Compared to the start of the trip, the next few days should to be tame mostly on the bus with some visits to interesting places until we get to Venice – I hope!
Boom! Crack! Not my favourite sounds and a massive thunderstorm at 7am hits Sorrento! Italy has been expecting rain but this was excessive! According to Mikael our wonderful Tour Director, this was a very strange and rare storm! From my lovely bay window all I could see was rain and dark sky – I am feeling for all those brave souls that are making the trip to Capri today!
Breakfast was great – my favourite bread was available and I was able to make a sandwich for lunch later today. They had us in a side room so no one was procuring the cool gluten free products for pockets except of course, us!
Those who were on time for the bus were able to avoid the brief pause in the liquid deluge however it then started again just as we were about to drive. So that made for some INCREDIBLY slow progress out of town!
As mentioned before, we take “comfort breaks” at highway exits where there is a gas station and a full service restaurant/store. So today we were scheduled to eat at one of these restaurants. Mikael DID warn them we were coming and unlike the wonderful restaurant experiences people write about in Italy the highway stops are NOT recommended (after seeing many of them now) due to their lack of ability to serve gluten free food. They had made PLAIN lettuce salads or plain hamburger patties. That is all they had on offer that was gluten free in the restaurant! That really did not go over well! Luckily I had my sandwich and I was able to snag a protein drink from the gift shop fridge.
After that experience and a lot of hungry people on the bus, we were off to our next stop in Perugia, which is a Trafalgar (tour company) supported weaving business that has existed since the 18th century. The gorgeous looms (about 10 of different sizes) are housed in an old Franciscan church. As a person who has done weaving and loves hand crafts it was an awesome experience. Trafalgar provides a grant to the owner of the weaving business, which was especially helpful during COVID, so she can survive in this competitive world. It is great to see such a family based, historical business still able to produce the weaving done over the centuries.
We got onto the bus again and arrived in Assisi at a very nice, clean hotel. The majority of the tour went on an optional dinner that sounded very interesting in a cavernous restaurant where they served lots of pig meat (no more details as what happens in Assisi stays in Assisi) and a couple of us stayed at the hotel and had a lovely but NOT QUIET gluten free dinner of our own. We had some awesome chicken salads and were provided with the sourdough like steamed buns that I was accustomed to from my last visit to Italy when not on a tour. It was also nice eating some green things and veggies – our tour meals have been lacking in them! Excellent!
Tomorrow off to Venice – my favourite city until my walker meets a bridge 🙁
