Spoleto

Before I headed to Spoleto, I ventured into a church on the way to the train station at the Piazza della Repubblica. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they had a display of information and works by and about Galileo. It was beyond interesting and I will definitely go back there when I have more time. Unfortunately, there was no photography allowed indoors. Then, it was off to Spoleto.

Spoleto is a medieval hill town in the Umbria region of Italy. It is a walled town build on a hillside whose most famous site is Ponte delle Torri or Bridge of Towers. It took one and a half hours by regional train to reach it. The rain was finished by the time I arrived. The first photo

shows where I headed off to from the train station. As usual, the direction to the city was uphill. It took almost 2 hours to reach the bridge, though it was mostly a gentle climb with beautiful sights to keep me company. As I walked, I went through the quaint center of town on narrow roads that were just fabulous. The second photo is of the rooftops of the lower city as I made my way up.

I had to take a picture of clothes hanging on the line because I am always drawn to that view. It just screams "old Italy" to me and causes

me to visualize times past. I've learned that electricity is quite expensive here and that's why most people don't own dryers. It's simply less costly to let them air dry. I actually was thrilled when I got home tonight to notice that my neighbors had hung their laundry today so, in the morning's light, I'll have to snap a picture of my "local" laundry.

The bridge was truly a spectacular sight because it crossed a deep gorge. The sun was high in the sky so it was difficult to get good scenic photographs that captured the immensity of the view, but you'll just have to take my word for it.


The Duomo (or main church) is being refurbished, but the inside was intact. I had to wait for a bit for it to open, but was kept company by two young boys who made very good use of the long span of gentle steps with their skateboards. When I first saw them walking with their boards, I thought it would be a shame to not take advantage of the cobblestone steps --- they didn't disappoint. As well as laundry hanging between buildings, I just love all the rosette shaped windows on the churches here. I have more photos of them than a person should. This is a short post because I am very tired and tomorrow is an early day because I'm planning to head for Naples. I'm unsure of what that day will be like because I want to see Naples and I want to see Capri (which is about an hour from Naples by ferry) and I want to see Sorrento (which is about an hour by train). I don't know how to squeeze it all in during one day. If I enjoy the day at all, I'll have to add another day to Naples on my schedule. I've heard that it is a very busy, chaotic city so I'm going to take it one day at a time.

Thanks for checking in. I'll see you soon.