The Nine Days of Chocolate

Squizzey may have loved the chestnut festival but I was more interested in today's festival - Perugia's Eurochocolate, an annual chocolate festival which runs for 9 days (NINE!).

Perugia is the capital city of Umbria, which neighbours Tuscany, and it is an absolutely gorgeous medieval hill town. I loved it. I'd like to go back when the festival's not on to have a proper look around. I'd also, unsurprisingly, like to go back again when the festival's on. Although possibly not at the weekend, as Perugia's narrow streets were absolutely heaving with people jostling for room at the chocolate stalls, especially the ones where a block of chocolate was being sculpted and the off-cuts were distributed to the waiting crowds.

We walked from one end of the festival to the other, bought a couple of small slabs of hazelnut and coconut chocolate, ate those looking out over the city to the hills beyond, and then fought our way back through the hordes and escaped the heat in one of the narrow streets that led us back down to the car park.

After all those people, we wanted something a bit more tranquil, and headed here to Lake Trasimeno. The morning mist that had lifted from the hills was still resting on the far side of the lake, but it was a brilliantly hot and sunny Sunday afternoon.

When we reached Passignano sul Trasimeno, a town on the northern shores of the lake, we reached a road block and parked up to investigate. The town was having its own festival of sorts with everyone out on the streets, browsing stalls or watching dancing, horse-riding, volleyball and judo demonstrations.

We saw the biggest chestnut roasting pan ever by the side of the lake here, and the biggest Nutella jar, so Squizz didn't mind so much that we'd spent the day at a chocolate festival.