Train journey to Orvieto was a bit of an ordeal, mainly due to a rail replacement bus service that we hadn’t expected, which meant we reached Rome Termini for our connection later than expected, and then had trouble finding the correct platform for the connecting train to Orvieto. Got there with about 2 minutes to spare.
Our airbnb is at a village called Sferracavallo just outside Orvieto. This wasn’t our original choice but we had to change due to the owners of our first choice cancelling the reservation due to problems with the roof. Anyway the airbnb we are in is very good, great space and facilities, and a great outdoor patio with views up to the clifftop town of Orvieto. The downside is that we have to use the bus to get up to the town.
Went up to Orvieto yesterday and it’s a wonderful medieval town built on an ancient volcanic rock face, apparently over 3,000 years old. It has 10 churches, an amazing cathedral ‘The Duomo of Orvieto’, started in 1290 and took 300 years to build.
Walking around the cobbled streets and lanes you are genuinely seeing a town that has developed over the centuries without losing any of it’s old medieval charm and architecture. It really is a great place to experience.
Day 2 in Orvieto we went back up to the town and paid 8 euros each to visit the cathedral, Duomo of Orvieto. It is a very impressive creation just like many other cathedrals we’ve seen across Europe over the last few years, not as opulent as some but still an incredible feat of architecture and building.
We also went on a tour of the hidden city of Orvieto. The original people of this place built a city underneath the one standing today, until they endured a siege by the Romans who then conquered and detroyed the city of the time. There still exists many tunnels and stairways from those old times and in medieval times some of these underground dwellings were used to farm pigeons, which were part of the stable diet back then. We finished our time in Orvieto with a nice Italian lunch treat. See more under ‘Food and Stuff’.
