Gubbio April 26

Today we visited Gubbio, the “most beautiful medieval city” according to their signs. It was quite beautiful. Old buildings, churches and castles with a stream running through the town.

After lunch we visited Citta di Castello and its City Art Gallery, which contains art work from the region from the 14th century to the present day. Most of it was medieval religious art.

Assisi April 25

Being Anzac Day we were pleased to see red poppies growing wild along the roadside as we drove towards Assisi.

 Assisi is amazingly well preserved. Because of its association with St Francis and several others saints there are something like 15 churches and basilicas within its walls. It’s also a tourist magnet with bus loads of tourists along with school children on excursions. We saw and heard some of these in the Basilica of St Chiara singing modern hymns.

     

Narrow paths and steps are common.

The Basilica of San Chiara

The Basilica of St Francis is at the end of the city looking down onto the fields and hills below. The grassed area in front of the cathedral is the home to an installation called Germination of Peace. The individual items are olives with the central element being an olive branch - complete with olives.

Basilica of St Francis

“Germination of Peace” installation

On our way back to our BnB we stopped at Bettona, a medieval hill town. It was siesta time so there were almost no people about and all the shops were shut. Still it was a pleasant change from the bustling crowds in Assisi. 

Bettona Church

Umbrian countryside, Bettona 

Assisi April 24

 We landed in Rome picked up our car and started for Assisi, via Terni. There was so much road work to go through we wondered if Dan A had moved to Italy. Terni is famous for the Marmore Cascades. We walked to them through light rain and, yes, they are spectacular.

Our BnB is a few km from Assisi but with a clear view of the city from the upstairs terrace, where we ate our dinner.

Helsinki April 23, 2023

Two night stopover in Helsinki on the way to Italy. We stayed in the Holiday Inn, close to the airport and set in the midst of pine and birch forests - slowly being taken over by industrial and residential development. This hotel is so fancy it has iced water coming out of the cold tap!

We walked to a nearby shopping mall for lunch and (mostly) window shopping.

Maria Island - April 1, 2022

Our last day on Maria Island. We walked to the Fossil Cliffs  - another 4km walk up a very steep hill then down again! The fossils here are amazing. Boulders jam packed with fossilised shells. These were dug out by Bernacchi to use for cement making but there was too much other material among the shells to allow the cement to be made properly.

Cape Baron Geese

Darlington Penitentiary buildings

Darlington Penitentiary buildings

Cape Baron Geese

 

Maria Island - March 31

 A shorter walk today stopping at French's farm for morning tea/coffee then the painted cliffs and finally arriving at Darlington, the main town on Maria Island by lunch time. here we stayed in a guest house that once belonged to Diego Bernacchi, an entrepreneur who twice tried, unsuccessfully, to set up cement manufacturing on the island. 

In the afternoon there was an optional climb up a mountain, Bishop and Clark which we opted to miss. We'd climbed enough steep hills by then and just needed to sit in front of the fire and relax!

Maria Island - March 30

 A 14 km walk to White Gums camp. The day started off fine but then a rain front came in so the afternoon walk was mostly in the rain with our packs and our shoes and socks becoming saturated by the time we got there. The camp was hidden in a White Gum forest - quite beautiful.

  

On the way we saw our first wombat of the walk. The wombats on Maria island are a different species to those on the Tasmanian mainland are golden in colour and have very soft looking fur.