Civitavecchia, Italy

Well, our adventure continues, and, so far, so good!

We began with a flight into Rome, then caught a shuttle into a town on the coast called Civitavecchia. We arrived there around 11:00, and fortunately, they let us check in and sleep!!

After our siesta we wandered about the town. A few shops were still open, despite it now being the true siesta time.
I'd like to say we stopped and had a wonderful lunch overlooking the sea, but sadly we had a slice of reheated pizza on a piazza. I was reminded at lunch about their style of slicing pizza - it arrives in a very large rectangular tray and they use scissors to cut the slices, rather than the round pizza cutters we are used to. Still very effective.

Later in the afternoon, We did stop and have a drink overlooking the sea, the market, and the passing parade of people. A common aperatif in these parts is prosecco (an Italian sparkling wine) with a splash of Aperol (a bitter orange liquor similar to Campari, which is similar to...) The drinks were only 6 euro, and for an additional euro they included a plate of tapas, some hot, some cold. Very nice deal!

We stopped for dinner at a local restaurant near our hotel that had been opened since 1953. On the cover of the menu is an old black and white photograph of a father son team dressed in their white jackets. The son has aged a bit since then - he was the older fellow serving us, and now his son is working there, too. As we were looking over the menus the nonna came out of the kitchen to greet some of the local customers - always a good sign!

I enjoyed a wonderful seafood pasta with clams, mussles, and large flavourful shrimps in a light olive oil, garlic and tomato sauce. Kevin enjoyed ravioli pasta stuffed with ricotta and spinach in a butter and sage sauce. Then, a lemon cheesecake for dessert with espresso.

2 items of interest stand out from our short time there. The first was a popular snack restaurant serving only fresh fruit - Whole, sliced pineapple, watermelon, different types of melon, bananas, fruit salad, etc.
The second interesting spot was an outdoor night club where people were riding stationery bikes. Music was blaring, a leader was cheering them on over a microphone, dry ice added ambiance... There must have been 60 people cycling away!!

The next morning we proceeded to the ship for our first cruise.