Orbetello in Tuscany | Rome

From Lake Garda, we travelled on to Orbetello, a small Tuscan town located in the Maremma area, southern province of Grosseto.

Click here to see the details of the campsites we used.

The ancient Etruscan Walls, Orbetello

It lies 35 km south of Grosseto in one of the most unique and wonderful positions on a thin strip of land in the centre of a lagoon.

Unfortunately, we were not very impressed with the campsite at Orbetello as the vans were all squashed in together.  There seemed to be a bit more space around the caravans and motorhomes pitched under the trees, but we wanted to park up in the sun, as at this time of year, it can still be chilly in the shade.

The site was right by a busy main road, so that we could hear quite a lot of road noise.   However, the biggest problem with the site was that it was approximately 10 km away from the old town of Orbetello and the same distance from Porto Stefi. There was no public transportation (or so we were told at reception), and only the narrow, busy road leading into the town, which meant that cycling was out of the question for me, as I am still nervous about cycling on the road.

The site steward pitched us in front of a caravan whose owner told us we needed to move our motorhome at 3 pm the next day so that they could get out.  This would have meant making sure we were back before 3 pm if we went out for the day.

The beauty of having a motorhome is that you can just move on if you are not particularly keen on a site, which is precisely what we did the next day.

There are nature reserves in the area that serve as a haven for nature lovers and keen birdwatchers, as well as miles of sandy beaches.

We struck up a conversation with an English couple in the motorhome opposite and spent a couple of hours over a cup of tea discussing where we had all been and where we were going.  I think they were as desperate as we were to have a conversation with some Brits, and it’s always good to pick up tips along the way from our fellow campers.

The next morning, we moved on to Rome but stopped off to explore the ancient town of Orbetello first. We were told that there was a large parking area where motorhomes were parked just on the edge of the city.

It’s a small, compact town where the centre is free of cars. The narrow streets and squares are packed with bars, restaurants and an interesting mix of shops. The Medina Gate is the entrance to the walled city and was built in the 16^th century.

Windmill,-Orbetello

Sitting in the lagoon is a small, rustic windmill, which is the only one remaining from the original nine.  They were built in the lagoon to use the power of the water to grind wheat, which was then shipped back to the mainland in homemade boats.

We had a quick walk around the town, stopped for some lunch, and then headed back to the motorhome.  As we approached our van, we noticed a young lad sitting behind it by the wall, having a cup of tea.  He surprised us by saying hello (we were not expecting him to be English).

We hadn’t noticed when we parked that we had parked next to a British-registered motorhome.  We stood and chatted with him for ages, then his wife joined us after putting their daughter to sleep.  Steve and Libbie are travelling for 6 months with their 2-year-old daughter Phoebe.  They sold up their home and are travelling around Europe before immigrating to Australia. They were also heading for Rome and catching the ferry over to Croatia, so maybe we will bump into them again.

We didn’t think we would make it to Rome that day, as we were leaving it late, so we picked out a camper stop which was about an hour down the road. However, unfortunately, it wasn’t what we were expecting and was just an open green on the edge of the village.  Somehow, it didn’t seem comfortable, and we were the only motorhome there.  We prefer to camp where there are others, just to be on the safe side, as it’s safer in numbers and all that.

The next camper stop, which was another hour further down the road, was a disaster.  Our TomTom told us that we only had 3 minutes to our destination, then directed us onto the motorway.  Once we arrived, she said we had reached our destination.  Oh dear…  We had to pull over at the following services and get the books out again.  We had been on the road for a few hours by this time, so we made a cup of tea and made a phone call before getting the books out again.  We decided to drive on to the campsite near Rome, which was now only another hour down the road.  It meant that we arrived a bit later than we usually like to get to a site, especially when we still had to cook dinner, but at least then we were at our next destination for visiting Rome.

Camping Tiber, as the name suggests, is set beside the River Tiber, which was a lovely setting.  We planned to go to Rome the next day, but unfortunately, it was raining and we didn’t fancy walking around Rome in the rain.   We had no time constraints, so we relaxed in the van for the day, reading and sleeping. I also took advantage of the time to update my website.

The weather seemed a bit better on Monday morning, although it was overcast, we were eager to get out and explore again.  The campsite offered a shuttle bus to the station, located just 5 minutes away, for a return fare of 1 euro.  The train into Rome was straightforward as it was at the end of the line.  The journey only took 20 minutes, so Camping Tiber was an excellent find.

Rome

We hadn’t planned to visit Rome on this trip as we had always promised my mum we would take her, but as it was so close and on our way to Tivoli, we thought we would just take a peek.

We had no map, guidebook or plans when we came out of the station, as we just decided to walk and see where it took us.  Next time we come back with my mum, we will be armed with a map and guidebooks and will probably take a Big Red Open-Top bus tour on the first day to get our bearings. Then, we will hop on and off over the next couple of days to see the places of interest.

Twin Churches, Rome

The first area we came across was a large square in the Piazza del Popolo, where a genuine Egyptian obelisk, various sculptures, and the twin churches were located.

From Piazza del Popolo, we then found the Spanish Steps with the Piazza di Spagna at the base (“The Fountain of the ugly Boat”).  The atmosphere in this area was vibrant, and the flower at the top of the steps was in full bloom and truly beautiful.  The Trinita dei Monti church dominated at the top of the steps.

The Spanish Steps

The Scalinata is the widest staircase in Europe. There are 135 steps in total, but I was afraid I didn’t feel particularly energetic enough to climb them and wanted to save my energy for walking around as much as possible. However, I have read that the views are stunning down into the winding alleys of the historic centre.

Trevi-Fountain

Next, we arrived at one of Rome’s most dramatic monuments, the beautiful Fontana di Trevi (Trevi Fountain).  This area was crowded with tourists sitting on the fountain and people jostling to take photos.  It was challenging to take a decent photo here.

We then went to have lunch and do some people-watching in a small café on a side street just up from the fountain.  After lunch, we headed for the Colosseum but somehow got lost and ended up walking in a big circle.  In the end, we decided to stop for another drink and save the rest for our next visit.