Peeling the Apple: Walking the Wall

Day 10 / June 4 --- Orvieto

When we opted to get out of Rome for a day, I suggested Orvieto. It's an easy day trip by train and very relaxing. I was also open to a beach trip, but I don't think anyone else was interested. Orvieto was a great choice and I was excited to show it to the rest of my family. I lived there for nearly 3 weeks during my college tour of Italy and it was probably one of my favorites. It's a small city situated on a tuff of volcanic rock. There's a wall built all the way around it too, so it almost feels like a castle. You can walk the whole perimeter in a few hours.

The day started off kinda rainy. We jumped on the subway, then took the hour train directly to Orvieto. For 1 Euro, there's a tram that goes straight up the tuff. Then a bus takes you all the way to the top of the city, where the big Duomo lives. It's a powerful looking church. Far taller then anything around it and set in a large square. I remember loving the horizontal stripes and reliefs of Bible stories on the sides and front.

All the roads are pretty narrow, windy, and hilly. There's plenty of shopping, but the city is mostly residential. At first we had to break out the ponchos and umbrellas, but it cleared after lunch. The rest of the afternoon, we basically strolled the streets. The weather turned out nice so we could enjoy all the beautiful views from the wall.

For the train ride home, of course we bought a bottle of the Orvieto white wine. They sell it everywhere now, but it's always fun to buy it from the source.