She says: needing a bit of a rest, we decided to stay close to home (aka our ship) and explore the port city of Civitavecchia on this "changeover" day, rather than head back into Rome. Also, Cruise Director Shane (CDS) told us it was his favourite port. Hmmm.
I gather it's a big Roman Catholic holiday, so lots of places were closed, but Civitavwcchia does not have a lot going for it. Even my good pal, Rick Steves says it's main claim to fame is a privately owned statue of the Virgin Mary that cries years of blood. That should have warned us off, despite CDS's recommendation.
What we explored felt like a post-apocalyptic Italian town. Nowhere to eat, but water, get wifi, and not a soul on the streets. It was a weird change from the last several weeks of being in big, busy cities. We finally stumbled into a quaint square with a few open cafes and we sat down for some pizza.
The highlight was when we found an alley full of cats. Literal alley cats. Unfortunately, they were not as charmed by us as us by them and none of of six or seven of them came over to say hello despite us both crouching down and making lots of squeaky, kiddy sounds.
Civitavecchia in NOT my favourite port and on the way back to the ship I was shocked to see a HOHO bus. It must be the worst tour ever.
Back on the ship, our fabulous foursome has changed as Lulu disembarked and headed home this morning. However, Deirdre's fiancé, Ted joined us. Turns out he's awesome and we had a great dinner, introducing him to the hilarious excess of life on a cruise ship.