PERUGIA: A short train trip away to Perugia, which was the most lovely breath of fresh air coming from Rome. There were hardly any tourists and it's such a pretty medieval hill town that you can't help but love being here. Plus I'd forgotten how beautiful Umbria is, it really does look like that stereotypical image everyone has in their head of what Italy looks like, along with Tuscany.

A view out over the old town of Perugia (the city is made up of two parts, the old town on the top of the hill and the modern town at the bottom)

The facade of Perugia's cathedral, interesting with the pink and white marble

The very dark interior of the cathedral. No flash allowed, you never quite know because the rules are inconsistent across churches. To cover your shoulders, not to cover, who knows?

The Sala dei Notari, in the Palazzo dei Priori, the centre of the political authorities of Perugia during the Middle Ages. They still hold council meetings in here today

The 12th century Fontana Maggiore in the main square: in the evening everyone comes out in Perugia to mingle in the square and drink and talk on the steps, for such an old city it's really vibrant

The entrance to the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte, where they had far too many Madonna and Child paintings to hold my interest. I'm sorry but seen one, seen them all, don't care who they're by or how brilliant they supposedly are

The internal courtyard of the Museo Archeologico, they had some fantastic Etruscan things in here, in particular a relocated Etruscan family tomb and an exhibition on ancient amulets. It was fascinating all the things they had amulets for: to get pregnant, to attract a lover, to ward off the evil eye, to keep their children safe, to have a happy home, to keep witches away. Very superstitious!!

Another Umbrian view, I couldn't quite get used to how pretty it was here