Civitavecchia, Italy for Rome

We stayed in Rome for a few days before a prior cruise so had seen most of the main sights. One place we missed that I really wanted to see was the catacombs. I contacted a tour operator a year ago to see about arranging for a private tour to pick us up at the ship and take us there. They wanted €250 per person, so I nixed that idea. HAL had a tour going just to the catacombs then to a farm for lunch so we signed up for that thinking it would be an easy day and we would see what I wanted to see. I started thinking maybe it was wasting our time there to just do that so asked if we could change to the transfer to Rome. Then we could do the catacombs on our own and see other things as well. I was told that there were so few people on the tour that they would have to cancel it if we canceled so we would be taking the original tour. 

We boarded the HAL bus shortly before 8. There were only 18 of us on a full size bus so everyone had a window seat. The guide started telling us about our day and it included things that were not in the tour description, which was a pleasant surprise! Our first stop was the St Sebastian Catacombs. A description I have read say the tunnels were built for Christians to worship in secret without persecution but in the tour they only mention them as being Christian burial tunnels. At one time there were 60 different ones with hundreds of thousands of tombs. There are only 6 remaining today, St Sebastian being the oldest. We had a guide from the catacombs for our group. We were not allowed to take pictures which was disappointing. Because it is a burial ground and sacred, they do not allow them out of respect for the dead. I think it was also to sell postcards. There are 7 miles of tunnels in this location, we were taken thru less than a mile of them. There were niches on all the walls and some marble plaques where wealthier people were buried. Before the tunnels were opened to the public all the remains were removed to more private locations. The floors were dirt as were the walls and ceilings. Some families had entire rooms where many were buried. There was a small chapel where St Sebastian was originally buried. There was now a tomb for him in the church that was built above the catacombs. Our last stop in the tunnels was an area for wealthy Romans. They cremated their dead so there were burial urns in the elaborate tombs. When the church above had been built hundreds of years ago, they wanted to stableize the ground so had buried this part of the catacombs. They were rediscovered in 1922, so are intact. There had been no looting since they were buried for so long. The ceilings had intricate carvings on them, one had fresco paintings. It was a very interesting tour, I was glad to finally see the place in person. 

Our next stop was the Pope's summer palace! That was a total surprise as there had been no mention of it in the description. A couple of people complained about it as they had walking issues so had chosen an easy tour but the rest of us were very happy about it! Castel Gandolfo is built on a hill overlooking a beautiful lake. It was quite an uphill climb to get into the Summer Vatican City. Outside the gates were many shops and restaurants. We had over an hour to explore on our own. One of the last stores down the street was selling cheese, cookies and salami, giving out very generous samples. I think all of us ended up there at one point, buying something because we felt obligated after all the samples but also because it was good. We were not quite as hungry for lunch after that. 

Our last stop was lunch. It was at a farm but the farm was a beautiful winery and exclusive restaurant. We first had a demonstration on how to make gnocchi by the owner of the farm, and given wine and appetizers. The wine was delicious, but I am not much of a wine drinker so who knows. Everyone else seemed to like it too. We were then given a tour of the restaurant which is actually under the beautiful old stone farm house. The largest rooms, where we ate, were ancient Roman cisterns, a great atmosphere. They had caves that went on from there including an old looking dome with a skylight. It was a beautiful place. Lunch started with a salad and red wine. And bread and olive oil as well, of course. They also produced their own olive oil. Next we had a plate with lasagne and gnocchi which was very good, followed by tiramisu, one of my favorite desserts. During lunch I asked our waitress if we couldn't have white wine as well, even though the red was very good. I got a cheer from the table when they brought it. I went to buy some wine to take home to our daughter and discovered it was only €4!!! That is a bit more than $4 a bottle. I got a cheer when I announced that to the rest of the group also. 

It was a 90 minute ride back to the port after that. Most of us slept after all that food and wine. The tour had been excellent, everyone agreed. Excellent tour, lousy description. I did mention it to the Shore Excursions office. I wonder if they will actually change it. They never even mentioned the summer palace which made it very special. We were back onboard at 5 pm.