17 May 2019: Todi to Orvieto :Mileage: (36/206)

May 18, 2019

Todi was preparing for a flower festival, so we took part of the morning to explore the sights and watch them set up for the festival. It seems that every Tuscany and Umbria town just exceeds the last one. IT was nearly 11 am by the time we left, a 2 mile steep descent followed by miles of steep uphills.

We booked lodging in Orvieto on booking.com, a Netherlands-based company with a large European network. On booking, their site kept trying to reserve rooms for both Friday and Saturday. I kept modifying the dates, as we just wanted one night in Orvieto. On arrival in Orvieto, we had some difficulty with maps.me in locating the place. We stopped and some locals helped us. The host/owner at DACIA, a small house per the description, said that our reservation was for Saturday evening, not Friday. I asked if he could accommodate us that night, and he kept saying ciao. I said that we would not be there on Saturday, to please cancel, as it was 24 hour+ in advance. He said ciao. I followed up with a email to DACIA and booking.com, explaining th situation and cancelling. DACIA had been unhelpful, so I have protested the payment with booking.com, per Christopher's advice as a past hotel operator.

We quickly found another hotel, Hotel Flora, a a better rate and they were extremely helpful. Lots of photos, so the captions are short.

The straight road you see on the left is part of the 18-percent 1.5 mile ascent to Todi.

Interesting bath tub? Watering trough? Wash basin?

Picking off every flower that is past perfect.

The placed sod on the steps of buildings around the plaza where the flower festival is being staged.

This relatively plain exterior featured the following inside.

You will recognize a few of these Todi Churches.

Note the mix of styles and unfinished portions.

A single large dome in the center and four half domes on the cross-arms.

Seems that we were always spotting another village on a far hilltop.

The cat on he right was a talker, just sitting outside the Trattoria Bar and yowling at everyone who passed, human, canine, or feline.

Our lunch spot.

These 3-wheeled trucks are everywhere, especially in the old cities with narrow streets.

Dog of the Day. Christopher had a short misconnection. He turned off while I proceeded at an intersection. We soon reconnected, but while doing so, we both passed an Asian woman walking what appeared to be a Bichon. However, she said it was something else.

More Dogs of the Day. An odd lady walked into the Kilometer Zero with both dogs. The one on the left really needed some grooming. The one not the right was thrilled to get scratches about the ears and tail. She kept trying to get on my lap.

Orvieto. At this point, we thought we were nearly at our lodging. But, maps.me mislead us a bit and our lodging was supposedly for the next night. We ended up at the Hotel Flora.