Saturday, April 09, 2016

Fascinating Perugia

Sun-Ling writes:

We came to Perugia, capital of Umbria, because we wanted to use it as a base for visiting Assisi and Gubbio, and were pleasantly surprised.

By now we thought we have seen some hill towns, but Perugia is vertical. The flat area at the top has just enough room for two parallel streets about barely 500m long. When you arrive at the bus terminal, there are a series of underground escalators to whisk you uphill, as if you are emerging from a metro station. If you arrive at the train station, there is self driving light rail, named MinimetrĂ², with tiny cars as if you are going around in an airport.

However, the coolest place is the Rocca (Fort) Paolina. The idea is so strange to me that I had a hard time locating it. The top of is a plaza/park that marks one end of the two streets, making a very nice belvedere. The fort was built in the 1500s, over existing houses and streets, some are still visible. The escalators connecting the bus terminal and city center go through it. I was totally captivated by this time/space compression.

Our route for the day: Urbino to San Sepolcro by bus, to Perugia by train; this all-in-one coach+loco with ugly exterior but clean windshields.
Perugia, Italy

And you can watch the engineer. Bonus!
Perugia, Italy

Looking to the lower part of Perugia.
Perugia, Italy

Walking from our hotel to the top of the hill.
Perugia, Italy

Perugia, Italy

Escalators inside the hill.
Perugia, Italy

Some views of the Piazza at night.
Perugia, Italy

Perugia, Italy

The very elegant stairs down to our hotel.
Perugia, Italy

Again, looking to the lower town...
Perugia, Italy

...where there are remnants of the old aqueduct.
Perugia, Italy

Porta Maria, one of the entrances to the underground passages of Rocca (Fort) Paolina.

Perugia, Italy

Rocca Paolina.
Perugia, Italy

Perugia, Italy

Heading to the train station (to go to Spoleto) on the MinimetrĂ².
Perugia, Umbria, Italy

Perugia, Umbria, Italy

1 comment:

Liz said...

What a cool town! Love those mini trams! Wonder if population has good cardio health

Most Recent Post

Kandy: Tooth Relic Temple

According to the Tooth Relic Temple website , on Wednesdays there is a ritual of tooth washing, in addition to daily rituals. What we had no...

Most Popular Posts of Last 30 Days