Orvieto and Italian trains

An early start was needed to get the train at 7:55 to Orvieto, about an hours ride south from Castiglion Fiorentino.

We are becoming quite good now at purchasing tickets on the automated machine and following signs in the station to the correct train.

The ride was uneventful, apart from being on the coldest carriage ever, which in a way was not bad as it is very warm and humid here currently.

The train station at Orvieto is not actually in the town, as the town is perched on a hill there is no way for the tracks to be lied.

The only way is to transfer to a Funicular that expresses you up the side of the mountain.

The town has a number of attractions of which we went to. These were, the town itself, the monumental Cathedral of Orvieto, underground tunnels, and Museo Archeologico "c. Faina"

The cathedral was very impressive from the outside the front facade was covered with numerous mosaics and also many carvings into stone.  Normally when a cathedral is this spectacular from the outside it is quite bland inside, however this was not the case.

We entered the cathedral and were both gob-smacked by the beauty, there were numerous works of art and much of the walls were painted with religious scenes.

Next was the underground, basically the hilltop is compressed volcanic ash, and is very easy to dig.  The caverns were dug as initial residences then over time were expanded and the soil used to create the homes on top. So now all or most homes have a cellar. We were able to view two that are publicly owned and tours are run through.  The tour guide was great and very informative.

Lunchtime we used our best friend TripAdvisor to look for a restaurant and found a lovely family owned place away from the crowds.  Thankfully the menu was in English at the back but when our waitress read the daily specials it was all in italian. We picked up some words like formaggio, pasta, primi, secondi and bianco (cheese, pasta, first course, second course, white). So not being able to order from the special menu of the day we were able to make some selections from the menu, and we were impressed, and pleased we took a little time to find the little treasure.

Finishing off Orvieto we walked the streets, had a Gelato, and took in some of the vistas.

To be sure we never miss a train we always get to the station a little early, in this case it was about 20 minutes early. We stamped our tickets and then looked on the screens for our train. It was at this point we realised it was Ritardo 50 (delayed 50 minutes). There was nothing that could be done than have a cold drink and ice cream.

Tomorrow- Siena