Our vacation in Umbria

We spent one blissfully wonderful week in Umbria, which left us a little tired but also very satisfied and happy about all we’ve seen and the time spent together as a family.

We stayed in an agriturismo just outside of Orvieto and although the apartment wasn’t particularly luxurious or spacious, it was far nicer than a hotel since we could cook our own meals and do our own thing. It didn’t hurt that we were living in the middle of a beautiful vineyard either! You can click on the photos for a larger picture.

As pretty as the surroundings were, my kids didn’t care one bit about that. For Oliver there were only three  things he cared about: whether or not we’d find a playground that day, whether he could run out to the terrace quickly enough when he heard a train approaching (we had a nice and distant view of the railway) and whether or not we’d have time to play in the pool that day.

We visited Orvieto several times and it never seized to impress me. What a beautiful and dramatic city!

The Duomo is one of the most famous in Italy.

And the last pic from Orvieto, trying to show the cliff that plummets straight down.

We also visited Perugia, the capital of Umbria. Loved the more sophisticated feeling of the city. And the beautiful architecture, the exclusive shops, the narrow, winding streets – well, everything really. Plus they had good gelato.

Surprise – Perugia is also on a hill! Another beautiful view.

We spent many a moment in this park, feeding the kiddos and making spectacles of ourselves. Oh well, at least it was a pretty place.

The main piazza, surrounded by a church and palazzos. This is the Palazzo dei Priori.

Taking a breather and fortifying ourselves for what is to come.

Namely this. A ridiculously steep and arduous walk back to the town center.

The Bimba has just woken up from a nap and looked so sweet and confused that I had to photograph her.

The day after Perugia we needed a rest and decided to visit some close by towns (Castel Giorgio, Castel Vicardia and Allerona). This is taken outside a church that was so boring you don’t need to see it. I’m sure you’d much rather see this instead.

I guess the only place worth mentioning that we saw this day was Allerona (I won’t link you to Wikipedia, as it contains all of 4 lines about this town, the most interesting fact being that it has 1867 inhabitants. A veritable metropolis, huh? Heh. It’s really pretty, though, so we were not disappointed.

These lived less than a meter from our front door. Big. Really big. Biggest damn bees I’ve ever seen in my life. And lots of them. Thankfully they were really uninterested in us. Wish I could say it was mutual.

And then comes the highlight of our trip – Assisi. Wow, we loved it. I know it’s SUCH  touristy place, but what can I say; it was fantastic. I could have done with a few less shops with knick-knacks, a few less tourists, a few less uphills to climb, but all in all we LOVED this place. We would have loved it even more, though, had there been even a single playground for the kiddos.

The world famous Basilica of San Francesco d’Assisi (the founder of the Fransiscan order) from a distance.

The cathedral of San Rufino, sorry for the bad photo, the sun was straight ahead and there was no way of avoiding it. I kept telling my darling husband that with a better camera (obviously the much drooled over Canon 450D – a girl can dream, right?) I’d have been able to magically compensate for this. I don’t think he bought it, but it was worth a try, right?

We bought some yummy pizza at this small hole in the wall place in Piazza San Rufino. We took it with us to eat at the main piazza.

The main piazza. Beautiful.

And what would a main piazza be without a fountain?

The Basilica San Francesco d’Assisi.

Taking a break to re-apply the sun screen. It was 35 degrees and clear blue sky and we were all a little wilted.

A beautiful courtyard of the Basilica.

I managed to take a pic with both a knick-knack shop and tourists. Hmm, no big feat, I guess.

Well, what could possibly top Assisi? We realized that probably nothing could, so we didn’t expect much of our visits to Amelia and Baschi the next day. We drove by a few of these sights. This particular one is Lugnano in Teverina, but these hilltop towns are like mushrooms – everywhere.

The church in Baschi. It was a quaint little town, with a very colourful main square. Very pretty, but just the smallness of it gave me hives, I think.

Waking up to our last day in Umbria, snuggling with the Bimba and feeling pretty content with our week. But also ready to go home, if that makes any sense.

The clouds gathered over our heads as we prepared to leave and the rain started as we said our goodbyes to our friendly and helpful host, the beautiful Podere San Antonio and Umbria.

I hope you enjoyed this photo cavalcade of our vacation in Umbria (and know that I really tried hard to keep the amount to a minimum) and that you will be inspired to visit this beautiful region.

Ciao tutti!