I made a bold decision on Saturday morning.
My roommate, Gianna, had booked a B&B room in Orvieto for Saturday and Sunday night. Not wanting to spend that much money or time away from Rome since my study abroad days are coming to an end, I reluctantly refused her offer to join. Saturday morning, I slept in and relaxed while she raced to the train station. I couldn't shake the feeling that I wanted to have some sort of adventure this weekend, however, so I lay in bed Googling day trips from Rome. The number of times I've typed in "best ______ in Rome," is ridiculous - everything from restaurants, gelato, pizza, day trips, sights, museums. etc. Nevertheless, I found yet another response of "Top 5 ____" lists and clicked on a link. I discovered that Orvieto is only an hour train ride away and totally do-able in a day.
Opening a new tab for the Trenitalia website, I looked up tickets from Roma Termini to Orvieto. Only 7,50 euro!? I was sold. In a matter of probably 15 minutes, I texted Gianna, found times that worked, and bought my tickets with my proudly owned Trenitalia username. I'm really starting to embrace this whole spontaneous, adventurous thing :)
I woke up at 6am to catch the bus to Termini as it's never reliable to catch and takes forever to make it soooo many stops! Of course, it was pulling up right to the stop as I walked up, even after someone stopped me to ask for directions on my way. An hour to kill? Caffe americano and downloading a book on my Kindle in the McDonalds next to the train station. Just like home.
Did I mention that my amazing mother also brought me oatmeal from home so I could finally cook myself a proper breakfast? Random, I know, but my banana, honey, & walnut oatmeal creation was fantastic. Italians do some great pizza and pasta, but a pastry just doesn't cut it for my breakfast. I think I've said it a thousand times!
Anyway, I hopped on at platform 2. You always meet interesting people on the train and today was no exception. Next to me were three adorable Russian ladies. I took a picture for them and they tried to ask me for directions. Too bad they didn't speak English or Italian. Fail. The guy across from me did speak both, however, and kept trying to make small talk. I tried to be friendly, but I spent most of the train ride being really absorbed in
Where'd You Go, Bernadette [which is really good]. He was a little awkward. And felt the need to inform me that I chose bad day to take a trip since it would rain. I already knew that.
Arriving at the station, I took the funicolare up to the walled city. All the tiny little towns are built up on a hill! It makes for gorgeous views. Following the directions on the B&B website was pretty flawless, and I ran into Dan and Gianna on the road as they were coming to meet me! How perfect.
Our day began exploring this old fort. It was so peaceful as it was still morning and the views were incredible. A perfect break from this chaotic city! Papa Francesco was cannonizing Pope John Paul II today. As cool as it is, I think the entire country of Poland plus half of Argentina has been invading Via del Corso for the past week and I couldn't handle the crazy crowds any longer!
Next up was the Duomo. I love love love Gothic architecture and this was beautiful! Michelangelo was a fan, as well, as the facade and frescoes inside the church supposedly inspired his painting of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Looking at the map of Orvieto [so tiny compared to Roma], we found that there is an underground grotto. I seriously have made some of the best friends here as they were excited by this too :) We got tickets for the English speaking tour starting in an hour. Of course that is the only part of the day it decided to downpour!
We had fun wandering the streets anyway - a handmade olive wood shop, street vendors selling soaps and lotions, tons of ceramics stores. and a chocolate factory! I was so intrigued by all that they had and I couldn't resist walking out without a bag of chocolate tagliatellini pasta. I'm currently brainstorming dessert ideas for it.
The cave tour turned out to be really cool! Orvieto was founded by the Etruscans who began to dig some of the caves. Conquered by the Romans, Orvieto sat deserted for centuries until a population was re-established in the tenth century. The entire town rests on tufa and volcanic rock making the caves easy to carve out with a simple hand pick. Uniquely, the caves weren't built as a system with tunnels but individually under one's house. Cement and rocks were too hard to carry all the way up to the town with only donkeys and horses so they would use the material they dug out from the caves to build up the town. Additionally, once the town was established and they needed more room, they moved underground to do work!
All of the caves had different functions for each family and changed over time. They were used for making olive oil, housing animals. as workshops, storing food, etc.
[reconstruction of an olive oil press system]
One of the uses unique to Orvieto was housing pigeons. Today, families raise pigeons in their yards, but these holes in the wall used to be for that purpose. Pigeon is a staple of their local cuisine in Orvieto. Interessante!
During WWII, the hospital re-purposed some into a bomb shelter for the doctors and patients.
[benches for people to sit on]
[evidence of gates installed to separate people and animals]
As they dug down, they also carved out windows for natural lighting and temperature control.
During the Middle Ages, the diggers also happened upon this well, dating back to the Etruscan time. It's crazy how far they had to dig down for water considering the town was built on a hill!
[looking down]
[looking up]
Today, many of the caves remain in private use so you can't visit most of them.
[old pathway up to a home]
As I said, they weren't made into a network so we were lucky that they discovered some had been connected and opened a few up for tours.
Next up on our agenda was wine tasting! After we found this little guy :)
The enoteca we went to was a charming one right next to the beautiful Piazza del Duomo. The deal we got allowed us to try a glass of the Orvieto Classico white [my favorite], a local red, and a sweet white dessert wine. As is typical in an enoteca, they brought us appetizers, bread, and mortadella to snack on with our drinks. I learned that they have to serve only simple foods as the definition of an enoteca is that they primarily sell wine and do not have a kitchen - then they'd be a restaurant.
[she's gonna kill me for this picture]
Back to their B&B so Gianna and Dan could do some homework while I read and napped, and then we were ready for dinner! Of course Italians always eat late, so the restaurants don't open til 7:30. I have adapted really well to late dinner and learned to like it a lot. I love to sit around the table and just enjoy the meal and company. I think that's something I'll try to bring back home with me, too. It does make it difficult, however, when you have a train to catch! Timing worked out perfectly in the end, though. We went to a place that the B&B owner suggested, Trattoria del Moro. The local cuisine, besides boasting good wine, conisists of a lot of truffles/mushrooms, pigeon, and pork [particularly porchetta as street food and wild boar in their dinner dishes]. Going along with their specialities, I chose parpadelle con cinghiale [a thick noodle with wild boar].
[told ya, lots of wild boar]
Italian dishes don't really mix meat and pasta unless it's made into a sauce, so I'd describe it as more of a ragu! I can confidently say it was one of
the best pasta dishes I've eaten so far in Italy - and I've had a lot of good ones!
As I said, we timed dinner perfectly and walked back to the funicolare. To my surprise, however, it apparently stopped running at 7:30pm, aka when we sat down for dinner. I used Gianna's phone to call the cab number on the door and, after a broken conversation where I gave up and spoke English, discovered that there's a bus that would take me down the hill. Getting a little nervous about time, I waited for the world's tiniest bus to show up. Turns out I didn't need to worry as my train was 15 minutes late, anyway... An hour train ride home, an hour bus ride, and helping a girl from Russia find her hostel, and I was back home.
It was such a perfect day! Being confident in getting there on my own and figuring life out when it doesn't necessarily go the way I planned makes me feel so independent. I love it. Walking through the charming little streets was so serene. Spending the day with two of my best friends I've made here was so relaxing and enjoyable. Italy never ceases to impress me :)
