Scott Barronton (00:00)
In this episode of the Sunshine Travelers podcast, we're flipping the script and, well, we're actually interviewing ourselves because we've just returned from a self-guided walking tour through Umbria, Italy with MACS Adventure. And we're excited to share the experience with you from scenic trails and charming hilltop towns to those unexpected MACS moments along the way. We're giving you an inside look at what it's really like to take one of these adventures.
Whether you're considering a walking tour for yourself or you're just curious about how it all works, join us as we break down the journey step by step.
So Melissa, now that we've had time to get back in and settle back into our normal routines, I have to ask you, when we were standing there at the top of that Montefalco right as we were starting this adventure, what was going through your mind as we overlooked the vineyards and the olive orchards and we were really trying to figure out which one of these little
towns out there is going to be our next destination. I just remember being so excited, like for what we would encounter. we read the description, we're going to go through olive groves and we're going to go through farms. but then just, walking that step by step and just kind of seeing exactly, what we would see and what we would pass. And, it's funny because when we were standing there, like we were trying to use like Google maps.
to see like what direction, but still, it was hard to tell. So I think just the, I mean, just really the excitement of, getting off the beaten path, the fact that we had something to do that day, but it just felt different than when you explore a city, right? You're gonna see these museums or you've got these tours. It was just a different, completely different feeling.
if we go back to episode 107, that gives everybody an opportunity to hear about as we were planning for the trip, we were trying to think forward about, what are all the things that we need to take? What are the things that we're most excited about? And, how are we going to get there? Some of those logistics, those types of things, to now we've actually been on the trip. We've enjoyed the walking adventure.
And so today I really wanted us to just kind of interview one another about our trip and about our experience. Yeah. I think it's always just good to also reflect, back on a trip. And I know that we do a lot of that, like asking each other. and I think we'll get into some of that, but like, what was your favorite meal and what was your, know, your favorite memory? So we thought it would be just fun to kind of, recap that. And I think that also helps you.
as you plan other trips, right? Things to, incorporate or, or look for our pitfalls that you might want to avoid, in the future as you reflect on your travels.
Yeah. And for this trip, I think that we actually had a really successful travel. it was a little bit rocky getting started, with delayed flights and, some other things. But once we got there and got to Italy and, we're in Rome and heading out that morning, like, it just felt like everything kind of fell in place after that. And I think a lot of that comes from.
the work that MACS Adventure does, making sure that everything's just perfect along the way. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. I mean, it was just completely, seamless. we had, booked our train and let them know, what it was going to be. And then when you look back in the app, they had that, so that the taxi driver could pick us up when we did arrive in Foligno. And we, we were a little bit confused. We couldn't understand, the train left right on time.
Um, and it was about 20 or 30 minutes behind schedule. So we're not really sure, what that was about, but as soon as we walked out, he, called our names and we were on the road. So ready to go. So yeah, that part was completely smooth. Well, let's just kind of highlight real quick. The walking adventure that we did. We started in a little town called Montefalco and it's a nickname, the balcony of Umbria.
because it sits up high on a hill and looks down over Umbria in the valley. And so that's where we started from. We left from there and went to a town called Bevagna. It looks like Bavagna. And I think we probably said Bavagna before going on the trip because we didn't know better. And then left Bevagna, went to Spello and then from Spello to Assisi. And so each night,
We stayed in a different town. So our walking path would take us from town to town. And, we got to see multiple of these medieval cities through this adventure. And they were all so different. That's the other thing too, right? They each had their own unique characteristics. I mean, all those similar, right? Like walled town and the little alleyways and you had shops and,
people's homes and, but I just felt like they definitely had their own character. Yeah. And it's important to also note that this is similar to Tuscany. So the, the region itself, probably a little bit smaller than Tuscany, but, if you think of the terrain, you think of the farmland and the vineyards and the orchards, this would remind you a lot of Tuscany.
Yeah, completely agree. And we had done that before and gone to some of the towns on the cruise and you see day trippers. Although I felt like, and it could have been the time of the year, but I felt like the groups that we saw were probably more local. they were all Italian and the buses would be there like in the bus parking and then you walk into the town. Some of them had, tour guides. Some of them people were just walking on their own. So.
That's one of the things I liked about it was also then spending the night in these towns because you get a whole different feel than just go in for a few hours, walking straight through, right? Leaving, go into the next one. And we were talking about the other day is, where would people come from? Uh, it doesn't seem like they would come from, a cruise destination out there. Maybe they did.
maybe they were on a cruise and came in for the day to some of these little small towns, but you could come from Rome. Definitely. Yeah, for sure. Like if you had like a tour, I think on the train, it was a couple of hours. So, by the time we got out and about and had our breakfast and, got our stuff packed, like some of these groups were already, there. So if they had left Rome or, some of those other surrounding.
larger towns that people could have stayed at, could already be there by, 10 o'clock in the morning.
Scott Barronton (07:16)
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Scott Barronton (08:11)
Which section, Montefalco, Bevagna Spello, Assisi, was your favorite? that's tough. what's so interesting is they were all so different.
I would have to say, I don't know, probably Assisi I didn't mind. was a little more strenuous. I liked that it was up above and you could really see out. And it also was very secluded as well. So we had the olive groves. We didn't really have vineyards there. It was mostly olive groves there, but you just really had such a perspective.
being up above, I think. What about you? Well, it was definitely a very strenuous part of the journey. once you push through it, like you said, it's really nice because a lot of the time we were walking through those olive orchards and, just olive trees surrounding the path that we were walking along and we didn't, I mean, we passed a...
few people hiking and walking We didn't pass very many people. We definitely didn't have the problem of running into any traffic or cars on any, really on any of the routes that we took. Except for when we got to Spello. Like there was, know, we had to walk one, one little small area through like part of the town where people would live. But,
we were very secluded in a way when we were up there on the side of that mountain, going to Assisi. Yeah. So was that your favorite or would you say another day? I really enjoyed the first day, the Montefalco down to Bevagna. and I too felt like each of the towns were very different. Spello and Assisi were a little bit more kind of on the side of the, of the mountain a little bit. Bevagna was down in the valley.
it seemed like there was probably more activity in Spello Assisi and Montefalco than Bevagna. Yeah. I think they seemed a lot larger as well. I will say we did run into that farmer's market on the Sunday morning, when we were leaving Bevagna but yeah, not, not hugely, crowded either.
So, but just very different. think that was what was so interesting about it. wasn't like you felt like, okay, I'm on this path. And then every day I'm walking on this path that feels very similar. It was, it was not like that. And I think I appreciated that about, cause going into it, we really didn't know. I mean, you can see the maps, but until you go through something like that, you don't really know. So I think I appreciated that just how different each day was. Well, anybody that wants to go and listen to our day by day,
we have four little mini episodes that we put out, which were, the individual days in the journey that we took. So you can go listen to that and kind of get a sense for the sounds of things that we heard and kind of our experience along the way. And I encourage you to go do so, but were there any expected moments or surprises that you came across along the way?
that stands out to you. Yeah, I think as I look back, just some little, I don't know, just like some little snippets of things. before we left Montefalco, our interaction at the winery, where we kind of, and I don't know how much we, or if we've really talked about this, but when we went to the particular winery where we ended up interviewing the winemaker,
and that's on that first little short mini episode. But the day before we had kind of gone in and hoping we're for a tasting and they had a group there. And it was just fun. We ended up interacting with the winemaker, with his mother, with his wife, with that group and several members of that group because they were just kind of like, hey, you can have the tour with them and the wine tasting with them. So I think that stands out. And then the following day where we
We're actually able to stop at that winery and have our little lunch and, take the break. that stands out in the market that I mentioned, just like little snippets. like that, what about you? It's interesting. The name of a winery is called a Cantina, but when we went to Cantina Fratelli Pardi
so that's the winery, and then the brothers, and then the last name was Pardi so when we went there and we were interviewing Albertino, and he gave us that bottle of sparkling wine to take with us. And, we were thinking, Oh my gosh, we're going to have to lug this wine.
all the way. And I was really afraid that it would, in my backpack to like, would just be kind of sloshing around. And at some point in time, you'd see a cork fly out. it was a sparkling. Yeah. Yeah. You'd see a cork fly out the back of my backpack. but I think those moments are really special and, his family has owned
that winery the entire time of its existence. And they haven't always been a winery. And we talked a little bit about that in the episode, but since it's been there, his family has owned it. Yeah. And then a few other little things, just thinking back, it did rain on us a little bit one day and we could see for a long time rain kind of all around us.
And then, standing under that tree and, having a little bit of rain, but we didn't get completely soaked or anything like that. And then going into that town. And I just remember, so that was the day where there was not any water along the way. And we had taken water, but we could have used a little bit more. And, you just saying, we get there, I'm going to get three drinks, And, and then we had this little discoveries. Like, I thought I was actually getting just like a Peroni beer.
out of their cooler when we got to this, was like a cafe and they had a coffee shop and a gelato and all kinds of things, right? And so here we are, the crazy Americans were getting gelato and soft drinks and coffee and beer. They're probably like, what in the world? But I had gotten that Peroni and just thinking it was a beer, not, and it was like a Rattler, right? A lemonade. And it actually became like a favorite thing we had, right? We found it one other place. So just little moments, like that, that
I don't know. think that just kind of like we'll stick out in our memory and there's a lot more of those, the double rainbow that was like a full rainbow when we got to Spello that we could see from our window. And then also like the fact that we were photographing it and there was another group there and we could hear them, know, my gosh, look at this rainbow. And, just those little memories and moments. And we talked,
a lot about during the mini episodes, just kind of the things that you're going to experience along the way. you know, seeing those orchards, seeing the vineyards, seeing the mountainside and the little towns up on the top of the hills, like the just those, those visuals, you can close your eyes and still kind of see some of those.
And I think about the time that we stopped at that little family. I don't know what it is. It's like a.
What would you call that? It's like a memorial. Like a memorial, right? Where they could, yeah, probably just like there weren't any churches nearby or anything like that where they could just go pray and, have their little time. Yeah. Well, there was a little bench where we had lunch and we hadn't seen anybody for. Couple of hours and we didn't see anybody, probably for a couple of more hours either.
That was our longest day of hiking and it was just us. yeah, that was, that was really neat. Yeah. That's it. Sitting there and have, we had stopped them the way out of town and we had gotten a loaf of this bread. And I, I assumed that this bread was meant to be, either rebaked or have with olive oil or something like that. it was a really, tough.
Crusty. very crusty. know, bread on the outside, soft on the inside. But we'd gotten that little loaf of bread. We had gotten some meat and some water. And so we just sat there at that little family memorial or whatever it is and had our lunch and listened to the sounds of nature around us and really just enjoyed that time. Yeah, there was a little stream at that point and, the wind blowing,
Yeah, I think that's something that we'll just always think about and remember. So we've had quite a few opportunities to interact with locals and to experience their culture. You we told one story about sitting inside of Bevagna and having an Aperol spritz and just sitting there and watching this couple get married.
They had just gotten married, I guess. And so they were doing their pictures out with this old antique car and all the family was gathered around. so being able to sit there and watch that. And of course I got up and had to get in and, do some of the photography. but that was a really interesting, experience that we had. your little memory. said that you wish you could have photographed, but you felt like it was just not very
respectful, but now you have that in your, in your mind. Yeah. It was like, the three sisters, of the young lady who was getting married or maybe her friends, they were, they were definitely like the bridesmaids and they were sitting over right outside the church, on a wall and they were all sitting there smoking. And I thought that that would have made such a wonderful photograph, to either,
even in black and white or something, right? But I said, there was no way I could turn around and take their picture without being very obvious about it and did not want to be disrespectful. Yeah, but that's just a neat, know, and then the little kids and their tennis shoes with their dresses and, like you said, the neat old car and they end up blowing the horn and throwing the rice and then there were the pigeons were, everywhere and the
So it was just a very neat thing to, be there as an outsider to watch this, unfold, watch this unfold. And these people's like such a monumental time, in their lives and their community around them. So it was just very neat. And yeah, just sitting at the table and, having a Aperol spritz and just enjoying that moment. also, remember in Bevagna as well.
talking to the manager of the hotel where we stayed. And he was so proud of the rich history and culture there in Bevagna. But then he talked about how, if we think about the Roman timeframe being around 700 years before Christ or something like that, he said, Bevagna was around 1200 years before Christ.
And then when they were doing construction on the property, they found some rock carvings in the ground. And they have those there on the site and they're locked in like a cabinet or whatever. But, uh, he said those date back to 3000 years before Christ. So he's like, there's a mystery civilization that lived here in this area. And we just don't even know anything about.
He's like, we know about the Romans. said, we know the history of Bevagna from the time that it was, Bevagna But yet 1800 years before that, there were people here and that's when they carved out that, that little piece of stone. Yeah. That they, had on display, but you're, like you said, protected away, but had on display and you're right. How proud he was.
And, and if you go back, we had a little clip with him. and then of course, Albertino I loved how he said, I'm so proud to say, like, that was one that he was so proud to like share that, with us. And I just thought that was really, know, really, really neat. Yeah. Everyone we talked to is very proud of their culture and their heritage and the area where they live and.
Can't blame them. I mean, it's a beautiful area. Yeah, it really is. What about just very quickly on the way out of Montefalco to Bevagna, we stopped at another winery and had lunch that day. And that was quite an experience because we got there early enough that there wasn't a lot of
people there, there wasn't a lot of, foot traffic. And so the lady was like, if you want to sit out on our balcony, you can go out there and we'll do a tasting for you out on the balcony. And, then she ended up bringing out like some meat and cheeses and stuff like that. So it ended up actually being a little nice little lunch break for us. Yeah. yeah, that was just absolutely, a nice little treat.
right, to be able to do that. And then right after that, they did have, a couple of tour groups. I think they had some big party. So we really got lucky having that space and ended up talking to a few other people. But that worked out great. That was like one of our shorter walks, right? So we only had a couple of miles to go after we left there. But I was glad we did, that one. And then of course, the other one,
We did one other quick tasting before we left Montefalco because that was really, I think the biggest of the wine area that we, encountered as well. Yeah. Once we leave Bevagna, we're not going to see any more wineries. And matter of fact, you kind of mentioned it is that in our walking, we saw a lot more olive orchards than we did anything else. Olive orchards and then like fields where they would plant soybeans or
In the summer there, have sunflowers. And at that time, they had wheat growing. And so we spent a lot of our time really just meandering through these farms on little, you you called them tractor paths.
Scott Barronton (21:24)
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Scott Barronton (22:12)
There's a ton of bread and there's a ton of pasta. So they've got to have, lots of wheat to be able to make that. But then also just the olive oil, I guess everywhere we went. I mean, that was as big of part of their production as the as the wine too. And let me tell you, it is phenomenal. Not like anything that you taste here.
Yeah, the taste of it was so fresh and so light, but yet full of flavor. mean, we talked about the olive oil that you go and buy on the shelf here in the store, and it literally has no flavor compared to what we had there. Yeah. And they even have it distinguished between, we use this one for cooking and then we use this one just, for eating and this one for salad dressings, right? Because the, the,
flavor profile is so different. But yeah, we passed so many olive groves and it was so neat to see them, because they were just tiny, right? They had just like flowered and now we're going to become those olives.
Well, how about the walking experience? We talked a little bit about this that before the trip, we prepared by doing some longer walks every night with the dogs, doing some out on our own, going out on the greenway and walking those longer paths. But never did we get to the point of walking 10 miles a day in our preparation. So how did that work out for you?
Yeah, I mean, I think it was fine. the first days were either flat or we had a little bit of downhill that first day, but nothing, super steep. I think the biggest thing... you don't consider 18 degree grade steep, Yeah, but that was just like really the first... Yeah, that's true. That was really just the first part.
I would say the biggest thing that I appreciated once I got there. So I decided to do some waterproof hiking boots and that was absolutely the right decision. Instead of just trying to do, tennis shoes or something like that. And the main reason I ended up deciding that was because of the Paraguay trip after, but a hundred percent, I liked having that support on my ankles. Now you did a hiking shoe that didn't have, necessarily the ankle, which, more of a preference, but I was glad that we had.
waterproof and stuff like that, just in case. Yeah, well, it might've helped when I stepped off that, that marble inside one of the churches and kind of twisted my ankle a little bit. So, maybe if I had had more ankle support, it wouldn't have been so bad, but I'll just say, I didn't know what it was going to be like, walking that far, but then, the week before we were in Berlin and we walked over 12 miles a day.
And so, at that point I was like, oh, we got this, I know we can do this. because we didn't even really feel tired in Berlin. And so I don't think we ever felt tired. I don't think it was a, well, I take that back. Uh, it was tiring. I think when we got to Spello. That was our long day. That was the long
Because we didn't venture back out into the town. Well, and it was pouring down rain too. That was the other thing. And once we got into the town, it was probably a good, another mile uphill in the town. our accommodations were at the very end and then kind of uphill. So yeah, that's true. I do want to talk about the accommodations just briefly. I thought that MACS adventure did a great job of choosing.
accommodations for us. Remember, these are in medieval towns. So it's not like these are all brand new hotels But I thought all of the hotels were very comfortable. Matter of fact, in Bevagna, I think that was your favorite, you'd said, where we had the apartment.
I just love the feel of the apartment. We had several rooms and so it was just almost like you could imagine, what would it be like to maybe stay here for a few days? And I mean, it wasn't like a full kitchen or anything like that, but if you could have gone to the market or the store and gotten a few things and, had your wine and it was just very neat. it had the
the glass and then the shutters and then the mid shutters and and so it was just very, I don't know what you would think of just being like in the Italian countryside as well. So I just, that one was, that one was neat. That building, you could tell it had been, I don't know, Changed and stuff over time. So I enjoyed that one. for that reason.
But then, they were just all so different, One for, or really the next two for the views. And so what about you? Yeah. I I liked the one in Bevagna because it was a totally different experience everywhere else. We're going to go down into a restaurant, for breakfast in the mornings, but in Bevagna, they actually brought our breakfast up to the room. And so.
we had an opportunity to sit there, have a cup of coffee. they had an espresso machine in the room. so we had a cup of coffee with our breakfast and really just gave us an opportunity to, get started without having to really go into our day yet. And so that was neat. but the views from Spello and Assisi were just absolutely amazing because you're sitting up high and you're looking down.
over the valley or, over the city itself, like in, Spello, or sorry, in Assisi, we were looking down over the town because we were, I don't know, a little ways up, but there was still a good part of Assisi that was down below us. And so we got to see those old rooftops and, the town down in the valley below. so, those were special views, I would say.
Yeah, and then also we had the church view and then you could see when they rang the bells, right, you literally could see the bells, as well from our window. So I liked the variety as well. I think that just made it just just neat. And then also like, OK, you're doing the walk, but then like, what are you going to discover as far as the room? And you also enjoyed in Spello the room we had the we had the
window and then of course that looked out completely over like just the countryside beyond. But we had the rainbow and watching that storm kind of roll through. So I just think the differences just kind of made it part of the adventure as well.
Yeah, I think so. one of the things that made it totally easy though, was that each day MACS adventure would send someone to come pick up our luggage and they would move it from our hotel where we stayed the night before to the next place. And, that was just so well done and so well orchestrated. you leave the hotel, you go off, do your walk. And then when you get to the next place,
your luggage is already there waiting for you. so, just a really great experience and they did a fantastic job with that. Yeah. A couple of weeks before we left, we did get a little small envelope in the mail that had the two luggage tags in like a cork, right? That said MACS Adventure and we put our information on there. And I mean, that was great to like,
We're doing the MACS adventure and we have this, but then the last guy at the last hotel, like he was saying, they actually look for that. That was a little bit larger property. They look for that to kind of know, okay, these people are going to be walking in. But yeah, every day it was right there. yeah, that was absolutely great. And we just had our pack. So that was something else, talked about the walk and how it was different from how we had prepared, but we just had our day packs, but that was not anything.
that was, it was fine we had our cameras, we had, rain jacket, our few snacks and stuff like that, but that was fun to have those packs, but. Yeah, I think I would just say, if I was given a couple of tips is keep those day packs as light as possible. I had a lot of camera gear, so that, that of course added some weight inside of there. And then, you have a raincoat for just in case and.
then you have a water bottle and so all that stuff does start to add up. So definitely keep those day packs as light as you can. I know one day I felt like that pack was just really heavy. And so the next day I made sure to put more stuff that I went through and said, okay, have I used this? No. Okay, well I'm gonna put it into...
my luggage and send it on via the luggage that day and then keep that pack just as light as possible.
anything else from a tips or tricks perspective that you would say? And I know every walk that they have is different, but I would say be prepared with enough, food and water and snacks that you think you might need. and then if you find something along the way that you'd rather have, just do that.
It was interesting because the water, the last day we had plentiful water, right? And so from Spello to Assisi there were fountains that came directly off the aqueduct. So fresh, very cold water that we could fill our water bottles up. And we did so often. Yeah. And then like we said, the first day we had
Passed the winery. It was only five miles. So, mean obviously if we hadn't passed anything we could have even made it to Bevagna for lunch, but we passed that and so we decided to stop but the next day we were glad that we had the food we weren't really sure and it we would it would have been out of our way to try to find a little town so that's what I would say is just be prepared with plenty and then if you find something that you would rather stop and have
then certainly do that. And one of the things and you went into a little bit more detail in the mini episodes was the last day, our Spello to Assisi, we had gone and tried to find some kind of sandwich. And we probably could have asked like the hotel to, know, because they had the meat and the cheese and probably said, hey, can we make a little sandwich or whatever, but we had not really explored.
So we actually explored Spello a little bit before we went to Assisi. And so we went and tried to, get a little sandwich and it ended up lost in translation being just the focaccia. And I asked you after we got home, what was your favorite meal? And you said that because you said, this is like eating a cold biscuit. was because anybody that's not from the South and you don't know.
the joy of having a cold biscuit, leftover biscuit. know, that's, that is just a, it's a childhood memory that I'll forever have. And so having that focaccia was like having a cold biscuit. And so, because it wasn't one of the savory focaccias. No cheese, no herbs. No, it was just super, it tasted super buttery. Yeah. Yeah. It really was that consistency.
it's one of those things where it was okay. Like, this is all we ended up with, but it became your, one of your favorite things, I think is amazing. had taken an apple and we had that focaccia bread and, we sat on a wall. some, somebody had built a wall and we sat there on that wall in the shade and, we had our bread and we ate our apple and, it was just so nice and pleasant because the.
There's a little bit of a breeze blowing through the trees and the, hearing the birds singing and we could have probably sat there for hours just listening to that, reading a book or, whatever, if we weren't in the middle of a walk, uh, to get there. Yeah. So I just, I love that, that you were like, Oh, that, like, that was my favorite thing. Um, when it wasn't anything planned and it wasn't even really a full meal. So.
If you came across someone who is trying to whether or not this is for them, what would you say to them? Like do it. Just do it. If you enjoy off the beaten path, if you enjoy getting away from where everybody is, and that's fine, right? Because a lot of these you might end up in a town at the beginning, at the end. If you just want something that
is active. And so you're still have kind of like a goal for that day, right? You're still getting up, you're still getting dressed, you're still like have something to do, but just in a completely different, I mean, it was very relaxing. Wouldn't you say? Yeah, it was definitely relaxing. I'm not going to lie. You did wake up in the morning and you did the, dance when you got out of bed.
some pretty sore feet, but after you stretched them for a little bit, and got your shoes on and got dressed, it was no big deal to hit the road again. You'd even asked me, you're like, so what, what would you say if I asked you, would you want to do another day? And the answer was yes. Yeah. And that, that's, yeah, I love that. And we did set an alarm, right. But it wasn't like super early. I think eight, eight.
Eight, 15, something like that. Basically the timeline that we were working off of every day was at nine o'clock. The, were scheduled to come pick up the luggage. So you need to have your luggage ready to go by nine, nine o'clock. But I mean, you're wanting to get up and get going. So, nine o'clock didn't seem very early at all, especially when you would start hearing the church bells or maybe you would hear the roosters crowing or,
whatever, because we would often sleep with the windows open because it was just such a nice, fresh air and felt great. And it was actually light way before that too. That's the other thing too is light way before that. And so if you wanted to get up, well, I will say if you got up super early, I mean, you could put your bags out and go, but the breakfast weren't like super early. As matter of fact, that the guy at the apartment one was like,
What time do you want the breakfast? 8.30, 9.30. And then I was like, OK, 8.30. And then he was like, 8.30, 9.30. It's all the same. So we were like, OK, I'm not really sure what time we're going to get breakfast. It was out waiting for us. But we laugh. We chuckled at that. So it wasn't like they were expecting to have breakfast, for you, super early either. So we never felt like, we've got to hurry and do this. A lot of times.
like we mentioned, we walked around Spello or we went to the, like little market in Bevagna and, and still got to the next town, in plenty of time to, to see and do stuff. So I think that's why I felt, relaxed, even though you weren't getting up and, know, at least getting dressed and having your coffee. Yeah. And I, I want to take just a minute and call out MACS adventure because
while we were in Bevagna, we had taken a taxi to dinner one night and there was some telltale signs, I guess, by the fact that they had tried to call the taxi driver and he's like, I'm too busy, And so they had to call around and find someone else. And the hotel manager was doing this for us, by the way. He found somebody else and the guy took us to dinner and it was probably about
four or five kilometers away on a kind of a hillside. So not a place that you would really want to walk to or be walking back from at night. And we had a wonderful dinner and I had found this Michelin star rated hotel or restaurant. I didn't really understand that it wasn't in Bevagna because it did have a Bevagna address. So
When we got there, we were like, oh, wait a minute. This is, know, in a very different direction. and then we tried to get a ride back and the guy that, everybody knew Elaine, right? Uh, Elaine wasn't answering his phone, the taxi driver. And we were like asking them, Hey, is there anybody else? like, no, he's the only taxi driver.
And we're like, no, this is not good. And so we started asking around. Well, we've finally decided that what we're going to do is just call the MACS Adventure helpline. And we did. Someone picked up the phone. And she was like, hey, how are you? She was like, yeah, this is something we can try to help you with. And she gave us a few different numbers for the same taxi company.
And by the way, this is the same taxi company that moves your bags every day. But she gave us a few other numbers and she's like, if that doesn't work, call us back and we'll figure out what plan B is. Well, thankfully the first number we dialed, we got ahold of somebody and he's like, I'll send somebody out to pick you up. So, and it was the same guy who took us and we should have organized it with him, but we just, not like you said, not.
not knowing. And we should probably also say it wasn't like there weren't places that we could walk to. We just had found this place and then you made a reservation. We were kind of excited about it. We're like, this will work out. And it did. It gave us also a chance to test out, know, the MACS and, know, kind of see what that was like, which I think was great. Well, I think the top recommended place had recently closed and that was one of the problems.
is because, this was the place that everybody had recommended. It was right in town. It was right near where we saw that wedding. And, it would have been easy for us to walk to, but, when that wasn't available, we just started looking for, top restaurants. And this was the one that everybody was recommending. It was great food, like no reservations at all about going out there. It's just a no now that we should have.
plan to, the return ride back as well. And the taxi was kind of expensive. Cause he said, I have to come from this other town. And the other interesting thing was, is what, once we got to Assisi, they actually had like taxi, like a taxi line. yeah. So I don't know taxi, so I'm not really sure why. Yeah. I don't know why, everybody uses Elaine in that taxi. I mean, nice guy.
but there, there were lots of other taxis in towns just as close or closer than where he was coming from. Yeah. So we're not really sure about that. It all worked out. like we said, but so if you do this trip and you need taxis, know that they don't all have to come from Foligno. you can get a taxi to come get you from Assisi, from Spello, either one of those, because they have
long lines of taxis. Well, Melissa, let's wrap it up. Would you do another MACS adventure? Oh, yeah. 100%. Yeah. 100%. Like even before we were done, we were like, OK, where do we want to go next? Actually, before we even left, we already have like several places that we would love to do. But yes, I would absolutely do this in a heartbeat. Yeah. This is not going to be our last MACS adventure walking tour.
Matter of it even has ignited a bit of a spark to do more hiking when we travel. And also I think just knowing, I think this was a great one to start with to say, okay, what is this like to do, three days in a row? Could we do something longer? and, because that is their absolute shortest one, right? And then they have, lots of them that you could do. And so I think just knowing that we,
Could do that, if it was a little more strenuous that we could train more but yeah, like you said just in order to prepare for that seeking out some more hiking stuff. But yes a hundred percent. I just absolutely love this I love being off the beaten path. I love being in places where not everybody goes I Was really good. Is there any particular place that you're thinking about?
France, Spain for sure. But I think it would be really fun to do some of the ones in France. mean, but then they have them in Germany, Switzerland, several more in Italy, and then other places, Croatia and some of those other places that we haven't been. So, I mean, there's so many different ones to choose from. all of them.
also Cotswolds Way or the coast of the UK. Yeah, I think would be absolutely because we want to explore that a little bit more. And I think doing that like this off the beaten path. And I just love staying at the small places and interacting, with the families and the people there.
Well, thanks for joining us as we look back on our MACS adventure walking tour through Umbria. This trip gave us the chance to slow down, connect with the landscape and experience Italy in a totally different way. If you've ever thought about doing a self-guided walking tour, we hope this episode gave you a clearer picture of what to expect and maybe even inspired your next adventure. As always, you can find more travel tips, stories and
destinations at sunshine travelers.com. And until next time, the world is full of sunshine and surprises. Make 2025 the year that you explore beyond the familiar.
