Friday. September 26th
We slept in a 1,000-year-old castle last night! Our hostess was a descendent of the original owner and the castle and other buildings have remained in the family all this time. Talk about a family legacy! She and her husband now run the hotel and restaurant and still live on the premises. They both must be in their eighties, but she spoke perfect English, showed us to our apartment yesterday, offered to do our laundry, waited on us last night at dinner and was ever the consummate hostess.
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Taking our dinner order. The wine is a
private label of the Castello di Proceno. |
Our route originally was going to be 18.5 miles, but we decided to shorten it to 11 miles by arranging a transfer from the town of San Lorenzo Nuovo to Bolsena. After a heart-pumping climb to the town of Acquapendente, the remainder of our trek was a gentle uphill to the town of San Lorenzo Nuovo. We walked past plowed fields that earlier in the season contained hay and grain, past a large grain elevator and two solar energy farms, and then more farmland, this time a large, harvested field of potatoes. Total elevation gain today was 1270 feet.
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| Tranquil forest path |
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| View of Acquapendente |
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| A bit of a jungle |
Saturday, September 27th
Today was our last pre-arranged rest day. The town of Bolsena sits on its namesake lake, Lago di Bolsena, which happens to be Europe’s largest volcanic lake. Between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago successive volcanic eruptions led to the collapse of the earth’s crust in the volcano’s caldera, forming the lake and its two islands.
We spent the day visiting La Rocco Monaldeschi della Cervara, a castle originally built by Pope Adrian IV in the 12th century and which now houses a municipal museum. We also walked along the lakefront, explored the many shops in town, and visited the Church of Santa Cristina and its catacombs, where we also attended a Saturday evening Mass. Ready for our last week on the road.
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| View of Lake Bolsena |
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| Etruscan and Roman artifacts at the municipal museum |
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View from the tower of La Rocco Monaldeschi
della Cervara |
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| Another tower view |
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| In the catacombs |
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| Sarcophagus of St. Cristine |
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| View of La Rocco Monaldeschi della Cervara |
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| Beautiful moonlit night over the lake |
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