All Roads Lead To Rome

As we rolled down the valley from Siena this morning, there was a lot of smoke or something in the air and visibility on the autostrata was hazy at best. By the time we reached our excursion for the day, Orvieto, it had cleared up significantly. Anybody who has drunk Italian wine probably knows the name Orvieto and associates it with white wine. Orvieto was, yet another perched village, this one, once again, having a history going back to Etruscan times.

We parked the car and all walked up to the square featuring the Duomo. This striped thing seems to be a theme in Italy.

Although we knew the name of this town and something of the reputation of the wine, we weren't quite as ready for the crowds swarming Orvieto, or the numerous sites to be had. Heh, this is October!

This was an interesting stop and especially so since Jackie's Dad came through here during WW2 on his way to the Netherlands. The title of today's blog may be true, but thanks to our GPS - Emily - we got right to our hotel, despite the fact that it was on a walking street accessible only by taxis - Oops.

Once everything was stashed safely at the hotel, Dawn and Emily and I set out to return to car to the Rome airport. Thanks to Emily, we had no blips and found our car drop-off spot handily. Our Kangoo was now in the company of many other red licence plates, most of which we discovered had originated in Italy, but with French plates. We logged 4500 km from Paris to here and were grateful for our Kangoo's abundance.

Our transportation back to Rome ended up being "as the hotels call them, "car" service, with appropriately dressed drivers and black Mercedes - this one a van. It cost us 60E plus a tip and this driver got us back in a heartbeat - you have to see my video (somewhat scary). We have set up this guy (Lorenzo) for the journey to the port and our cruise on Tuesday. He is a fraction of the price that the hotel wants to charge us for the same "car" service. We ain't no dummies.

The pictures above give some impression of what our accomodations for the next three days look like. This place has a fabulous rooftop terrace with views of most of Rome. As we sipped wine, most people we encountered were seriously amazed by the views from here.

So...my driving in Europe is complete and the car got returned unscathed. BONUS! Now we have only to enjoy the treasures of Rome. This evening after watching the sun go down from our rooftop terrace we ate at one of the many restaurants on the Campo di Fiori.