Cruise Diary: Civitavecchia, Italy

Five-Star Mariners Jan and Dick Yetke set sail on Prinsendam’s 64-day Grand Mediterranean Voyage in March, and we’ll catch up as quickly as possible. Enjoy the journey with Jan and Dick!

This is a port where we go biking! We got off the ship, out the port, and turn right, going along the lovely plaza path along the beach and ocean. It’s very pretty and they are still under construction along there. When you first arrive on the plaza, you see a large statue of a Navy sailor kissing a nurse. It is called “Unconditional Surrender.” This statue is reminiscent of the famous photo taken at the end of World War II in Times Square, New York.

We went out along the beach path as far as we could go, went up onto the main road and tried to go further, but it was just highway, so we turned around and went back. Then we went up through the city for a bit. Had a nice lunch at an outdoor cafe along the main road across from the beach. On the way back to the port entrance, we saw that we could ride down the seaside on a path along the sea. So, of course, we did that. It is a cute little town to just hang out for a day, if you don’t want to go to Rome (about a two-hour drive away).

Civitavecchia is located in Latium, a region in west central Italy, on the Tyrrhenian Sea. The harbor, favored by Trajan in the 2nd century A.D., is still the chief port of Rome. It also handles traffic for the Terni industrial area and is the main maritime link with Sardinia. Local industries produce metals, machinery, chemicals and cement. Bernini built the Italian army’s arsenal in Civitavecchia, and Michelangelo directed the final stages of the construction of the powerful citadel beginning in 1508 A.D..