First Hill Town - Orvieto

We left Tarquinia and arrived in the parking lot at the base of the hill on which Orvieto is perched.  From there we had to take a funicular to get to the city itself.  I wished the ride had taken longer!  But once in Orvieto itself, I was happy to have gotten there quickly.  One gets off the funicular, walks a little way and BOOM there's the stunning black and white (in horizontal stripes, no less!) Cathedral (which, because I am writing about Italy, I will usually use the term Duomo).  No time for gawking yet; we had to schlep our luggage to our Hotel which was just perfect. 

Here's the view from one of our windows - the side of the Duomo!  On top of that delight, I quickly realize I was looking at parts of the architecture that I might not really have noticed from street level. 

Just look at this delightful detail! Every little bit of this building has been deliberately decorated; nothing was considered unimportant.  While I'm not too sure what the purpose of this section is (buttress?), I find it charming.

Now, honestly I'm not sure I could see this next view from that window (I'm pretty sure I couldn't), but even if it's from the street level, it's an unusual view from the back of the facade. See what I mean about decoration all over?

But, here's the view from a second window.  I love the roof tops - all those different levels and different materials make it perfect for sketching.  There were also gardens to see, too. Now did I sketch?  I started one here - but had to stop for the dinner bell (I never did get any drawing or painting done. We were on the go every minute.  Note to self: hand-sewing next time!).

After organizing ourselves a bit, we went out for a walk around town before dinner.  If you look at the last window photo, you will see different clock tower from the one in the close-up below.  And yes, we slept through the bonging of the hours!

D is looking in a ceramics shop below.  I really wanted to purchase a piece of pottery that had a view of the "typical" Tuscan landscape.  But, as we hadn't seen any of that type of landscape just yet and our journey had really just begun, we decided to wait and add that weight to our luggage later in our trip.  It was fun looking, though!

Across from that shop was the Duomo and a lovely pattern in the pavement.  Another collectable/1  

Next we wandered down this twisty street.  Others had the same idea, but it wasn't crowded.

Walking down that street and looking back the way we came, you can make out the cathedral.  Unexpected views are such a bonus!

This short alleyway was more to my liking - photographically at any rate.  Look at the details of the first archway.  Remember that alleyways are one of the "things" I collect - photos are easier to carry than lots of souvenirs!

It was beginning to get later.  Watching the changing light while pinching myself about being in Italy added to my admiration of the sky.  And the street light perched on the side of buildings was a bonus.

Tomorrow I'll show you the photos from the Duomo itself.  Originally I wanted to cover each different location in one entry, but since then, I have realized that there is really too much to cover in one day.  Instead I will decide based on the number of photos that I want to share.  Trying to do too much in one day will be - well, foolish!