Wednesday November 11, 2015 – Civitavecchia for Rome

It is an early port day, we arrive for 7 am but we are docked earlier to that and clearance came quick.  The NCL Epic is in port too and we have friends getting on her today.

This is an industrial port and you have to take a ship’s shuttle to the main port gate – note that the main port gate is a little further north than it use to be and from what Rick Steve’s mentions. 

The Patter mentions that the first shuttle will start at 7:30 but we are down there at 7:20 and they are loading the shuttle buses that are like public buses now – when we came to board on Oct 25 we had big highway coaches and place to store luggage underneath.  The buses we have now are quick and easy to load.  The shuttle ride is about 7 minutes and drops you right at the port gate. 

Once at the gate you can meet up with your private guide here (note Princess Excursions come right to the pier to pick you up).  You can also hire a taxi here as well.  The other option was to take the small shuttle bus to the train station – cost was 2E each.  

the shuttle from the port to the train station

But since we have about 50 minutes before our train leaves we decide to walk.  The walk is an easy one and pretty flat and for us it took about 15 minutes but give yourself 20 minutes just in case.  In fact when we arrived at the train we beat the shuttle that many from our shuttle bus were on.

the train station

Now when you arrive at the train station there was a ticket booth selling bus tickets with hop on hop off tickets and at first we were going to go in there but we noticed it said travel agent and did not look like the train ticket booth.  Sneaky… cause many were buying them, and perhaps unwittingly.

We find the ticket booth in the train station and we buy the BIRG ticket which is 12E each (may be cheaper for seniors – but I can’t confirm).  The BIRG ticket gives you round trip transport on the train and then unlimited use of the buses/trams and metro in Rome, ticket expires at midnight.

We are taking the 842 train into Roma – but we will get off at Trastevere.  Note the stop prior is San Pietro for the Vatican, but the train then heads to Termini if necessary.  

don't forget to validate your ticket

You should check the train scheduled from their website ahead of time.  The train trip to Trastevere is about 45 minutes give or take five.

check the board for what track your train will arrive on

but first a coffee stop

Once off the train we catch the #8 bus – or you can take the tram to Cesto Bridge where we start Rick Steve’s Trastevere audio tour. 

We love the tour and the places it takes us. 

The Santa Cecilia in Trastevere is stunning and the story behind it even better.

Another great church is Santa Maria in Trastevere.

   
The tour took about an hour and we cross over the bridge over the Tiber and wander around checking out churches, sites and even the Piazzo Navona. 

We are determined to go to a restaurant that our friend Claudio recommended.  We tried on two different occasions to dine her when we stayed in Rome but to no avail.  This time we make it to the restaurant Maccheroni.

The place fills up quickly with workers, no tourists, but they are very helpful and we get a starter.  Anchovies in butter for Bernie and I get a cheese and honey plate.  For our entrée I get the pasta with spicy cheese and Bernie gets their penne with tomato and basil and chilies and it is good too.  Of course a litre of house wine.  No dessert and the whole meal comes to 50E and was very very good.

We are full and we have been walking a lot but we are determined to walk to the Trevi Fountain now that it is now open.  It is a short walk of about 15 minutes and the place is packed – a lot different than the last time we were here.

We each throw a coin into the fountain to ensure our return. 

The place is hoping – all of Rome is it seems.  The weather is great (low 20s) in fact we take off layers.  We are walking back and stop by the Pantheon and then catch the tram, back to a few stops shy of the train station.  We walk back to the train station after picking up a few sundries – shampoo/conditioner and aspirin.

At the station we run into Karin and John who are just heading back too.  We catch the train just after 1500 (I believe it was 1527) and it is busy.  The ride is quick and we get up and get off all together and we notice it is a little different but we start walking along the roadway and we are laughing and catching up with John/Karin. 

After walking for about 15 minutes we all comment that this just doesn’t look similar to this morning. 

Oh no we got off at the stop prior to the one we needed to.  What town are we in?  It is not Civitavecchia.  Okay we can turn around and high tail it back and hopefully catch another train.  We are early, still it is around 16:30 and the last shuttle from the pier is 1800.

Thankfully we walk fast enough to catch the 16:55 train!  

Our last option – next option would have been a taxi.  But if by chance we did miss the ship we could easily have taken a train to the next port of Livorno for the next day.  But we made it and we are off in Civitavecchia – now this station does look familiar at 17:05.

The 2E shuttle was there waiting but we have enough time to walk back and I want to see the town a bit more.  There is quite a bit here.  You will certainly find anything you may need here.  The town is lovely and I would love to explore it some more in the future.

Taking the train into Rome is a very easy option and very economical and you have the flexibility of planning your own day.  It is very unlikely you could catch any train prior to 8:15 if docking at 7:00.

We are back on board and we are beat!  I don’t want to dress for dinner and we head up to the Horizon Court – but we are not the only ones with that idea.  The place is very busy, but the ship seems to manage quite well.

It will be an early night for us – we are both tired and I am just under 30,000 steps today.  All that walking in Rome and then back and forth from the wrong port sure adds up.  See even I can screw up but it was easily fixed and makes a great story now.

We are watching tv in the cabin right now and we have put out the breakfast room service menu for tomorrow.  

Tomorrow we are in Livorno and we are heading to Florence with a scheduled meeting time of 7:15 in Crooners we better get a good rest.