Day 137: Civitavecchia, Italy

Tuesday, 23 May 2017
At Sea — Tyrrhenian Sea

Stats @ Ship’s Time 8:40p (CEST) … UTC 6:40p (23 May)
Temp: 67.5F (19.7C)
Position: 41.56.34N / 11.11.24E

If one advances confidently in the direction of one’s dreams,
and endeavors to live the life which one has imagined,
one will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.
~ Henry David Thoreau ~

Our arrival this morning in Civitavecchia, Italy signaled the end of one segment, and the beginning of another.  Having added 5,034 NM to the ship’s log, we have now completed 35,328 NM since leaving Miami over four months ago.  The new segment — 30-days in length — is called Picturesque Pathways.  I expect it will deliver on its promise to visit lovely, scenic, charming, quaint, and delightful places.

We had a great day today, but not in Civitavecchia.  Instead, Mui and I headed off to visit a nearby medieval town.  It was about 7:45a when we went down to deck 4 to leave Insignia … only to find that the ship had not been cleared for disembarkation yet even though we had arrived at our berth at 7:00a.  No matter. Since we were in-transit passengers and not terminating our voyage here, GM Victor received the blessings of the Italian authorities and escorted us down the gangway in short order.

It was nice to be in a familiar port where we knew exactly what to expect process-wise.  First we had to get out of the secure port area.  To that end, we walked through the terminal to look for the port shuttle.  The bus arrived minutes later, and luckily for us, the driver didn’t wait to fill up completely.  Getting off the shuttle at the port gate, we walked through the gauntlet of operators selling bus tickets to Rome … the price reducing from €19 to €15 to €12 the further you got from the shuttle drop off.  No thanks … not going into Rome today.

The first item on our agenda was to make a hotel reservation for November when we will return to Civitavecchia for a Transatlantic crossing on Celebrity Silhouette.  So we crossed the street and two minutes later we were at the Hotel Traghetto.  The property is nothing special, but it has the advantage of being right across from the port shuttle center.  The owner remembered us from when we stayed at the Traghetto last year and suggested room 403 since our first choice — 402 — was already booked.  And he gave us a discount for returning to his hotel … deal!

The reservation taken care of, we stopped at a nearby tabacchi [tobacco shop/newspaper stand] to pick up Cotral bus tickets for Tarquinia — €3.20/person roundtrip … I understand it is quite a bit more if you buy from the driver on the bus (IF it is still an option to do so).  We still had about 30 minutes before the 9:00a bus, so we decided to head to the main bus stop across from the Civitavecchia Cathedral and get on from there … a short walk that helped us stretch our legs and still left us with 15-20 minutes to spare.

Seeing the door open, we went inside the cathedral to check it out.  Construction of the church, which is dedicated to St Francis of Assisi, began in 1610.  Built over the remains of a Franciscan church, it was completed in 1782, but did not become a cathedral for another 20+ years.  Damaged considerably during the bombings of 1943, it was restored in 1950.  Not wanting to miss the bus, we didn’t dally long inside the cathedral, but I’m glad we went in for a quick look-see.

A glimpse of the interior of the Civitavecchia Cathedral.

At the bus stop, a young man who was waiting for the same bus said it usually arrives at 9:05a, which left us with 10 minutes to kill.  I whiled away the time chatting with a couple of segment passengers who would be joining us on Insignia later in the day.  By the time the bus arrived, quite a few others from the ship had shown up as well, but a number of them ended up missing the bus because they had to run over to a nearby tabacchi to buy tickets.  Luckily for them, there was a bus 15 minutes later so they didn’t have long to wait for the next one.

The bus ride to Tarquinia — Tarchuna in Etruscan — is about 30 minutes long … less if traffic cooperates.  The town, which dates back to 9th Century BC, was one of the oldest and most important Etruscan cities of its time, and it was the homeland of two of the kings of Rome.  The exact date is not known, but eventually the city came under Roman rule.  By the Middle Ages, Tarchuna was little more than a fortified settlement with few mentions of it in historic records.  Today it is best known for its Etruscan necropolis.  It was a visit to this site that drew us to making the trip to Tarquinia … but we found a lot more to see there as well.

The bus dropped us all off at the terminus outside the town walls.  Mui and I initially planned to start with a visit to the museum.  But it was such a lovely day that we couldn’t bear to be inside.  I think the day’s high was around 73F (23C) … with lots of sunshine and blue skies … and often a light breeze to keep us comfortable.  So, we decided to leave the museum for when we return in November … it will make for a nice morning outing before we embark Silhouette.  Picking up a map from the info center just inside the walls  — absolutely essential if one doesn’t want to get lost entirely — and headed off on a meandering stroll through the medieval town.

We went into every church that was open — even stopping by some of the ones that the woman at the info center said were closed … they made for nice photo ops.  We wandered through the cobblestone streets — which were deserted once we left the central town area — and enjoyed a peaceful spring morning stroll.  The locals we encountered were friendly and returned our buon giorno greetings with a smile and a nod.

Piazza di San Martino

View of the valley with the abandoned church of San Giacomo on the left.

The Church and Convent of San Francisco

Our last stop before returning to the town center was the Etruscan Necropolis of Monterozzi — €8/person admission.  This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site where over 6,000 tombs have been discovered … some of them decorated with frescoes.  Here we visited the Calvary section where about 20 painted tombs are open to the public.  These tombs consist of rooms dug into the rock and covered with a tumulus.  That the tombs were not visible at ground level led to the area being called Monterozzi … meaning hillocks or humps.  Today the tombs are sheltered from the elements by small buildings called casette.  Descending a staircase — some longer and steeper than others — visitors find themselves outside a glass door.  This door keeps visitors out of the actual burial chamber, while at the same time allowing a glimpse of the frescoes.  This is to further protect the paintings from the increased humidity that accompanies human visitation.

Left: Artist’s rendering of the necropolis during the 19th century.
Right: The tombs are protected by little buildings called cassette.

The frescoes inside the Tomb of the Lionesses.

The tombs were most interesting and well worth the long walk to get from the bus terminus to the necropolis.  I later heard that there was a free shuttle from the terminus to the site, but I didn’t see one operating today until much later.  Not that we minded the walk … if we had not been on foot, we would not have explored the town itself … and that was half the fun.

We returned to the town center by a more direct route that took only 20 minutes or so.  The bonus was that the route took us right by Danilo, the gelateria recommended by the woman at the info center.  Sitting at one of the tables set out on the street, we enjoyed our sweet treat before continuing onto Piazza Cavour where we ran into the Sweets and the Gelmans.  Bill recommended a “pizza by the slice” place a few doors down.  We picked up a couple of slices and joined them at the café where they were sitting.  Nothing like putting the cart before the horse — or in this case, eating dessert first ;-)  A couple of beverages from the café where we were taking up seats wrapped up our simple meal.

After lunch, our friends rejoined the driver they had hired on-the-fly at the port and went off to visit the necropolis.  We stopped by the museum, but decided we didn’t have enough time to do it justice.  Time to return to the ship.  We — along with about 15 fellow-passengers — were on the 1:40p bus to Civitavecchia.  Mui asked the driver to drop us off at the port.  Turns out the inbound bus stops right in front of the tabacchi where we bought our tickets … across the road from the port shuttle center … very convenient.

We were back on the ship around 2:30p … plenty of time to relax on the veranda, which was in the shade … a glass of vino to celebrate a great day in port.  The embarkation day muster drill was at 5:15p … we dutifully attended.  We were back on the veranda in time for the 6:00p sailaway.  As the church bells tolled in the city, Insignia threw off her bow and stern lines and slowly headed out to sea.

A fishermen returns to port as Insignia prepares to leave Civitavecchia.

We joined friends for dinner at the Terrace Café … good food all around and the camaraderie was great.  We all ran off as soon as we were finished eating, though.  Since entering the Mediterranean, the temperature has been dropping like a rock as soon as the sun sets.  I brought my shawl with me tonight, but I think a warmer jacket is going to be in order as we continue our voyage through the Med.

Looking forward to a day at sea tomorrow … the only one we will have for the next 14 days.  Yes — port intensive the days ahead will be.  At least one or two of those ports have late arrivals or early departures that we will all be relishing when they come around.

P.S.  Speaking of ports — learned from a couple who joined Insignia in Civitavecchia today that we will not be docking in Cadiz, Spain as the itinerary shows at present.  Instead, we will be going up the river to dock in the heart of Seville.  That, of course, is great news as it means we won’t have to endure a long bus ride to/from the port to explore Seville.

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