We sadly departed our picturesque campsite at Parco del Largo, Anguillara to head north. Our original intention had been to return to Rome today and see the Sistine Chapel, Colloseum and Roman Forum as we ran out of time yesterday BUT the chapel is closed on a Sunday (gutted) and we hit the road. Gives us even more reason to return to Roma again!
On the way north Bray spotted some cave-like things near the road so we pulled over. It was the ancient city of Sutri, very important in its own right since the fourth century B.C There was an amphitheatre, cave necropolis and a HUGE archaeological site that we walked around for an hour or so before having lunch there.
On the road again and more km’s under our belt before we spotted a giant aqueduct. It went on and on for ages visible from the road and we eventually stopped to explore it. Camera batteries were on the blink so we got photos using the phone as well. The aqueduct was constructed between 1709-14 and we were stoked to see it after flagging Pont du Gard earlier in the trip due to potential toll costs.
There was another huge archaeological site (with a whole town and stuff) further along the road but we needed to keep moving so only gaped from the car as we drove past.
Eventually made it to the GPS co-ordinates we had for tonight’s campsite...down a narrow track (in the car of course) that plummeted away from the main road. No sign of a campsite though we saw a man walking his dog and asked him for help on our way back up the track, he gave us some guidance in Italian. Headed back the way he indicated before a motorcyclist took pity on us looking lost at an intersection and offered us directions in French (because of our license plate...we still thought he was speaking Italian – shame!). We admitted we spoke English so he gave us directions again – this time ones we kind of understood...
There were two options 1)The normal road everyone takes, and 2)The narrow one the motorcyclist had come up that was picturesque.
Guess which one Roni chose...yup, the one that ended up taking us down the cliff face through the narrowest of roads ever seen and experienced! We made it down alive (though shaky handed) and navigated through a little town to reach the tunnel we had to go through to get to the camp site. The wait at the traffic light for the one way tunnel took AGES. So much so that all the other drivers had gone for a walk, smoke at the beach or were cleaning their cars!! Eventually the light turned green and we entered in. An epic combo of three or more tunnels with wee gaps in the middle and turn offs to take even during the tunnels! One which was for our campsite – we missed it. Carried on through the maze of tunnels to emerge through the hills on the other side to one of the prettiest sunsets on record! We spotted a camping sign once out of the tunnel and made our way toward one, only to end up at another.
Tent up, dinner down and into bed for another night.
