Turnaround Day Civitavecchia

Turnaround Day, Port of Civitavecchia, Italy -- February 25, 2015

Today we had to say 'Goodbye' to DC, MC, DD, and ET. They will disembark the Jade to fly back to Los Angeles with a 3-day stopover in Istanbul. The three of us will continue on with our 10-day cruise on the Jade to the Eastern Mediterranean. We did not have anything planned for this day, and we did not have to do anything because we will stay in the same cabin for the next cruise, we decided to get off the ship with them and took the free shuttle to the port gate to see them off.

A farewell picture before they board their Smart Cruise Tour shuttle bus to FCO. This shuttle bus cost 20 euro pp. We got off the ship at arorund 8:20 and the complimentary shuttle was not crowded at all. We had to wait on the bus so more people could get on before they even leave port.

Civitavecchia is normally a port where people do not spend a lot of time other than getting on and off their cruise ships. We thought about taking the public bus to Tarquinia on this day, but the idea of spending a quiet and relaxing day in town and on board the Jade sounded much better.

Many people suggested that there is not much to see in Civitevecchia but in fact we found it to be an interesting port city that has been overlooked by most. It would be even better if it was not as cold and windy.

We just followed the 'wall' to get to the promenade after we left the port gate. An empty terminal (I suppose it was for small boats) stood right there at the harbor.

Looking down from the second floor of the terminal.

The 'wall' on the left and the terminal building on the right.

On the street level

Interesting city gate/wall.

Castle Michelangelo

Inside the castle

I believe there are offices inside but it looked empty. 

We found restrooms down at the basement through that door behind the wooden fence, quite nasty though.

Right next to the castle is the beautiful beach.

We only saw a couple of people enjoying this beautiful beach when we were there. I would think that this is a popular place in warmer weather.

(Piazza della Vita)

A lone fisherman.

After walking along the beach, we crossed the street into town.

Had to go inside the church. It looks small but it's still beautiful inside.

Inside Chiesa dell'Immacolata.

The main pedestrian walk.

Turned left on Via Monte Grappa. 

Then we came upon the market area which was the busiest spot we found so far.

We did spend some money and had good bargains here.

Continued on our adventure through some nooks and crannies.

Another church but this one posted a sign that says "No Visitors", so we did not get inside.

After about two hours in town, we were back at the port gate where we took the complimentary shuttle back to the ship.

It was about noon and some new passengers arrived to take the shuttle also. Transit passengers had to go through a special entry way with the crew members at the luggage drop off area. We also had to put a sticker that says "Still on Vacation" to be recognized as transit guests. 

I believe the room stewards were busy getting the other cabins ready for the new guests so our cabin was not made up. It was awfully quiet on board the Jade at this time when we went up to the buffet just to wait around until Cagney's is open.

The very empty Cagneys. It felt really strange and sad without the rest of our family with us from now on. It's just too quiet for the three of us.

We did not have to go to the muster drill this time because we were staying in the same cabin. Then the ship sailed out right at 5:00.

Dinner was at 7:30 at GP, this time we got a small table by the aft window, just the 3 of us. Service was timely and we finished in just a little over an hour.

I had to remind myself that I cannot knock on the door next to ours because we have a new neighbor now.