Fast Travel

We often lament on these pages the speed at which people think they can visit Europe. The "12 countries in two weeks" mentality still has a grip on a huge segment of the traveling public, it seems. We always urge people to slow down, to see some things in depth.

Then we go out and do a bit of flash travel ourselves. Whoosh and it's over.

A few days ago we hit the Autostrada early in the morning and managed to arrive at the Umbrian hill town of Orvieto by noon. Lunch there and a quick photo tour, since we hadn't been to Orvieto since digital photography took hold. Then we were back on the road to Otricoli, an interesting hill town which, like Orvieto, has older roots; you can explore them at the earlier manifestation of the town called Ocriculum.

Then inexpensive dinner at the fab Agriturismo Rio Coverino (spectacular homemade pasta with porchini and truffles!). Overnight near Otricoli, then a quick coffee before a visit to a fantastic artist community called the Art Monastery whose young visionaries have taken over an old monastery that offers rooms to rent and space for visiting artists, then off to Orte to catch the train to Rome to visit the Villa Torlonia, where we don hard hats and take an excursion down into the Jewish catacombs that date from 200 AD and are quite spectacular, despite the fact they've been plundered (open in a year to the public after they've ironed out the safety stuff). Then a tour of the gardens and villa itself before settling down to eating some pizza on the shaded terrace in weather that shouldn't be so nice at the end of October.

All very nice except for the trip home: Rome bus, Train to Orte, Car stuck in Orte traffic jam caused by workers blocking an intersection for no apparent reason, then the long drive home in darkness.

Whew. But we have pictures--not to mention a new appreciation for those of you who put up with long days of interesting but grueling travel because you're thirsty for experience and knowledge and don't have a lot of time for exploration.