Ciao!
Now that we have become used to our apartment (and know how to wash clothes and turn both off and on the heat..) and neighborhood (easiest way to get to our parking garage and how to get to a good grocery store), it’s almost time to leave! Isn’t that always the way?! I’m thinking we will leave here sometime tomorrow morning to head to our next location, Orvieto, which is only an hour and a half away, but is located in Umbria rather than Lazio, where we are now. We will be staying at a hotel there for three nights, and then moving to a hotel in Massa Marittima for another four nights.Grosseto, but the selection of available rentals did not look too appealing, and when I read about Grosseto, that wasn’t particularly appealing either. It sounds like a very industrialized city. So, I opted to go with hotels in the general area and came up with our plan.
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| Beautiful volcanic lake Bolsena! |
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| Beautiful day! |
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| Village of Marta had stunning roses! |
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| Just a hint of a beach! |
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| Down the hill and to the lake |
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| And always more poppies! |
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| Castle in Bolsena |
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| More of the historic part of the city of Bolsena |
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| Love the view! |
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| And yet again... |
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| Clock tower in Viterbo |
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| Beautiful plaza with a view! |
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| R's long pasta with fresh artichokes |
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| My Pizza Norma! |
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| Fried Chicory! |
We stayed in Orvieto for several nights years ago, and are returning to the hotel we used then, The Duomo– so named as it is just steps from Orvieto’s huge cathedral. One other thing that both Robert and I remember is that there was some sort of civic conference going on, which included police cars – and neither of us had ever seen a Lamborghini police car before! Very impressive – I’d be willing to bet it could catch speeders on the autostrada! (Robert thinks that it was a present from a repeat speeding offender!)
Up this morning around 7:00 (I was sleeping in; R of course was up earlier) and today we’re heading downstairs and across the plaza for a light breakfast. So – more later when there is something to report!
Oh! Our friend Stew asked about Etruscan writing, and as I was explaining to him in an email, it occurred to me that the information may be interesting…so…here’s a part of my morning’s email!
The Etruscans did have a written language, although it has taken a very long time to decipher. According to experts, the language is not Indo-European, although the alphabet is based on an older form of the Euboean Greek alphabet learned from the Phoenicians as early as 8th century BC, with some of the characters reversed. The writing is from right to left.
Just in case you're not confused enough with that, it appears that almost the only surviving writing that scholars had to work with was in the form of names and tomb inscriptions, or religious calendars, which were basically very short. There is no real evidence of what medium the Etruscans used to record most every day information, similar to clay tablets in the Near East, although it is surmised to be linen or wax tablets – neither of which has lasted to this time. The longest inscription that has come to light to date (approximately 1,200 words) was on a scrap of linen that was wrapped around a "mummy" that found its way to Europe from Ptolemaic Egypt. What helped tremendously was the Etruscan "Rosetta stone" -- three small golden tablets that were in both Etruscan and Phoenician. So ...
Just in case you're not confused enough with that, it appears that almost the only surviving writing that scholars had to work with was in the form of names and tomb inscriptions, or religious calendars, which were basically very short. There is no real evidence of what medium the Etruscans used to record most every day information, similar to clay tablets in the Near East, although it is surmised to be linen or wax tablets – neither of which has lasted to this time. The longest inscription that has come to light to date (approximately 1,200 words) was on a scrap of linen that was wrapped around a "mummy" that found its way to Europe from Ptolemaic Egypt. What helped tremendously was the Etruscan "Rosetta stone" -- three small golden tablets that were in both Etruscan and Phoenician. So ...
Back from our first errand of the day, after breakfast. We went downstairs and across the piazza where I had had the liquid chocolate pudding a couple of days ago, and this time had two glasses of fresh blood orange juice and croissants. R’s croissant contained fraise du bois (berries) and mine contained lemon cream. Mine at least was delicious! (Don’t know about R’s, but he finished up every bite!) Then back to the apartment and loaded up our first shipment (hopefully) home! The Italian post office isn’t far from the apartment, and we wanted to divest ourselves of our books and maps about Malta, as well as our CD books on disc (no CD player in the car!) and a few other odds and ends. We found the post office easily, and even a lady that was able to help us figure out what to do! All told, I’m not quite sure of the weight of the box we sent, but it was 36€ (about $45) so now we’ll see what happens!
Back from a truly beautiful drive in the country! Before we managed to get our act together this morning, I lay down for a few minutes – and of course fell asleep – only to wake up finding that Robert had joined me at some point in the morning! So, about noon time, we finally got our rears in gear and headed out for a drive. Today is absolutely beautiful – no rain in the forecast and blue skies, white puffy clouds and a wonderful breeze blowing.
We decided to head to Lago Bolsena, which is a very large volcanic lake north of Viterbo; and wow, it is beautiful! There is a road around most of the lake that follows the coastline, and then south of the city of Bolsena, it heads up into the hills and finally down again as we approached Viterbo. Being a week day, there wasn’t much traffic at all, but I’ll bet during the heart of summer, the place is probably jam packed with people. We did see people wind surfing and paddle boarding, but not too many people on the beach or in the lake water. (We did see a hotel in Bolsena that had a lovely pool – right next to the lake! Go figure!) With the car windows open and the breeze blowing, it was truly an amazing drive. The city of Bolsena (the biggest city on the lake) is old – just a touch Etruscan but definitely Roman, and there is a lovely castle perched on the hill; definitely a place to return to some day and explore!
Back in the apartment now, and starting to get organized for our departure tomorrow. I’m thinking pizza for my dinner tonight, as I think a break from pasta would be good. We’ll see how it goes, and I will post after dinner!
Much love,
m
xxx
Back from a great Italian dinner! We went out looking for pizza about 6:30 pm but even though several restaurants advertised opening times of 6:30 or 7:00 pm, they weren’t open! Go figure! So, we decided to once again head to the Osteria del Vecchio Orologio. I mean, why not go where you know the food is going to be good – and they’re open! This time, instead of starters, we went right for the main courses. I ordered a pizza Norma (with eggplant) and Robert ordered their special pasta – long, thick noodles with fresh artichokes sautéed in oil with the pasta. He loved it! My pizza came with tomato, thin eggplant slices, and mozzarella cheese – then, once it came out of the oven, a layer of shredded salted ricotta was added – amazing! We also were talked into a side dish – fried chicory! It was truly fabulous! All washed down with an excellent bottle of local red wine! Home about 8:30 pm and in for the night! (I did a quick final load of clothes and they’re almost dry; will bring them inside for the night!) So – goodnight all!
m
xxx
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