Tarquinia, worth a visit if tombs closed?

We will be in Civitavecchia in May and were planning to take the bus to Tarquinia however we are there on a Monday and understand the museum and tombs are closed then. Is it worth going anyway to look around the town and have lunch? Any other suggestions for Civitavecchia apart from taking the train to Rome?

We will be in Civitavecchia in May and were planning to take the bus to Tarquinia however we are there on a Monday and understand the museum and tombs are closed then. Is it worth going anyway to look around the town and have lunch? Any other suggestions for Civitavecchia apart from taking the train to Rome?

IMHO no. We are not even big fans of Tarquinia when everything is open (many disagree with us on this) and find most of the tombs boring since they are simply a mound covering an empty dirt-floor inside. Tarquinia and the Etruscan ruins are not even in the same class as Ostia Antica (also reachable from Civitavecchia on a port day).

Hank

Unfortunately, Ostia Antica is also closed on Mondays.

http://www.ostia-antica.org/touristguide.pdf

For me, Tarquinia would not be a place to visit if you couldn't see the Etruscan tombs and the museum.

Also, while what Hank says is true to an extent, he doesn't mention the beautiful paintings on the walls of the tombs, some of which can be seen here:

http://goeurope.about.com/od/etruscans/ig/Tarquinia-Tomb-Pictures/

OK, any other suggestions? Has anyone actually spent time in Civitavecchia? I remember reading an account of someone spending a few hours there but can't remember where I saw it!

This site offers some ideas for walking tours in Civitavecchia: http://www.civitavecchia.net/places-itineraries.html#porto

Thanks for the link. I think we could probably occupy ourselves for a few hours in Civitavecchia just wandering - always a favourite activity!

I forget the name of the place but if you walk up the main street going away from the water there's a bakery about half a mile up on the right (it's across the street from a Chinese restaurant) that has extremely good gelato. Restaurante Vitale has great pizza, the pizza with mushrooms (fresh, not canned) was my favorite. Those were the highlights of Civitavecchia to me.

Unfortunately, Ostia Antica is also closed on Mondays.

 

http://www.ostia-antica.org/touristguide.pdf

ARGH! Didn't even thing about that. Good job (as usual) Euro.