Bella Orvieto!

Ciao!

Well, we made it out of Rome! Up fairly early this morning, as we needed to get (re)organized and (re)packed for the next phase of our trip – Rome to Orvieto to Bologna, then the agriturismos. Have to admit that getting organized for a car trip is MUCH easier than getting on a plane; somehow all those liquids and gels do tend to get about! However, still WAY too much to schlep, even if it was just around the corner! Checked out of La Residenza; will definitely want to return there! and around the corner to a very tiny Europcar office. Got the paperwork done, and our car was brought around (probably from the exact same garage we were to have picked it up from originally!) and talk about SMALL! Whew! Our baggage doesn’t totally fit in the trunk, even though it is a 4-door hatch-back!! So, one small black bag on the floor of the backseat. It is a cute, new Fiat with only 6,000 km on it. Drives really well, but wow, are we spoiled from our days with the Ford S-Max in France! And, while the windows are automatic, there is no cruise control, no automatic mirror folding, and only 5 speeds instead of 6! Reverse is, however, at the opposite end of the spectrum from 1st, so imagine we’ll be just fine! We didn’t have the greatest map to get us out of Rome, but R did a great job getting us out. The nice thing about Rome (and several other big Italian and French cities) is that they have ring-roads so no matter which way you go, you’ll somehow finally manage to get to the countryside, and eventually going in the right direction! So, out of Rome and zooming north! Actually have run into some interesting weather! It was getting darker and darker, and finally started to rain! Was lovely! We actually skirted the bulk of the storm, but the few drops we had were welcome, and at least things are now a bit cooler than yesterday!

Orvieto is a wonderful hill-top city about 2 hours north of Rome. We had passed by it multiple times on other trips, but never stopped, and I’d been wanting to, principally because I had read and heard so much about their Duomo (in many large cities, the main church is referred to as the Duomo rather than by a specific name, like St. Peters)...so, booked us into Hotel Duomo for two nights. The city is lovely; even has wide streets (comparatively speaking...) for a hill-top location! Found the hotel easily (just followed signs to the Duomo), and voila (and how do you say that in Italian???) there it was! As it was only 12:30 p.m. our room wasn’t yet ready, so we left the luggage and the car (SO nice to have the hotel deal with the parking issues...) and headed out for lunch and a look at the town. As we were right next door to the Duomo, headed there first thing. It is stupendous; a truly superb church, beautifully decorated and in wonderful shape. On the outside, it is alternating white and black stone, which I believe is also done in Siena – but this has incredible stained glass, and two marvelous chapels, and alabaster is used in some of the windows to let in light. Overall feeling of space, light and peace. WELL worth a visit (Merit un detour) according to Michelin! Then looked through some of the shops (Robert was grumbling...or maybe that was his stomach...) and finally found a little Enoteca on the main square for lunch. R had a small pizza margarita and a plate of sun-dried tomatoes; I had a plate of fresh tomatoes, tuna and olives, and we both indulged in several glasses of – what else? – Orvieto Classico, the local wine of choice! Very light, very fresh; very enjoyable! After that, I of course needed my gelato fix (believe we got through all of yesterday without any gelato! How could that be??) so we found a small place for my normal stracciatella (vanilla with chocolate bits) and chocolato cone; yum! Then back to the hotel – and we LOVE our room! We’re on the second floor (think third, as the ground floor counts as 0) in a junior suite. Lots of room, and a lovely view of the Duomo spires! No wi-fi, though, and no Eurosport; oh well! It was great while it lasted! Rested for a bit, and then headed out into town again. I’m beginning to get the “I-Need-To-Do-Wash” syndrome, but am trying to control it until we get to Bologna (university down; certainly the students have dirty clothes!) Toured the Teatro here – just spectacular! Like a miniature version of La Scala in Milan! (Will include at least one photo.) The thing that we really like best about Orvieto is that it is a beautifully preserved living city! There are cities in Italy – I’m thinking primarily of Voltera – that feel really dead; no life to them at all, not many people walking around (although in Voltera’s case, the incredible amount of alabaster, which I really don’t like, could have something to do with that feeling!) But in Orvieto, the houses are uniformly well-cared for; there are flowers and cars and people everywhere, and lots of little alleys and narrow streets that are incredibly charming! We really like it here! Have covered most of the town, and are putting together our program for tomorrow, which will include Orvieto Underground, where we will be touring the underside of Orvieto’s hill, where the Etruscans first dug their burial places and have been in use ever since!

So, until tomorrow!!
Ciao!
m