Ciao. Siamo ora in Italia presso una città chiamata Fiumicino, vicino Roma.
Hello, we are in Italy in a town called Fiumicino, near Rome.
I think I might learn Italian. I’m not sure when I will fit that in, but it is such a lovely language and for some reason it seems to come quite naturally to me. It is soft and yet expressive. Similar enough to English to be able to pick up on a few things. Things are often, but not always pronounced as they are spelt.
Our ship arrived into the port of Cittavecchia in the early hours of this morning. Disembarkation was simple, so simple in fact that we had collected our bags and were ready for our transfer pickup an hour before the arranged time of 9:30am! Which is OK, except it was lightly raining and hundreds of other people were also waiting for their transfer pickups…
When we decided to have an overnight in Rome at the end of our cruise we were initially thinking we would stay in the centre of Rome. However, when we went to book some accommodation a few months back we had a re-think. Rome is a very busy place and in my experience you need to really have your wits about you when you move about on Rome’s city streets. There are a lot of beggars and pick-pockets and some pretty intense road-side retail salesman. This can all be lovely and exciting and even entertaining, but having experienced its intensity before we decided we wouldn’t do that again.
What we wanted to do was see a little of real Italy. Our flight to Bahrain (via Qatar) tomorrow is at 11am so we did want to be reasonably close to the airport. After a bit of google and booking.com research we found the town of Fiumicino is not only the address of the international airport, it is also a little seaside fishing village.
Our accommodation here is simple but very lovely. The room is clean and tidy, has a verandah overlooking the entrance to the Tiber river (nothing pretty but lots to see including a fresh seafood market) and is moderately priced. It also includes breakfast and tomorrow’s airport transfers.
The hotel was happy to let us check in early at 11am, which was excellent. We unpacked a little, freshened up and headed out onto the streets to check out this town. We went to a supermarket, of course; a post office (stamps for postcards); an interesting walking drawbridge; a local food and junk market and a lovely little café for some morning tea. (13,000 steps before dinner!)
Somehow a little of Dave’s cioccolato cauldo ended up on the bench and his shortbread on the floor. Whoops!
(do you like the tiny, simple roadside service station?)
After a couple of phone calls to Victoria, Will and Grandma, we ventured out again, this time for lunch. There are LOTS of seafood café/restaurants to choose from. We chose one which seemed to be busier than others, which is often a reasonable indication of somewhere good to eat. The theory worked… I had a very nice spaghetti with mussels and clams, Dave had fritto misto di pesce – a selection of fried seafood. All for less than €30 including a side salad and drinks. Being out of the touristy areas also reduces the price of eating out.
After lunch we walked to the central post office. When we arrived they didn’t seem to be open. We asked a couple of people (and tried to decipher the paper signs stuck to the window) and discovered the post office was on strike from 12.30 – 3.30pm. We wandered around the supermarket next door and returned just after 3.30, to see a large line waiting to get in. 30 minutes later and Dave managing to work out the complex ticket-based serving system and the final postcards were sent. It seems the post office is multifunctional and includes lots of other services such as their Centrelink equivalent, car registration, licenses etc.
Tomorrow we head to the Middle East. We arrive in Bahrain late at night. Last time I was there was with my parents and three siblings, as an 9-year-old (approx.) transiting on our way to the UK. Interestingly, I remember it vividly: the toilets in the airport were holes in the ground. I will report in a day or so on whether things have changed much in almost 40 years!
P.S.: As many of you would have seen on the news there were two earthquakes in Italy overnight. Thankfully no where near us and also thankfully it appears no-one was killed or injured.