Day -1 Touring Civitavecchia
Our day started with meeting at breakfast another couple going on the cruise who are staying at our B&B. We enjoyed conversing with them and met them several times around town later in the day.
One of my favorite cruise resources are Tom's Port Guides. These free downloadable PDF's include walking tours, history and other port information. Google is your friend to find them. Using the guide, after breakfast we set out to see the sights noted in the Civitavecchia guide. We didn't follow the order presented in the guide, but started with a tour of the open air market located a few blocks from our B&B. It's open only in the mornings until noonish and includes lots of fresh produce, flowers, meat, fish, and a whole covered area devoted to dry goods like clothing, souvenirs, electronics, and the like. It's a friendly atmosphere and as an example, when Angela wanted to buy a banana, the vender gave it to her and wouldn't take any money. I found a nice light jacket with lots of zippered pockets for 24€. We also purchased some terrific smoked cheese that made a nice snack. We may have to purchase more of that!
I'll not list all of the sights we visited, but will mention a few. If you want pictures of them find the Civitavecchia Tom's Port Guide I mentioned above. We were really keen on finding the church south of the train station that honors the 26 martyrs slain in Japan in the 1500's when the Emperor banned Christianity. Those martyrs left from Civitavecchia. We've seen the memorial to them in Nagasaki; so again as a bookend, we wanted to see them here.
We walked along the Harbor promenade by the ancient fortress and other historic items. It was very pleasant and I was in a short sleeve shirt while most of the locals were outfitted in heavy winter coats. There were story boards in Italian and English that gave lots of historical information. We found the church and inside, the frescoes were all painted by a Japanese artist. Even the Madonna and baby Jesus were Japanese. Outside the church stands a large statute of St. Francis.
We made our way back towards the city center and found a sidewalk cafe to have some lunch at. We joined another couple who are sailing on the ship and we enjoyed our wraps (mine was a tomato and shrimp while Angela had the tuna. While we were eating, I spotted the shadowy outline of our ship in the distance. We finished lunch and then continued our walk north to find a place to watch the ship dock. Along the way we found a memorial to Trajan, a cross section of the ancient wall and a partial replica of a Roman galleon.
The port is quite secure and it was not possible to get a direct view of the entire ship, but we could see it partially as it pulled in alongside a ferry, and then backed into its mooring spot behind a Viking cruise ship. Many of the passengers were on the aft deck watching the process. We then found the location where the shuttle will take us to the ship. It's located about a ten minute walk north from our B&B and across the street from the main fire station.
Walking back into town, we found a couple elevated open areas on the ancient wall where we could see more of the ship, and snapped a few more pictures. Back in the center of town, the cathedral wasn't open (siesta time!) so we shopped and took a soda break at McDonald's and used the free WIFI. The cathedral reopened and we toured it along with finding the remaining items on our itinerary. They included the ancient passageway through the ancient wall, the Star Church (not open), and St. Mary church devoted to providing prayer and compassion for the dying. There were even a group of ladies aggressively praying inside so we didn't disturb them. Much of Civitavecchia was bombed in WWII, and outside the St. Mary church was a modern building built on the ruins of the ancient wall. It was quite striking architecture.
With all of our stops completed and darkness approaching, we made our way back to the market area and noted it was pretty much closed except for a few dry goods vendors. For dinner this evening, we wanted the eat at the Döner shop down on the waterfront so off we went. Dinner was a salad with shaved chicken and fries. While we were eating, 3 of the ship's crew members came in to eat. One was wearing a HAL logoed vest, so that's how I spotted them. They worked in the casino, and were very enthusiastic about the ship and were enjoying one last free night. They've been on the ship about two weeks from when it was in the shipyard.
We wandered back to our B&B with a stop along the wall to photograph the ship's lights at night. It was pretty! All totaled it was about a 14,000 step day.
We spent the remainder of the evening in our room enjoying some classical music on the TV and catching up with the internet. By 9pm, my body hit the proverbial wall, and it was off to sleep for me. Would I sleep through the night? Stay tuned!
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