Orvieto, Italy - September 15 & 16 (part two)

As we mentioned, we loved the little B&B that we found. Unfortunately, it was down the hill from the city and required a walk up a dirt path to the road that led to the parking lot with the elevator that led to the city. This wouldn't have been a problem if it wasn't for the impending storm that was threatening all day our second day there.

The road was already made muddy by some rain the night before forcing me to roll up my pants and look strangely like an old lady in the picture below.


Nevertheless, we had sightseeing to do and would not be put off by a little rain. We bought the Orvieto Pass and knocked out nearly everything to see in Orvieto in one day. First, we did the Orvieto Underground tour featuring the pigeons and the Well, both of which Ali discussed earlier.

Then we went to the city's extremely large and flashy Duomo (only the best for when the Pope comes to visit) which can apparently be seen from miles away. It also has a side chapel with an impressive end of days fresco said to be the inspiration for the Sistine Chapel (no pictures allowed).



We also went to two nearby museums: an Etruscan history museum where Ali enjoyed the little statue below and an archaeology museum of which we were probably the only visitors all day.



Next, in furtherance of our mission to climb every single thing in Europe, we stomped to the top of the city's bell tower. From up here, we could really see the storm coming on the horizon.





Unfortunately for Ali, despite being at the top of a bell tower, there was one thing we didn't see coming (it's a little long, but wait for the end).



It started drizzling as we left the bell tower and headed for our final sight, a private cave with a well inside. Out of the hundreds of caves under the city, you can only go into 2 of them, most of the others still connect to the kitchens of houses and are still in use as wine cellars, work rooms, and dove cotes. This one was cool to see as you could see how the well had been utilized throughout the centuries. The cave was open to the public because the house had been converted into a bar.

As we were finishing up, we could hear it start to pour outside. We decided to grab a drink in the adjoining bar and wait for the rain to die down. After a while, there was a slight break in the action we decided we would just go for it and hope for the best. Unfortunately, we got about 10 feet outside before the skies opened up and sideways rain engulfed us. No matter what I did with the tiny umbrella I couldn't find a way to keep us dry. We sprinted towards the elevator and found a brief respite from the rain, but the damage had been done.



Nothing to see here.

We did all of the above sights for only 18 euro each, including parking or a funicular ride that we had no need for. It was a great deal and very manageable within one day.

After we got back and rested, the rain stopped. We decided to head back up the hill for dinner. As we waited for a table, the rain began again and in the dark night we once again avoided injury walking down a wet muddy hill in the rain.