View of the Lake from the Town at the top.
The church in the main Piazza at Castel Gandolpho
The central church.. with the huge dome on top.
Betsy, Michael, Ross and I .... about to have lunch!
Matt, Jenny, Ross, Betsy and Karen on the way up the hill to to the town.
Matt, Jenny, Ross, Betsy, Karen, Michael and me with a view of the mountain in the background. Not the best of days.. but after all its still only March. Well it doesnt look much like Orvietto does it? Of course not... course it isn't. We had all planned on going to Orvietto for the day but with the Rome Marathon, no busses, streets closed one of our number was an hour late.. so Castel Gandolpho it was.
Being the home of the Pope's summer palace I was expecting something far more luxurious.. although perhaps it may have been but as it was closed and we could only look in awe up the long drive through high wrought iron gates. From July to September the Pope preaches a midday sermon from here every Sunday.. maybe some other time.
The train station is half way between the lake and the town. We opted to walk up to the town to explore and didn't quite make it down to the Lake. Once again, with a train every two hours one doesnt risk missing it.
We had a fantastic lunch.. the best food to date in Rome. No pizza and pasta but real food!! I had very thin slices of pork (from a baby pig I am assured) and it was so tender.. drenched in a balsamic type sauce and dripping with Rosemary... absolutely to die for.
