard to describe the tranquillity of this place. Those of you who have been there will understand. We separated to spend time with the Lord. Di has been to Assisi in 2008, but hadn’t seen the other places special to St Francis and St Clare, so we proceeded on to San Damiano, the peaceful convent where Clare lived with the Poor Sisters, then Rivotorto where Francis first camped with his friars. A wedding was about to start in the church. There was the appropriate amount of bling among the guests!

 

While we were visiting a church in Santa Maria, Marg received a call from Jan asking us to come back immediately. Win has had a lot of pain since bumping her hip a week ago, and decided she needed to see a doctor. We know the emergency department of Assisi hospital – Marg and another friend needed their services in 2010. An x-ray revealed no breaks and so anti-inflammatory medication, pain killers and rest was recommended.

 

Today was perfect weather for a picnic, so we packed a hamper with cheese, tomato, cold meats, salad, bread (rosemary and tomato foccacia) and wine and headed for Monte Subasio. Delicious food tastes even better in the fresh air.