Civitavecchia, Orvieto, and Umbria, Italy

I am on what Holland America calls a “Collector’s Voyage” which allows you to take two separate cruises and turn it into one. Today is “turn-around” day, that is, some people who selected the first cruise are now disembarking at Civitavecchia (the port for Rome), while those who selected only the second cruise are boarding to take the second cruise only.

The port is quite a distance from Rome. I understand taxi fare to the city is about $125. Thankfully, when I end the second cruise here, I will be transported to the hotel by my travel group, Vantage. We will spend two nights in Rome, and then they will transport me to the airport. These two transports and two nights would cost about $500. I know I paid for this service, but it is sure nice not to have to plan and worry with all of that. When I return Rome in ten days, I will visit some of my favorite places there.

So instead of staying on the ship today, eight of us in the Vantage group had made arrangements several days ago to have a private driver take us to Orvieto, Marta and Tarquinia—all in Umbria.

Unfortunately, we encountered rain most of the day, so the views from atop Orvieto were muted, the lake at Marta was grey like the sky, and the outside Etruscan ruins and tombs at Tarquinia were too wet to slog around in. The photos, consequently, are not so great, but they give you an idea of what I saw.

Orvieto is an impressive hilltop town. The mountain slopes were carved away to make a steep vertical when the it was built hundreds of years ago to thwart invaders. Even Pope Clement VII moved his whole court here for protection while Rome was being pillaged in 1527.

The Duomo dominates the town. Construction on it began in 1290.

It reminds me of the one in Florence with its exterior pink and green marble and beautiful mosaics.

By contrast, the interior is simple, also like Florence.

Not many people were out this rainy Sunday morning, but there was a display of classic Citroen cars in the piazza.


The men of the town seemed interested in them as well as gathering to discuss the news of the day.

A few shops were open, like this ceramic and souvenir store.


And this one in the Alley of Craftsmen which specialized in olive wood carvings.

But what really took my eye with this cluster of flowers. They reminded me of Walt Whitman’s poem, “When Lilacs By the Door Yard Bloom’d.”


Next, we drove to the little town of Marta to see a lake. (I didn’t catch the name of it). The grey sky blunted the color of the water. It has two islands in it, and a park with a walk around the edge.


We had planned to eat lunch in Marta, but we couldn’t because every restaurant was booked by families celebrating their children’s First Communion. So we headed to Tarquinia and ate in a lovely café, the San Marco. A guitarist played for us while we enjoyed the excellent Orvieto wine and food.


As I said, we didn’t stay to examine the Etruscan antiquities found in Tarquinia because of the rain. We returned to the ship earlier than planned. I am glad because after a full week of touring, I am tired. Tomorrow we will be at sea, so it will be a leisurely day.