Day 29 Tuscania
This morning we docked in Civitavecchia for the second time on this cruise. Big changeover of passengers as 1500 were getting off and being replaced.
Jeanette and I headed off on a tour to the ancient walled town of Tuscania. This had been virtually destroyed in an earthquake in 1971 that killed 31 of the 600 inhabitants. In the aftermath of that disaster the government decided to restore it to its original condition and sent teams of archaeologists and skilled craftsmen to rebuild it from the rubble. The remaining inhabitants were initially rehoused in flats built beyond the walls.
The old city today looks as though it has been there for centuries. It is very clean and we were the only tourists in the town which was really nice. Many houses had jasmine growing over their doorways and the scent of its flowers filled the air.
From the city walls you can look across to the Duomo of St Peter. A fair walk for the faithful to get to church I thought. Now here’s one for the trivia buffs : Whats the difference between a Duomo and a Cathedral. If it is a major church and the bishop lives near by its a Cathedral. If he only visits, its a Duomo.
Set in the most beautiful countryside, this place just exudes a beautiful calm feeling. Our guide was telling us that many foreigners have chosen to live here. It’s not a huge distance from the sea and from Rome.
In one portion of the old town, the residents decided not to rebuild but to create a lovely green park.
Speaking of Rome, the name of the town’s main street indicates where all roads lead to.
Our next stop was at a local farm where we tried Bruschetta made from their tomatoes, tasted their olive oil and drank their rather pleasant white wine. The weather was just perfect.
Arriving back at the ship, as there was a lot of the day left, we decided to head into Civitavecchia. The docking area was absolute chaos since, as we found out later, there were some 16,000 people trying to board and disembark at the same time. We couldn’t find the shuttle bus into town amongst all this chaos so we decided to walk the long winding road into the city.
Along the way we passed many miserable and flustered passengers heading in the opposite direction towing large suitcases over the rough path. I got this shot of Jeanette trying to attract this sailor’s attention.
We wound up for lunch in a cafe that had what you might term a slightly dysfunctional operational style. The boss would find fault, tell off his wife who would then scream at the head waiter who would then loudly payout the skinny teenage kid who seemed to be doing most of the work, then they would all, but the kid, head out the back and have a verbal altercation with the cook. This cycle seemed to repeat over and over. Given all that, the food was surprisingly good.
Hardys’ Travels 