From: Viterbo
To: Bolsena
Miles: 19
Total: 730
Although half our walk was uphill and longer than yesterday, overall it was a better walking day. While it was still windy and cold, the wind was lighter most of the day and we had less gusts.
Today took us along a main road most of the day, but luckily it was Sunday so traffic was light. At the halfway point when we had basically reached the top of our climb for the day we stopped in another medieval historic town for lunch. The place we stopped in was very busy. John mentioned it would be just like the Dairy Queen back home in Texas on Sunday and I agreed.
After a nice break and a Sandwich we finished the second half of our walk ending up in a town by a large lake. The first hotel we stopped in to check out looked very nice but the door was locked and no one answered when we rang the doorbell and called their phone number. We stopped in at a cafe down the street and they said that hotel was always open. We told them not today. They were kind enough to give us some alternatives just a few blocks down.
Before we reached their first recommendation we stopped in at a hotel that looked ok from the outside. Once we went inside the place was packed. It was some type of group and they were all checking out and seemed happy. That is always a good sign. The lobby and restaurant were also very nice. The lady at the counter didn’t speak any English but with help from one of her younger staff member who spoke it a bit we were able to check out the rooms, which turned out to be just fine so we grabbed a couple of rooms for the night.
Before we reached town we went by the Bolsena Commonwealth War Cemetery. During World War II, the Germans made their first stand after being driven north of Rome at Bolsena and to the east of Lake Bolsena, there was a tank battle in June 1944 between the 6th South African Armoured Division and the Hermann Goering Panzer Division. The site for the cemetery was chosen in November 1944, and graves were brought in from the battlefields between Bolsena and Orvieto. Almost one-third of those buried at Bolsena were South Africans. The cemetery is on the actual site of the first camp occupied by General Alexander’s advanced headquarters after the liberation of Rome and it was here that King George VI visited General Alexander at the end of July 1944. Bolsena War Cemetery contains 597 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 40 of them unidentified.
The lake we are staying next to is Lake Bolsena which was formed by volcanic and tectonic activity. Roman historic records indicate activity of the Vulsini volcano occurred as recently as 104 BC; it has been dormant since then. The two islands in the southern part of the lake were formed by underwater eruptions following the collapse that created the depression. The town itself is situated on hills overlooking the lake. We will get to go over those hills tomorrow on an even longer walk than today and hopefully get a good picture of the lake. Have a fantastic Sunday and thanks for following along!
