EURO CHOCOLATE / Mediaeval Stone Wall of Perugia

Euro Chocolate is a festival that started in Perugia because just about every other town has a festival of their own cibo (food) like.. a nearby town has a celery festival.. Because they produce some special celery that no other part of Italy produces… so on that note… Perugia decided to have a chocolate festival.. because through Perugina factory, chocolate was/is their biggest profit. Euro chocolate started out small.. But now it’s evolved into a ten day festival (that brings thousands of people to Perugia), with chocolate from all around Europe.. and even from Central America… theirs exhibits that explain how chocolate is made from the plant which becomes a tree..That creates “fruits” which they break, take out the seeds and dry them… they later grind them up… and it becomes cacao… (Wow that was a very short and simple.. description of the process.. lol.. I took pictures of the whole exhibition.. Their up on my photobucket under italia>eurochocolate ) at the festival they also have booth… upon booth.. That sells all sorts of chocolate.. and this past Sunday they had a chocolate sculpture contest.. (That was fun to see.. because of the chocolate that breaks off.. in order to form the masterpiece.. is given away to the public… ;-) I caught a little piece! ) I heard from my Italian culture teacher.. that at the end of the festival.. they give away a whole bunch of chocolate… I hope it’s true… id be set (as far as chocolate goes.. ) for the year !

When I wasn’t at EuroChocolate this weekend, I decided to explore my town some more.. I walked around my future neighborhood ( I can’t wait to move.. ) I found this beautiful park that has a gorgeous view of the valley that surrounds Perugia ( I didn’t take that much pictures.. because I figured ya’ll were a bit bored of the “countryside” pictures..but nevertheless there’s some of the park.. ) I also found this temple… and one of the gates of the city… Perugia was built in ... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perugia) around the mediaeval period… it has this stone wall that surrounds the historical center of the city… and today I decided to walk around the entire wall ! it took about four hours… but the views… and the history that radiated of the old buildings.. and the arc doors of the city were definitely worth it ! I’m hoping to learn more about the history of Perugia.. so that I can share with you guys.. and enhance my experience abroad in Italy !