We have been to Rome before and whilst there is much more to see and do we thought we’d be a little clever this time and pursue Etruscan history. The thinking behind this was that most other people would be on the headline excursions. Furthermore when we came back to the ship from a relatively short excursion, large numbers of people would still be ashore on the longer trips to Rome. Some might even have been eaten by lions in the Colosseum. Others would not have survived crossing the road in Italian traffic.
We arrived in port early, our second visit. Breakfast is a scrum on port days. Unfortunately the food is quite good and there is lots of choice. Give most people a decision to make and they stand around with their mouths open, getting in the way and, well, I suppose, eventually making a decision.
English is supposedly the onboard language but given the mix of nationalities working on board it can be very difficult to get a satisfactory answer to more complex questions. It seems that most people don’t even know that the clocks change twice a year in most of the world. Putting such frustrations behind me, it was good to set out on a beautiful day. Surprisingly the Etruscans had attracted TWO coachloads many of those from a place where Delaware is regarded as old.
The Etruscans occupied twelve city states across parts of modern day Italy between the 8th and 1st centuries BC. Their necropolis at Tarquinia was extremely interesting. We saw four different tombs of the many there and some Villanovan remains which pre-date even the Etruscans. The grounds of the tomb site had beautiful wild flowers.
In Tarquina itself the museum had excellent exhibits well curated but explained only in Italian. The Etruscans had false teeth and umbrellas. Tarquina even for the briefest visit in our post-museum spare time was everything you want a small Italian town to be.
In the first square we visited it even had its own alcoholics. We moved to a more salubrious cafe where the price of tea and coffee put almost anywhere in England to shame and this for coffee that directly enters your bloodstream.
We stopped at a farmhouse factory on the way back to the port. We were only there for snacks but what snacks. I particularly recommend the sun-dried tomatoes but I would happily suggest you buy anything from their website. www.valledelmarta.com
How happy I was simply to sit in the car park and await the return of our coach driver whilst reflecting upon the simple quality of the olives and tomatoes I had just consumed.
This kind of learning tourism is pretty heavy duty though and I was glad that we have arranged several sea days and some ports without excursions. Tonight we sail for Piraeus and by the time our coach arrives in Athens I believe I shall be ready for the Acropolis.
We arrived in port early, our second visit. Breakfast is a scrum on port days. Unfortunately the food is quite good and there is lots of choice. Give most people a decision to make and they stand around with their mouths open, getting in the way and, well, I suppose, eventually making a decision.
English is supposedly the onboard language but given the mix of nationalities working on board it can be very difficult to get a satisfactory answer to more complex questions. It seems that most people don’t even know that the clocks change twice a year in most of the world. Putting such frustrations behind me, it was good to set out on a beautiful day. Surprisingly the Etruscans had attracted TWO coachloads many of those from a place where Delaware is regarded as old.
The Etruscans occupied twelve city states across parts of modern day Italy between the 8th and 1st centuries BC. Their necropolis at Tarquinia was extremely interesting. We saw four different tombs of the many there and some Villanovan remains which pre-date even the Etruscans. The grounds of the tomb site had beautiful wild flowers.
In Tarquina itself the museum had excellent exhibits well curated but explained only in Italian. The Etruscans had false teeth and umbrellas. Tarquina even for the briefest visit in our post-museum spare time was everything you want a small Italian town to be.
In the first square we visited it even had its own alcoholics. We moved to a more salubrious cafe where the price of tea and coffee put almost anywhere in England to shame and this for coffee that directly enters your bloodstream.
We stopped at a farmhouse factory on the way back to the port. We were only there for snacks but what snacks. I particularly recommend the sun-dried tomatoes but I would happily suggest you buy anything from their website. www.valledelmarta.com
How happy I was simply to sit in the car park and await the return of our coach driver whilst reflecting upon the simple quality of the olives and tomatoes I had just consumed.
This kind of learning tourism is pretty heavy duty though and I was glad that we have arranged several sea days and some ports without excursions. Tonight we sail for Piraeus and by the time our coach arrives in Athens I believe I shall be ready for the Acropolis.
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