By the time we woke this morning we had already arrived at our next port, Civitavecchia. This is known as the Gateway to Rome and for most people, including Victoria and family, this would be today’s destination. Sylvia and I decided to do something different as we felt that Rome on an August Saturday might be a little oppressive. We left the ship at around nine and travelled for about an hour to the small town of Marta which is situated on the shore of Lake Bolsena, Italy’s fifth largest lake.
The old town is made up of narrow alleyways leading to small squares...
….while the tiled rooftops made interesting patterns.
However fishing is the main occupation in the village as witnessed by the number of small boats on the side of the lake.
After walking around the town for about an hour we reboarded the coach for the second part of our excursion a journey to the hilltop town of Montefiascone and a wine tasting. This took place in a small family run winery where we were greeted by the owner Stefen Stefanoni who served us six wines together with a sample of the local food.
To be fair it was less of a wine tasting but more of a wine sampling with the wines only being referred to as number 1, number 2 etc. Obviously there was an opportunity to purchase some of the wines and although we didn’t take up this offer I understand the pricing was very good.
The journey back to the ship was very quiet only interupted by the intermittent snoring of some passengers who had sampled a little too much of the wine. Altogether a really good trip showing us a part of Italy that we would not usually see,I would highly recommend it if you are travelling this way.
This afternoon was really hot and sunny and with so many people on long trips the ship was relatively quiet. I decided to go into the town of Civitavecchia to download some information for the car insurance while Sylvia stayed on board.
Victoria and Oliver arrived back on board around 5.30 and decided to cool off with a swim. Joey enjoyed riding on his Dad’s back……..
and Poppy soaked up the sunshine.
Tomorrow we visit the port of Livorno for visits to Pisa and Florence, although once again Sylvia and I will be doing something different.
