For the last 3 days we have been lucky enough to stay on free Sostas, in the regions of Umbria and Lazio.
Moving on from the campsite at the side of Lake Trasimeno, we went in search of a motorhome repair shop to fix the broken locks and a motorhome tyre place, as we needed 2 new front tyres, the first ones to be replaced on Sonny, the motorhome since we got him – not bad considering we have done 19842 miles and just over 6,000 miles this trip. Unfortunately, they took a bit of a hammering on the Moroccan roads!
Moving on from the campsite at the side of Lake Trasimeno, we went in search of a motorhome repair shop to fix the broken locks and a motorhome tyre place, as we needed 2 new front tyres, the first ones to be replaced on Sonny, the motorhome since we got him – not bad considering we have done 19842 miles and just over 6,000 miles this trip. Unfortunately, they took a bit of a hammering on the Moroccan roads!
We found a really helpful repair shop in
Torgiano, who said they would fix our locks the following day at 9am and told
us where we could get 2 new tyres. So,
we stopped the night on a Sosta on the edge of the town, water, chemical toilet
and grey waste facilities all for free (n43.02917 e12.43833). It’s a lovely medieval hamlet but not a lot to see
or do, so we sat it out in the sun at the side of the motorhome reading and
relaxing. The following morning, with
the repairs done, we moved on to Orvieto - our bank account being €300 lighter
(€220 for 2 new tyres and €69 for repairs and some cleaning liquid for our
water tank - all a lot less than we would have paid in the UK).
After a short distance on the autostrade, we took
the R79Bis a really picturesque route that snakes its way through some beautiful countryside, mostly covered in vineyards and olive groves.
We love everything we have seen of Italy so far,
the countryside is beautiful with its green wooded hills and fields mostly full
of olive trees, vineyards and forests, and the beautiful smell of honeysuckle nearly everywhere we walk. The Italian people
who we have met so far are very friendly and some of the architecture is breathtaking. What we don’t like though are Italy’s roads! Since
being in Italy, we have come to realise they don’t spend much money on their
roads and the Autostrade worse than some of the little roads. Some days it is like riding a bucking bronco,
poor old Sonny’s suspension is working overtime as we go up and down over pothole after
pothole! Not sure how long our 2 new
tyres are going to last in this country and we're beginning to think Morocco's roads weren't so bad after all!
Orvieto sits 300m up from the valley floor on a
tabletop plug of volcanic lava. From the motorhome carpark at the bottom you
can get a funicular railway to take you to the top (€2.60 return) – otherwise
it’s a long walk up!
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| Fenicular Railway at Orvieto |
Most people just come to Orvieto to see the
Duomo, which is one of the greatest Gothic buildings in Italy. The façade is stunning but inside, other than
Luca Signorelli’s incredible frescoes in the St Brizio Chapel, there is not an
awful lot to see.
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| Orvieto Duomo |
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| St Brizio Chapel |
We had a wonder around the old town and around the city walls and took time to pose for a selfie, squinting into the sun!
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| At the top of the old town |
To stop on the Sosta at Orvieto is a whopping €18
a night, it includes electric along with all the usual but it’s just a
carpark right next to a noisy high-speed railway line, plus no shade and the temperature was 31°c. So we just parked
up for 2 ½ hours, costing us €4 and moved on to a free Sosta at Ficulle (N42.83044
E12.06828), just 17kms outside Orvieto. It was lovely and quiet, right next to a park and only 500m from the town. It is a typical medieval Italian town, and we
were the only tourists there!
We sat at a lovely little bar at the entrance to
the walled town and watched the slow paced life go by!
Moving on this morning, we couldn’t decide where
we would stop or how far to go. We had only been going 55kms, out of the region of Umbria
and in to the region of Lazio, when we came across Montefiascone and a free
Sosta that had free electric points and water taps right next to your parking spot.
It is next to a winery, renowned for its Est! Est!! Est!!! wines and it has a
little shop selling the wines they produce and food products. They let us do some wine tasking and we decided it was only polite to buy some
wine, given they were letting us stay on their sosta for free! A box of 6 white wines for €13
- wow, that is cheap!
Montefiascone is another Italian town build on a
hill and it was a long walk up to the top.
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| View from the top of the town - Church of Santa Margherita on the left, which has one of the biggest domes in Italy |
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| View of Lake Bolsena, taken from the top of the town, next to the remains of Rocca deil Papi |
On the way back down we came across a huge shop, selling some lovely fruit and veg and enormous melons!
Tomorrow we move closer to Rome - not sure where we will stop yet. Fingers crossed we may find another free Sosta!
Sally x
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