Another day, another port. We woke at 6:30 in the port of Civitavecchia, the port of the city of Rome. When my husband K, daughter J, and I went to breakfast at 7, folks were already disembarking. This I could not understand. If you look at the photos below, you can see that this port is like Naples, an industrial port. However, then I remembered- while we were on a 14-day cruise, others were on a 7-day cruise. So, we would lose some folks today and then gain others.
Breakfast was all the usual items. J and I have settled in to my picking up meat, cheese, and rolls for both of us and then going back for some pastries. I then get my yogurt mixture. She orders juices. It is a good system.
We were at the World Stage at 8 to get the White 6 stickers for our excursion- The Etruscans. We had chosen to not take a tour that went to Rome, because we knew too much time would be wasted on the road. We'd all been there before; so it wasn't a loss. We chose instead to learn about these ancient people who ruled the area before the Romans came to power. K and I had watched at least one video about them and knew, for instance, that Tuscany's name came from theirs.
At 8:14, we were sent to Deck 2 Midship, which was a new destination for us. There we discovered the gangway to an actual terminal. As we crossed to the shoreside, we saw this lovely sailing ship. Then, as we went down the escalator, there was this welcome sign.
The sky was a lovely blue when we exited the terminal to find our bus. Our guide, Rose Angela, scanned our tickets at 8:23. We were on the road at 8:28.
Like the other guides, she told us about the town. Civitavecchia is the second most important port in Italy after Genoa, which isn't surprising, since it is the closest to the capital. As we left the port, we passed the Michelangelo Fortress (Forte Michelangelo). Less than 20 minutes later, we were passing scenes of the countryside.
We were headed for Tarquinia, a UNESCO World Heritage site. (We're visiting quite a few of those this trip.) The Etruscans, she said, were here from the 8th-4th centuries BC, with their high point in the 7th century BC. Their land, Etruria, which was between the Arno and Tiber Rivers, is now Tuscany, Lazio, and Umbria in Central Italy.
At 8:55, the bus parked outside of the town of Tarquinia at the Etruscans' necropolis. As we headed to the site, we passed this sign and this plant, which turned out to be privet, as in the Dursleys' home on Privet Drive.
I'm a sucker for information signs. I take the photos and then read them at home. Here they are for your edification.
To give you a break, here are some lovely blue rock bindweed we passed along the way.
We had to wait a few minutes for the ticket booth to open. Interestingly, there was no souvenir shop.
When we were allowed in, she led us up the hill a bit to the oldest tombs. In the 10th century BC, the Villanovans (the earliest phase of Etruscans) would cremate the deceased and put the ashes in a metal urn, which turn was placed in a stone case that was then buried. If it was house-shaped, the deceased was a woman. The round shape held a man. Here some of them sat behind a fence in a field with a Spanish Broom tree just outside of it near the bottom of the hill.
Later, they would use a stone coffin that they buried in the necropolis. The Etruscans were rich due to trade. They wanted a burial house. We were going to visit some of these. The coffins and other items had long ago been moved to museums. As you can see in the drawing below, and the photos, we had to go down some rather steep stairs. Were my knees happy about this? Are you kidding? Would I regret it, if I didn't visit these ancient places and marvel at what was done here? You know it. So, I dealt with the stairs. Even when they got incredibly vicious, as in the ones that had a good 8" drop at the bottom, rather than an extra stair.
This first one had such complicated art work! And, they even coated the stairwell.
Rose Angela took us the edge of the hill and pointed out the tree-covered hill across the valley. That was the original acropolis, the original Tarquinia. There was a helpful sign, with more info.
It was warm here, but there was a breeze at times and it was cool in the shade. It was really nice to be able to look to the left and see all the farmland and even a factory.
No doubt you noted the stairs in the photo above. Of course, we had to go down them to reach an incredibly ornate tomb. But, I found there was also a helpful ramp and I did not mind using that. Down below, we did not have to use stairs to enter.
Back up on top of the hill, there was a good view over the site, as well as more Spanish Broom, but growing like a bush.
We visited two more that were unique for being so close to each other that they shared an entrance that just branched off in a V.
At 10:17, after a chance for a restroom break, we loaded back on the bus. We were headed downtown. Tarquinia is a town of 15,000 with a Medieval wall. It took only 5 minutes to reach our drop off point for the National Archaeological Museum of Tarquinia (Museo Archeologico Nationale di Tarquinia), which was just outside the wall. There were not many people about this warm morning, but it was Sunday and they could have been in church. We could see to water in the distance and I realized that it was the Tyrrhenian Sea.
We had to walk uphill a bit and cross the street to reach the museum, which is housed in a repurposed building, as you'll read.
We were led into a rather lovely courtyard, where we waited close to the door we entered, while the guide went and got our tickets at the other end.
Our topic was still the Villanovans and the Etruscans.
I will admit that I tried to erase the reflections of people in the photos below of this small room built to mimic the tomb from which the objects came. It was good to see this, because it said that like so many other ancient peoples, these folks buried objects with their dead.
While there were large signs with English, there were no individual captions in English, which was frustrating. I took this photo, because I liked it, but I do not know what it is.
This being a palazzo, there was a grand staircase to go to the second floor. However, Rose Angela pointed out an elevator. J, a lady with a cane, and I gladly took that. However, when we got off, we couldn't figure out where to go. There was a glass door with an exhibition room, but it seemed to be the end of the exhibit. Luckily, the Whispers came to the rescue. We just kept moving in a direction in which Rose Angela's voice got louder. We finally found the group.
They had quite the treasure trove of ancient items. Look at that helmet. It's really quite impressive. The next picture is a Villanovan urn. And the one after that? Notice the difference? The bowl on top is turned upside down. That means the deceased was a girl under 12. Amazing that they figured this out.
Starting in the 4th century BC, they started using sarcophagi and they could get elaborate.
They got into geometric forms on their pottery. Unfortunately, since those are in glass cases on glass shelves, there are a lot of reflections. This one turned out best and seems to be mentioned on the sign.
I tell you, the big signs were great! And the pottery mentioned photographed well.
That pottery was really beautiful and definitely reminiscent of some we'd seen in Greece.
Our guide told us that the pots on this shelf had held make-up. They looked like they'd work for that.
The last pottery we saw looked advanced to this untrained eye.
We moved on to a room that let us look at the palazzo itself. Some nice architectural features.
They've even found jewelry, really lovely jewelry.
We moved to a room with a number of sarcophagi. The most important of which might be that of Magistrato. It is not that it is the most beautiful. But, it is unusual due to the open scroll the figure on top is holding. This is the longest inscription in Etruscan, which makes it very important. Interestingly, they used the Greek alphabet. The green picture is on the gallery wall and lets you see the inscription more clearly.
We'd been in the museum for a quick 45 minutes, when it was time to head back to the bus. Along the way, I got this lovely shot of Tarquinia.
We reached the bus at 11:10 and at 11:20, we arrived at Mandoleto Farm. Mandoleto means "almond". This was a agrotourism farm. Inside the house, there was a very large room set up for a party. We were led to tables between the front door and another dining room. The whole group sat at one long table. We were given our choice of white or red wine and water was available. Then, there was a whole array of wonderful food: bread and oil; cheese with honey to pour on it; olives and bread; bread and jam. The honey in particular was fantastic, but, sadly, none was for sale. The food was served family style. J and I wound up talking to the person on the end of the table and the two people across from us. K talked mostly to two Belgian guys on his other side. It was a wonderful hour.
There was even an aquaduct.
When we got back on the bus, we noticed something we hadn't before. It was equipped with a coffee maker next to the tour guide's jump seat. It must have been installed for long trips.
As we headed back to the port, we saw more of the agriculture in the area. The red flowers in the field below are actually artichokes.
As we drove into the port, we could see why you couldn't just walk off the ship and into town. Just look at how much lies between the road and our ship, for example.
We passed the terminal for the ferry system, which billed itself as "the highway of the sea". We also got a good view of the ferry with Wonder Woman on it.
Not only does this area of the port service cruise ships and ferry boats, but we also passed simple fishing boats and mega-yachts.
We passed a statue that was designed by the Marinelli Factory and dates from 2020. It is called "Kissing in Memory of a Port". It is meant to remember those who left the port for war and often didn't come back. It is also meant to rebuild a memory lost on May 14, 1943, when Allied bombing destroyed the Port Authority office, much of the port, and the city center. Centuries of history were lost. It is bronze and almost 9.8 feet tall. The young woman wears summer clothes of the 1940's and the guy wears the old Royal Port Authority uniform. Glad I spied it!
We were dropped off at the terminal at 12:46 and K gave Rose Angela a 5 euro tip. When we went inside, we were mixed with newly arriving passengers. We had to have our stuff scanned, before we proceeded up the escalator and walked to the ramps leading to the gangway. As we went, I saw our cabin in this shot. We are on the second visible deck down and the verandah past the bend. Basically, the second verandah.
We were in our cabin at 1:03 and met up with J 7 minutes later to go to lunch. As usual, we had a great array of desserts to share. My salad was particularly good today and J enjoyed her focaccia. I failed to note what K had.
We finished eating and posting to Facebook and Instagram around 2:10. We went out onto the deck to photograph the port. First, we got a good look at a green statue on top of a tower. Evidently, it is of St. Fermina giving a blessing to the sailors. She is the patron saint of the city and protector of sailors. Supposedly, she took refuge from a storm at sea in a grotto near Michaelangelo Fortress.
We then had views of the city and of Molo del Lazzaretto, which seems to be the name for Ft. St. Peter. Lazzaretto means "leper hospital", which makes sense, since during an outbreak of the plague in 1656, it became a place of quarantine. That use ended in 1800.
We got a look at that sailing ship that we saw when we disembarked. Out at sea, there were a couple of ships waiting, which you'd expect at a shipping port. We could see that the other side of the Wonder Woman ferry was Batman. Plus, we could see the trappings of a busy port.
.jpeg)
That done, we all headed down to our muster station to have our key cards scanned. Since we had been unable to accomplish it last week, the directions said to go this week. Then, it was up to Deck 12 for the excursions desks and questions about upcoming cruise days with no excursions offered yet. They are coming.
2:50 found us back in our cabin. While K went to the fitness center, J and I went out on the verandah to do the crossword, read, sew, nap. A very pleasant couple of hours. J went back to her room to get ready for dinner at 5:30.
At 6, we were at the Pinnacle Grill for one of our free dine-around dinners. The bread was terrific and had a pepper spread and a garlic one. I can't resist crab, so I ordered the Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes for my appetizer. Not exactly Maryland-style, and not jumbo but not bad. J got the unique and delicious Clothesline Candied Bacon and K got a tasty Lobster Bisque. He also ordered a bottle of Chateau Smith's Cabernet Sauvignon, which will be accessible to him for other meals.
I was all set to order scallops for my entree, when the waiter said that the chef said the ones he'd gotten today were not good. So, I switched to Double Cut 14oz Kurobuta Pork Chops. I also ordered Asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce for the table. J chose the 10 ounce Filet Mignon with shallot and red wine bordelaise sauce. K also got that filet, but with bearnaise sauce. He ordered a dish of Sautéed Mushroom for us all.
For dessert, I could not resist Jacques & Orres Chocolate Soufflé. It was great. J ordered the Crème Brûlée, which looked rather different and was delicious. K got the Key Lime Pie, which was the correct color and flavor. They also brought us a small plate with candies, that were quite good.
We didn't get out of the restaurant until about 8:20. So, we missed the jewelry drawing. We roamed a bit, but were back in our cabins at 8:45. K and I watched Romancing the Stone, since it inspired The Lost City. Good movie.
The phone says that I walked 6,994 steps for 2.4 miles in total and no floors were climbed.
No comments:
Post a Comment