October 5 – 6, 2018 – Civitavecchia, Italy – Mostly Cloudy – Rain Showers – Mid 70s

As always, a fever dream type of night.

On the plus side, the room was comfortable and quiet. That has generally been the case when we stay at this hotel.

Also, it is a bit cloudy but a very nice day in the Port of Rome.

We went down for breakfast around 8 AM.  Breakfast was OK but not wonderful (the spread might have been better in the past).  I had the Special K type cereal with milk along with a roll and butter and some sweets.  Some of the sweets were individually wrapped - a positive for food safety but not really good for the homemade vibe.  The best part of breakfast was the waitress taking coffee orders.  I ordered a latte.  There is no decaf over here and the coffee was super strong. All in all the breakfast was fine. 

After breakfast, we spent more time walking around the town. This time, our destination was the beach.  Even though it was a really nice day, there were very few locals at the beach.  Like a lot of Civitavecchia, the beach area was in need of some maintenance.  Sidewalk tiles were cracked, for example.  We sat at the beach for quite a while - and took some very nice pictures (including a terrific panorama) -

before heading back to the hotel.  

On our way back, we stopped off at the shopping area that runs along the beach - there are several shops and restaurants densely packed on that street (in the past, we used to look for stray, open WiFi along this street).  As we walked along, the sun turned to rain as an isolated storm passed through.  We were lucky enough to find an awning to take shelter.  

The rain didn't last long and we headed back to the hotel.

We stayed in our cool and quiet room until dinner time.  For dinner tonight, we walked over to the ritzy part of town – a shopping and restaurant heavy section a few blocks from the hotel.  We wanted a view of the water so we chose a restaurant – La Ghiacciaia - with a kind of view.  Along the beach, the town has built a wall – almost like that on a fort.  So you can see the water through the spaces in the wall.

We ordered another Pizza Margherita and beer but also shared an Insalata Mista.  There was certainly enough food - and it was very good - for a total bill of 19 Euros. For dessert, we stopped off at the Mickey D on the main corner in town.  The place is a study in chaos but eventually, everyone gets their order.  We got milkshakes for 1 Euro.  They were worth every Euro penny.

There were plenty of people around as we returned to our hotel in the dark.  Some reading completed the day.