Today is Megan Markle and Prince Harry‘s wedding day and it’s also our first full day in Civitavecchia. We were both surprised we slept past 7 am; the bed that’s a bit harder than ours and flat pillows didn’t stop our snoozing. 🙂
It was already a gorgeous, sunny day.
First order of business was coffee. This and the rest of breakfast was served in the Bistrot 34 restaurant. After breakfast we got ready to explore the seafront and marina a bit.
Civitavecchia Walk
From the hotel entrance we turned right onto Viale Garibaldi. Across the first side street, we came across this statue of Giuseppe Garibaldi.
I have since learned he was a general who is considered of the fathers of a unified Italy. We next came across this more modern sculpture.
I couldn’t find much about it online except that it represents an oak tree. The leaves are made from metal and it looks like rope or cables around the trunk.
Further down the street we came across this memorial erected in remembrance of those lost in war. I’m not sure when it was erected but Civitavecchia suffered a lot of damage from World War II bombings.
This little church, Church of Immocolata, off the main street looked interesting but we didn’t go in.
Near forte Michelangelo, we saw this statue of Saint Fermina; she’s the patron saint for sailors and Civitavecchia.
This fountain was designed by Vanvitelli in the mid 1700s.
It was very close to the Porta Livorno which was built to make the port accessible to North Civitavecchia in the 1700s.
I found it interesting that they built the apartment building right behind it blocking any view from lower windows. We crossed the street and walked about the waterfront at this point.
The papal memorial stone below is mounted on the Ancient Rock of Civitavecchia.
The Rock is a medieval era building built on the ancient Roman dock remains around which the city is now built. After admiring the views of the marina, we turned around heading back towards the hotel focusing on the side we missed on the outbound walk.
This next picture is a side view of Forte Michelangelo which was completed in 1535. It’s in great shape.
This pretty water feature used to be the moat.
We kept walking and went past the hotel. Right in front of the hotel there is a giant paved open area. I’m not sure what it’s used for but nothing was there to see during our visit. We came to the nearest beach.
Now it’s not a beach I would use due to all the rocks but you can see in the picture below, others didn’t mind.
The left hand side of the beach shows the Pirgo which in historic times had all kinds of shops, restaurants, and activities when Roman’s escaping the heat for the seaside was fashionable.
Past this point, we come to a string of waterfront restaurants. Most weren’t open but the owners were getting ready for the lunch or dinner by cleaning and stocking up. It would have been great to dine here but we weren’t up to walking again later tonight.
Lunch at Gran Caffe
After freshening up at our hotel, we headed to find lunch nearby. A cafe a couple of doors down the street fit the bill.
It was the Gran Caffee where we had pizza (you can see our hotel behind me on the right).
Steve and i both ordered the same pizza with prosciutto, artichokes, mushrooms and olives.
Pizza was okay and the wine was overpriced but the atmosphere was priceless!
We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the royal wedding (okay that was me) and napping.
Later in the afternoon Steve found a restaurant that had spaghetti bolognese and made reservations for 7 pm. Right before we left for dinner, one of our cruisecritic tourmates called and we arrange to meet in the lobby for drinks after.
Dinner at Da Buffone
It was just a block to Da Buffone and we requested an outdoor table. Even at 7 pm, we were early and the restaurant was empty except for a couple seated next to us We started chatting and learned not only are we sailing together tomorrow but also staying at the same hotel.
I ordered the bruschetta fungi (mushroom) to start and shared with Steve.
It was not to my expectation or our liking. There was no seasoning so it was rather bland.
Our pasta selections were much better. Steve had spaghetti bolognese.
I ordered the pasta penne in spicy red sauce with bacon (more like ham).
Neither of us could finish although we really wanted to. 🙂 We had a liter of natural water to wash it down.
Back at our the hotel, we contacted our cruisecritic friends and met in the lobby. Bistrot 34 was packed but we were able to get drinks served to us in the lobby which was really better due to the noise level in the restaurant. We enjoyed getting to know them and once we got service, our drinks!
I didn’t want to go to bed without gelato so we headed out to the establishment right across the side street from the hotel for a scoop of pistachio.
It was delicious and we were the only tourists there at this hour. It was fun watching the Italians enjoying their food, wine and conversation.
It was bed time by this time and we turned out the lights excited for setting sail tomorrow on Jewel of the Seas.
If you missed the other parts of the recap the links are below.
Next Vacation: Greek Isles Cruise
Port Plans for Greek Isles Cruise
Jewel of the Seas: Pre-Cruise Travel Day
Jewel of the Seas: Italy at Last
Hotel San Giorgio
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