Perugia and Gubbio

We have been out exploring again and had a great time doing it! Firstly we drove to Perugia, a trip of about 20 miles. This is an extra ordinary place. The old town is set high up on the rock surrounded by a sprawling modern town below it. We parked in the car park and then had to take a succession of escalators to the old town - six in all. We then emerged in the vaults of the civic hall and had to walk up to street level. We have never approached a town in that way before. See pic of Steve in the vaults.

Perugia is a larger town than usual in Italy. The streets are wider and the buildings bigger. That makes a pleasant change for us, having visited many small towns with narrow streets. In Perugia there is a main piazza with the obligatory fountain in the middle and state buildings around it. We did find many narrow walkways that were typically old Italian and very pretty to walk through. We found some meringues gigantique in a patasserie window that we just had to photograph. After doing the walking tour we grabbed a sandwich and sat on the steps in the shade to eat it. While we were doing so a wedding had taken place and the Africans who were attending the ceremony were parading in their bright costumes - very interesting to see - especially in Perugia of all places!

Then we found an internet cafe and did our bit before leaving the town.

As we had started out early in the morning to get the fresher weather it was still quite early in the day when we had finished our trip. We decided to make the most of the day by driving on to Gubbio, another medieval town. The drive there was spectacular through sunflower fields and rolling hillsides that developed into the Appenine mountains in the distance. Gubbio itself is also set high on a hillside - they were paranoid around here about being invaded - but this time there were no escalators so we had to use our legs to climb the many steps around the town. It was worth it though and we had a very pleasant visit.

Back to the caravan for an evening meal and then an early night. We had covered many miles today by car and on foot in the heat of the day. Sleep was needed.