Exploring Orvieto

The morning after my night of misery, we went for a long walk with Serena's friends on a curving, hilly, unmapped path around Orvieto. It was not at the top of the hilled city, nor at the bottom, and meandered through some beautiful shady spots and below the tufa cliffs. Serena has a fitness tracker on her phone and checked it when we finally found our way back to the city. We had walked about 9,100 steps and climbed 21 stories. Quite an adventure!

After lunch it was nap time, not surprisingly.

The next day,yesterday, I was ready for another church, the big cathedral. Every village in Italy has its giant cathedral. Our combined ticket included a tour of the workshop and a gallery display of yhe work of Emilio Greco... the door keeper, an angry young man, was scornful that we didn't know about Emilio Greco... So much to learn! And we also paid to see the Etruscan museum. Orvieto is 3000 years old!

We took a tour in the afrernoon with an enthusiastic Italian woman who told us that the cathedral took a full 300 years to build, so the huge square we were standing in was a construction site for 300 years. Then she led us through the cobblestone streets, pointing out signs of renovation over the ages. The whole city is built of the tufa on which it is built, on a 90 foot outcrop. The original buildings still stand, with evidence of arched windows and openings filled in or bricked over at various times through history. These people live with history as part of their daily lives.

Today we will take a tour through the underground cave system, which was created by the inhabitants over the millenia.... and see more evidence of history in faded frescoes and old churches. Our guide, cecilia (pronounced chechilia) told us there were 60 churches here in the middle ages... It was the reigning pope's fortress against the emperor.

And by the way, I found out how to get a full night's sleep. Close all the windows and turn on the air conditioner for white noise. Works a charm. Did I mention that there are pigeons in every nook and cranny? They are another bit of history, because they were bred here and used for food, and they're as loud as the church bells.