We went to A LOT of churches on the trip. Most were absolutely amazing, but none were quite as fanciful as the Orvieto Duomo (at least on the outside–clearly St. Peter’s Basilica is way fancier on the inside!).
Wikipedia has some
learning for you. Abridged version–the Duomo is very glittery; when the sun shines on the front it is gorgeous. Story goes, that in Bolsena, Italy, a traveling priest doubted the transubstantiation as occurs in the Eucharist. His Host began bleeding, bled more, and stained the alter cloth. Upon seeing this miracle, the priest’s faith was restored. This alter cloth is now stored in the Duomo. During Corpus Christi celebrations, the
Corporal of Bolsena is displayed on parade around the city.
Now after this Catechism lesson, here’s for the science believers! (Straight from Wikipedia, so you know it is true!)
It is only within the last ten years that the Academies of Science would not have been sorely puzzled to explain so strange a phenomenon. Now, no one thinks of denying it, since the discovery of a microscopic fungus, the spores of which having germinated in the meal or dough, offer the appearance of clotted blood.
Le Jardin de l’Epicure, Anatole France
Orvieto was exactly what we needed after the horrible experience we had in Venice. There was so much to do and see in such a little place. We toured the Orvieto underground, went to
St. Patrick’s Well, shopped, had amazing gelato, and a fantastic hotel room. If you’re going to Italy–stopping in Orvieto is a must!
Orvieto Duomo
Orvieto Duomo
Orvieto Duomo
Orvieto Duomo
First, I’m sure you all suspect that I’ve lost all hand function in a tragic typing accident, not true. I’m just overwhelmed at where to start with the whole travel recap. It would have been much easier to have kept an accurate journal, or have used the internet each day. Moola doesn’t grow on trees and internet access was 2£ for 15 minutes in places.
I’ve given up trying to repost the stories that come to mind, in the order that the countries were traveled. My mind isn’t that organized. So now you get a random hodgepodge of travels. LUCKY!
Here’s the travel route, you put your own sequence together!
Vancouver, London, Paris, Milan, Venice, Orvieto, Civita di Bagnoregio, Rome, Vatican City, Pompeii, Naples, Rome, Frankfurt, Toronto, Vancouver.
So I have not been able to update as often as I would have liked, but we have been busy sight seeing. It is BEAUTIFUL here in Rome. The weather is warm enough most of the time to wander around in a tshirt or just long sleeves.
The other day we were in the little town of Orvieto for the night and we made a day trip to Civita di Bagnoregio (google it now…so beautiful!). Well let’s just say the bus ride there…we got our dollar’s worth. The dude was driving on crazy small town Italy streets windy as all get up and he was in a full size bus. The speed limit was 50, and the one electronic meter we went by said your speed 60, and that is what he slowed down to. He was hitting the branches on the trees on the side of the road, and I seriously thought he was going to drive us into a bridge abutment. And, stop signs…all optional. He didn’t stop for a single one.
I nearly puked. Jon thought it was awesome, and that the guy must have been a Tuk Tuk driver in another life.
ps: Be on the lookout for loads of post cards. They’ve been in the mail since London.
Only 7 more days to go, and it is a good thing too, because we’ve changed some of our travel plans within the last week. If we had more time to look at other interesting stops, we’d be in trouble! So now instead of London, Paris, Venice, Rome. We’re doing London, Paris, Milan (train station only–because that’s where it goes!), Venice, Orvieto, Civita di Bagnoregio, Rome. Both new stops look super interesting. They’ll be a nice change after busy cities and tons of museums.
Orvieto’s Duomo and St Patrick’s Well look like they will be well worth the added stops on the itinerary. The footbridge that connects Civita to the old city of Civita di Bagnoregio is rather impressive considering there are only about a dozen people who actually live there year round! That’s quite the infrastructure for a tiny population. We have a couple more things to sort before we leave, but we’re pretty much ready to start packing up the back packs. It is going to be an amazing trip.
Adventures of a couple seeing the world 2 weeks at a time.
We went to A LOT of churches on the trip. Most were absolutely amazing, but none were quite as fanciful as the Orvieto Duomo (at least on the outside–clearly St. Peter’s Basilica is way fancier on the inside!).
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