Friday 26th July
Rome – Orvieto
We left our lovely hotel in the heart of Rome and took a
taxi ride to Termini Station. WOW! The traffic! Chaos. The taxi driver seemed
to be saying that it was ridiculous and why would anyone be driving in Rome. It
made me wonder why he was actually driving a taxi. He was getting very
frustrated and cranky. Well, other taxis just stop in the middle of the road to
drop off passengers and luggage and who cares if the traffic is backed up back
to the Coliseum. Anyway, we got on the train to get to Orvieto.
Orvieto is a hill top town just over an hour on the train
from Rome. It is set high up a cliff of tufo. Beautiful, orderly, calm. No traffic
and quiet, except for the clock in the tower
that chimes on the half hour all day and hourly throughout the night. All
night.
Our room is a
lovely B & B overlooking a piazza in which a farmers market is currently. It is set into the roof, with very low beams. One of
which crosses the doorway into the bathroom, so we need to duck our heads to
get in and out. Quaint, and potentially lethal. However it is three times the size of
our room in Rome – which was elegant and tasteful , however small.
Orvieto has a
most incredible duomo. The façade is beautifully ornate, with mosaics,
sculptures, carvings, and four tall spires. Inside the frescoes are spectacular
and are slowly being restored to a glorious state. There is a jewelled and enamelled
reliquary (once the most expensive jewel in Italy) that used to hold a cloth
that captured a the blood from a bleeding Communion host.
The town itself is picturesque, lanes and
piazzas, lined with shops selling high end homewares, clothing, toys. There are
quite a few bars and restaurants. And every one appears to be Dutch. So there
are groups of sullen young teenage children everywhere. But what a great
opportunity to start a holiday rental business. The guide who took us down the
800 BC Etruscan caves and water wells explained she was from Orvieto but now it
was too expensive for her to live. A European middle class young family hilltop
island paradise. Here everyone gets shaved fresh truffles on their pasta or steak
to be washed down by 100% Montelpucino red wine followed by a lovely walk along
the ramparts high above reality below.
No comments:
Post a Comment