Tarquenia

Our cruise is coming to an end. Today is our last day at sea and we have to have our bags outside our doors at 10 pm tonight. Today is a beautiful sunny day with mild temperatures. As Jim said, the northerners all have on shorts and tshirts and the southerners have on our long sleeves and vests. This has been a delightful cruise and the staff has been excellent. We have gotten our suitcases out and have most everything packed at this point. We had our GCT disembarkation meeting a little while ago so we know what to do tomorrow. All the Inner Circle members of GCT are at the same hotel. Our group is one of the last groups off the ship at 8:45 in the morning. Meanwhile we eat and knit and eat and rest and relax. Do you see a pattern here!
Yesterday was one of the highlights of the trip for Jim and me. We went on our own to see Tarquinia, which has a large burial tomb area of the Etruscans. We took the shuttle from the boat to the edge of the dock area since no one can walk on the docks here. Then we walked the 4 blocks to get to the train station. We were there pretty early so there was not much line. Later it had a huge line backed up with people probably going to Rome on their own. For Tarquinia, we waited for abour half an hour for a bus that took us there and then we took the train back to Citavecchia. The ticket that we bought at the rail station was for both train and bus travel. It costs us 2 euro each for the round trip. When we got to Tarquinia, we went to the tourist info office and got maps and found out where to go. It is such a beautiful medieval town and very walkable. We walked out to the tombs which close at 2 so we were advised to so there first. I was amazed. These tombs were so well preserved and I thought they rivaled the ones in Egypt. The murals and all were just wonderful. We went down in about 12 of the tombs. You went through the door and down the steps and at the bottom of the steps there was a button you pushed for the light to come on. They had a plastic or glass barrier there but it was so well done where you could see the paintings and the ways each tomb was carved out differently. Amazing. We walked back into the main part of town and found an internet café but somehow my little computer has gotten messed up and will not work unless it is wifi. I believe the settings were changed at that one internet that we had trouble for. I hope I am able to get on when we get to the hotel tomorrow. I worked on it last night but won’t know if it worked til I try to get on again. So I had to use their computers and could not transfer any of my journals. The trees are beginning to turn here as well and it is just a lovely time to be touring. After checking email, we went to a little café and had a margarita pizza which was SO good. Then we wandered around town looking at the old city walls and churches and the narrow lanes-just so pretty and quaint. We came back to the place to catch the bus to the rail station and caught the train back near the ship. It was a 12 minute train ride! Getting into the ruins was free for us since we are senior citizens! So our day was very inexpensive but oh so much fun. We have hopes of taking a similar trip in Barcelona if all goes well. It is fun to strike off on our own like that-especially when we are successful! On our way back to the ship, we stopped for some gelato, which is still the best ice cream anywhere. Yum.
The last two nights we have been very lucky at the main restaurant on the ship and have gotten seats by the window so we could watch the ship pull out and leave the harbor.
What a beautiful sight. We are going to have to adjust back to normal life after having people wait on us hand and foot It has been a great cruise.