Having a Gaeta old time

We woke up on Sunday morning to unexpected overcast Siena skies and some drizzle. Lucky we had done all our sight-seeing the day before! So after another lazy breakfast in bed we packed up, fetched the car, drove through the ZTL, dumped our bags in the car and checked out. We drove through the Tuscan countryside, which looked pretty spectacular with dark skies and lightning bolts, past some unusual sights - one being a car that had just somehow spearheaded itself into the ground over a guard rail (we drove past this just as the first emergency vehicles were pulling up so I tried not to look too closely - it can't have ended well though) and a porcupine (although dead) on the side of the road, the size of a large wombat!

Arriving at Orvieto, perched high on a hill, just after the storm

We continued driving, into what became torrential rain - some of the heaviest rain I have ever seen - but we dodged the lightning bolts and it passed quickly, and soon we were approaching the Umbrian hill town of Orvieto, quite a spectacular sight as it is situated high on the flat summit of a volcano. We checked in to our hotel, a cute little thing at the bottom of the hill which also had a little balcony decorated with flower pots.

Facade of the Orvieto cathedral

We soon set off up to the main town of Orvieto, via a funicular (aside, whenever I get in a funicular I always get the "funiculi, funicula" song in my head, which I thought was unrelated, but as I later found out it was actually written about funiculars, and in fact about the first one which went up Mount Vesuvius! Go figure). At the top of the hill we enjoyed some vistas, although still with some grey skies at this stage. I had  been recommended a visit to Orvieto by a friend of mine at work, and apart from its amazing situation, it has a fascinating history, partly due to "sitting on its impregnable rock and controlling the road between Florence and Rome". But Google it. I don't have time for history lessons here, I'm just documenting the holiday.

View from Orvieto (with little Ryan top left!)

So we set off in search of lunch, and came across a place with a back courtyard where Ryan enjoyed a pasta with wild boar sauce (tipico de la region, or however they say it in Italian) and I felt like something healthy so had another dose of rockmelon and prosicutto (which, if you don't include the fat and salt content of the prosciutto, actually is quite healthy!). We also tried the local wine - Orvieto Classico wine - which was drinkable but we weren't really fans. We then wandered around the town, and by this time the clouds had all passed and it was all blue skies and 30+ degrees again.

How many Castles are in this picture?

The highlight was the Orvieto cathedral/duomo - the facade was pretty spectacular, with gold paint all glistening in the sun. Ryan picked up another cannoli (these are his favourite, and he's been trying them in most towns since we've been in Italy, but still he says the ones in Haberfield are the best, so it looks as though we'll be coming home after all). We went back and enjoyed the vistas from the top of Orvieto, this time with clear blue skies, and then caught the funicular back down to our hotel, where we enjoyed some wine (from our Tuscan wine tasting haul) on the balcony, which was pretty delightful. We followed this up with dinner around the corner at a family run place - Ryan had a truffle pasta, and I a porcini pizza which was so big that we took half of it home and finished it on our balcony with the rest of the bottle of wine we'd cracked!

Panoramic view from Orvieto

The next morning we hit the road again, had some quick espressos at a trusty Autogrill off the autostrada, and headed back towards the coast, to a town called Gaeta, a seaside town which broke up the drive between Orvieto and Naples. We arrived in town pretty early so stopped for some lunch before checking in to our B&B. We picked a restaurant down at the marina which was pretty empty but seemed fine. When I asked the man for a menu he disappeared for a while but eventually came back, and we were happy enough so took a seat. Minutes later a younger man came out and introduced himself as the owner (who looked well over 50), asked where we were from and was immediately fascinated and told us that his mum does all the cooking and that it's all very fresh and tipco de la region. The other couple of tables that were occupied didn't seem to get any of his attention, but anyway, he was nice and friendly!

View over Gaeta from our rooftop terrace

I had the pasta de la casa (house special) which was with local fish and little tomatoes and was delicious. Ryan had his favourite, spaghetti con vongole which was also delicious! So the Italian mama, who must have been pushing 80, was a wizard in the cucina. Then we drove up the hill to our B&B which was a nice place - perched above the bay in an old building and with a rooftop terrace which overlooked the whole of Gaeta and the bay - stunning. We then set off on a walk around to a beach on the other side of the headland. The water was amazingly warm and there was nice sand, but it was jam packed with tourists all lined up under their umbrellas that you pay an arm and a leg for, so we just went for a quick dip in amongst the throngs.

Panoramic view from the rooftop terrace

Back at the B&B we took one of our Tuscan bottles of wine up to the rooftop and enjoyed it with the vistas pictured above as the sun slowly set - so beautiful. Then we had dinner just down in town nearby - swordfish with an amazing tomato sauce (must have been using those little ones again - so full of flavour!) and Ryan had a bunch of different fried seafood. Afterwards we just headed back home for an early-ish night, ready to tackle the streets of Naples the following day!