Cave Crawlin' in Orvieto!

Getting to the bus at 8am for Orvieto was not fun.  We got on the bus and I immediately fell asleep but it was an uncomfortable and restless sleep since hello, I'm sitting with my head dropped on a bus.  We got to Orvieto and then had to take a trolley car up the side of the mountain.  Once ontop of the mountain we walked in through the gates of the former fortress.  Orvieto used to be a secret location for Popes when they were forced to flee the Vatican thousands of years ago.  The views overlooking the valley were stunning and would have been even better if it were May and everything was in bloom.  Next we went to St. Peter's Well which is where the Pope used to ride his donkey and hide making sure to never run out of water.  The well is interesting since it is almost 200 feet deep and 40 feet wide and there are two sets of stairs (one for up, one for down) that never intersect.  We walked all the way to the bottom, saw the dirty water, and began our climb back to the top (248 steps each way!)

After the well we walked through the town and went to the Duomo.  The Duomo in Orvieto is my new favorite, its facade is beyond beautiful.  The entire sides are done in green and white marble, and the front is covered in sculptures that depict in detail the stories of the Bible.  I was in owe at the detail put into the front of the church which was completed during the 14th century.  Unfortunately the tour guide told us that the inside of the cathedral wasn't nearly as beautiful since they had put so much effort into the outside of the church, they neglected to do anything special on the inside.  After the Duomo we walked towards the entrance to the underground city, or the CAVES.

The caves were really cool since they we had dug out centuries ago to create a secret city and a safe passage out of the city in case of siege.  We only went in a little to see the basics but it was still really cool.  Apparently the caves go from the entrance where we went in to clear across the city and outside of the city boundaries which I thought was really intense.  We also went into another cave that was really steep to climb in and out of which was basically a palace for pigeons?  I was only half listening to the tour guide at this point but she went on the entire time we were down there (15 minutesish) about homes for pigeons, water for pigeons, eating pigeons, pigeon rolatly nests, etc beyond strange.  Thank God pigeons don't live there anymore, it would have been so dirty!

After the caves we walked to Piazza of the People which was supposed to be a big open air market but unfortunately we got there late in the day and everything was either cleaned up or in the process of being cleaned up.  On the outside of the piazza was the Albornoz Fortress which was of course built by a timid Pope in case of siege upon the city.  After this piazza we kept walking to the main piazza of the town which was cute but teeny.  Anna and I didn't even stay for the rest of the tour or listen to the guide about the piazza because we were of course hungry and smelt pizza.  We ventured away from the crowd to a little pizza place.  We sat and ordered quickly since the menu little had 10 pizzas and a calzone.  I had been dying to try an Italian calzone so I ordered a mozzarella and tomato one and Anna ordered the quatro formaggio pizza (4 cheese).  They came out quickly since we were the only ones in the place and everything was delicious!  The calzone tasted absolutely NOTHING like calzones in America but it was still really good and I forced myself to finish every inch of the huge thing.  We finished lunch and went to the counter to pay where of course I spotted a PIE!  I tried to ask the worker what flavors the pies were but he barely spoke English so I just picked the red one and hoped for the best. Turns out it was a fantastic choice because I loved every second of it!

After lunch, Anna and I walked around for a little before decided to get some gelato.  I got a small cone of mint chocolate chip and chocolate.  The chocolate was SO GOOD but the mint had a strange texture...I finished the cone regardless.  After gelato we walked to the restaurant that the other girls were having lunch at and joined them at their table for some brief banter before heading back to the meeting location.  Thank God we took a bus down to the trolley because I was starting to feel sick from eating so much and I don't think I would have finished the walk!  I felt sick the whole bus ride home unfortunately but I went right home and into bed to sleep it off.  I had a peaceful sleep before waking up at 6:30am for Venice on Sunday!