Tarquinia Museum

The second day in Italy started with a breakfast of bread with chocolate spread and cookies. We asked for cheese, meat and milk in addition. All was cheerfully provided and we were so relieved to get some protein. The cheese was a very soft very delicious cheese, not like any I had ever had before. The meat was prosciutto and also delicious. It hit the spot and we were ready to take on the day. Pics. 1 and 2 are of the breakfast room.

The first stop was the Tarquinia Museum. It was housed in an interesting building. Pic. 3 is of the courtyard and pic. 4 is of the upper levels. Unfortunately there were no pics allowed in the museum.

The 1st floor collection was primarily of the stone caskets with carved figures on the lids and carvings around the sides. They were both wonderful and a little creepy when you were alone in the room with them surrounding you as they appeared to be looking at you.

On the upper floors were wonderful collections of pottery, coins, and a little bit of jewelry. There was also a display on excavation of the tombs as well as a recreated tomb.

The museum was well worth a visit but unfortunately they did not have any audio guides and there was very limited information in English so it was hard to appreciate the collection.

Pic. 5 is of the roofs of Tarquinia as taken from the museum window and pic. 6 is of the streets of Tarquinia. We had a little time before our ride came to take us to a restaurant for lunch so wandered to the market area and then through the very picturesque narrow streets.

I have a special gluten free diet requirement so the hotel came and took us to another restaurant for lunch. Unfortunately the 1st one we went to was closed. However we were eager to give another restaurant a try. Unfortunately this one was not as good as the first. We spent 65E on the meal and it was the first poor meal I have had in Italy. The bread which was supposed to be toasted was burnt, the pasta dish turned out to be the same dish as the day before but wasn't as well flavored and the meat was very tough. This restaurant was likely not a regular for our hotel, but was the only other restaurant in town that did gluten free. Thankfully the next day we returned to the first restaurant.

After lunch we were both booked for massages at the hotel to work out some of the kinks from the flight.

For the second night we ate in at the hotel and headed early to bed.