I had originally planned on having New Years Eve here as I thought being a university town might mean that there was a bit of young nightlife going on and a bit of fun celebrating to be had. But when working out my movements so that I could cover as much of Italy as possible before I had to get out of the country (when I entered Italy. I only entered on a regular tourist visa which is what you get when you just arrive and they stamp your passport, and those are always for 90 days only and since Mike is coming over to meet up with me in Milan in mid-February, I didnt want to risk over-staying my welcome and then them not letting me re-enter in Feb), I realised that I would need to move south a bit faster than I had originally planned, and that was when the idea of Naples for NYE popped up.
In the end I am glad that I chose to pass through Perugia before and then be in Naples for NYE as perugia was nice but very quiet in that time between Christmas and New Year because obviously all of the university students had gone home to their families for the holidays!!
It was also extremely cold when I was in Perugia and I even woke on the second morning to snow!!
This was the view from the balcony walkway at the hostel when I stepped outside my door...
Talking about the hostel, this was another downer on Perugia and what made it not as enjoyable as other places. The hostel was a HI hostel which are notoriously large, baren, hospital-like and lifeless. They are often too big to even meet or talk to anyone also. This one was also outside of the main town. Thank god they have recently finished construction of the MiniMetro line which has a stop right near the hostel and takes you all the way UP into town...you definitely wouldnt want to walk.
The MiniMetro was little carts (almost like gondola cars) which ran on wheels and a cable on a track that ran above the streets. The carts arrived every couple of minutes and it was very efficient, so I was very impressed with that as the centre of Perugia is high up on a hill and something you wouldnt want to climb to and from everyday. But it was the best way to get back to the hostel and it stopped running at about 9pm every night!!
As with all of the other Italian cities that I have visited it was decorated up all nicely with Christmas lights...
I did a lot of wandering around and exploring when I was up in the town of Perugia and didnt go and see any museums (partly because there werent many, and none of interest to me). On my final evening there I managed to see a beautiful sunset whilst having my ear talked off by a very enthusiastic italian guy who was very excited about me being Australian and being able to talk in Italian...especially without an Aussie accent!! haha
OH...and the CHOCOLATE...so I heard from a girl I met at the hostel in Venice that the thing to do when in Perugia is to visit the Perugina Chocolate Factory to see the museum and do a tour and hopefully taste some choc!! Perugina is now a part of Nestle but is the brand under which Baci chocolates fall amongst many others.
So as soon as I arrived at the hostel (it was a Saturday) I enquired about this factory and the tours and was given a brochure and told it was only open during the week...so Monday my last day it had to be!! The hostel were nice and called and organised it for me and I had to catch a 45min local bus to get there.
However I got there and looked around the museum whilst waiting for some other people to arrive for the tour to start and it ended up that the tour was only of the museum as being holiday season the factory wasnt actually operating at that time. It was interesting though and I did get a few pieces of free choc and a free KitKat!! WOO HOO...haha.
The most exciting part about my time in Perugia was my day trip to Assisi...
Assisi is a beautiful city, but what made it even more beautiful and enjoyable was that it was snowing all morning and so everything was covered in white!!
And I even managed to get a few photos of me cos there were two lovely mexican girls also staying in my hostel room and the night before they invited me to go to Assisi with them the next day. So the three of us spent most of the day together looking around...but I also wandered off on my own for a bit too...
I'll leave you with Assisi train station...the sign just didnt feel right to me...but I know it is fine.
Ci vediamo
Jo xox
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