Perugia

My original plan for the Olympic-Paralympic break was to go down to Rome for 4-5 days of art and ruins sightseeing. After a month in the pollution and traffic of Torino, however, I just couldn’t bring myself to go to another city with more than a couple hundred thousand people. The rainy, overcast weather didn’t exactly light a piazza-touring fire in me, so I got on the internet and found a cooking class in an ancient hill-top town called Perugia in Umbria (just below Tuscany). My friend and co-worker, Robyn, is also staying on for the Paralympic Games, so she came with me on my jaunt to central Italy.

We went to Perugia the day before the cooking class was scheduled and explored the ruins of an enormous 16th century citadel. Not only is the city built around this massive structure, it takes advantage of the numerous caverns and corridors within it with a sort of underground shopping/arts center. Being a hillside town, there are never-ending mazes of stairs and steeply inclining walkways (notice the people in the picture by the building for perspective on the stairs). We were beginning to think this must be the most in-shape population we’ve ever encountered if they are able to navigate this landscape everyday- especially carrying groceries. We got suspicious when someone gave us directions using the “escalators” as a landmark. Is that the Italian word for stairs we wondered? As it turns out, the city is also full of outdoor, American mall-type, covered escalators!

On this trip, I introduced Robyn to the joys of backpack traveling by finding us a place to stay at a youth hostel in the middle of the town. OK, I can hear some of you chuckling under your breath from here at the “youth” part of hostel! No, there’s no age limit and they let me stay!! We stayed in a historic old building with frescoed ceilings, a community kitchen, and amazing views of the city and Umbrian hills. You can tell a lot about a person by the guide book in which they are traveling from. If you see someone clutching a Fodor’s, AAA, or Rick Steve’s guidebook, you can be pretty sure they are traveling with roll-type, handled luggage and either rent cars or take taxis most of the time to get where they need to go. There’s nothing wrong with traveling that way, but I myself am a Lonely Planet type of traveler – low maintenance, low budget! This means I don’t mind staying in a hostel, which are places that rent rooms with bunkbeds and house same-gender travelers in the same rooms. They almost always have down-the-hall bathrooms, communal lounges and kitchens, and are always dirt-cheap compared to hotels in the area (15 euros vs 40 euros per person per night)). Levels of cleanliness vary, but for the most part they are always safe and tidy. The major drawback, or benefit depending on how road-weary you are, is that every other English speaking backpacker also has a Lonely Planet guidebook from which they are traveling. It's fun to meet up with Aussies and Brits to hear about their travels, but you're not meeting the locals of the country you're in by doing this.

There’s a good deal of flexibility and patience required with this type of travel (I’m hearing that chuckling again with the word “patience” being used in the same sentence with Karen!). I like the adventurous aspect of this type of travelling. There's a certain amount of personal satisfaction that comes from being able to figure out public transport in a foreign language. For me, taking a taxi is like admitting defeat and that I couldn't figure it out! I suppose at some point I'll outgrow this type of travel and prefer a hotel room with towels and sheets included, but for now (and with the right travel partners!), this is still fun for me. I have to admit though. . . room service sounds pretty good sometimes too!

Also part of the backpacking experience is navigating a city and public transport with your backpack. I try to be as much as a minimalist as possible when I travel, but this is winter traveling! I still managed to stuff a week's worth of winter clothing into a medium-sized backpack. When we arrived in Perugia’s train station and inquired as to the direction of the ostella (hostel), we were told that since it was a 3km, uphill journey, we should take a bus to the center of town. "No, that’s OK, just point us in the direction of the center and we’ll walk". After a few glances of confusion followed by amusement then envy, Robyn and I strolled the mile and a half up-hill to the town center. Who’s chuckling at this 38 year old now?!

That’s it for now, I have to go see how much work piled up while I was away, but I’ll post about my cooking class experience later today!