Trekkin

Day 34 – May 19 Thursday

Another late start, 6am up, brekkie at 7am & bus by 7.40am to be at the Sorrento wharf by 8am to meet our local guide Maria for the ferry to the Isle of Capri.  The ferry was two deck, motor vehicles lower deck, passengers above in an enclosed seating area.  The big twin jet propulsion boat took around 20 minutes to get to Capri, the island has amazingly high limestone cliffs with houses & villas built everywhere.  We left the port area straight away & caught the funicular up to the higher town, the wealthier part of the island. We walked through the shopping centre & out past some expensive hotels, one converted from a former Roman time hospital.   We ended up on the other side of the island at the Krupp Gardens, a nicely maintained oasis in the midst of opulence.  The cliff top lookouts in the garden give fantastic views in both directions, as well as a great view of the old Roman port & a few remnant Roman battlements.  After a nice walk around the gardens we had a slow wander back to the Capri Town square, than caught a minibus up to the heights of Anacapri.

This road to Anacapri has 1,000 foot drops from the road over the cliff edge, particularly at a section the locals call “mama mia”  – it is really a long, long way straight down.  It was midday by the time we got to Anacapri so we had lunch with our group at a nice little restaurant before continuing on to see Villa San Michelle. This villa was built on the remains of an ancient Roman villa & some of the original Roman ruins are incorporated in the villa near the edge of the cliff.  The villa is now a small museum capturing a snippet in time from when the villa was first built & lived in.  The villa has pieces of Roman remnants scattered all around it & a nice sub-tropical garden that is well maintained.  The views from the path at the edge of the garden are spectacular, looking directly down over the town & port of Capri from over 1,000 feet in height, even the eagles where flying well below us.  Mount Vesuvius looked brooding & menacing in the distance, overshadowing Naples.  A slow wander back through the gardens & back to the Anacapri square where we took the bus all the way to the wharf for our ferry back to Sorrento.  We stopped at a factory that practises “intarsio” or marquetry wood inlaying for a description on how it is done, from the raw material through to the finished product.  We then had a look through the showroom, they have a lot of really beautiful work.

Dinner was at another local restaurant established in 1868, the Ristorante O’Parrucchiano & still with the same family.  The gardens are very good, the entranceway has lots of lemon trees covered in large fruit, the flowers in the garden beds are all beautiful & the setting must hold around 500 guests, easily.  Dinner was pretty good, the waiters very friendly & as night fell, lights came on & transformed the scene again – very pretty.  The way out had fairy lights strung through green leaves & hanging lemons from the archways overhead, it was a stunning display of garden lighting.  We have made some good friends on this trip too.  We all had another great night.

Day 33 – May 18 Wednesday

6am wake up, 7am brekkie, depart at 7.30am for Sorrento.  We spent most of the day in the bus on the motorway heading south from Florence, out of the Tuscany area, bypassing Rome & ending at Sorrento, just past Naples, on the Bay of Naples.  The Tuscan countryside is beautiful, lots of farms, restored stone farmhouses & farmhouses in the process of restoration, complete with small crane to lift the heavy stone blocks.  There are also lots of “renovator’s delights” awaiting a hapless soul with lots of money & patience.  We passed many  beautiful villages clinging to a mountain top, complete with tall church spire, with the occasional fortified wall around it.  These Italians were certainly a feisty lot, continually fighting each other.  We stopped for the obligatory morning tea & lunch at road houses before arriving at our hotel in Sorrento around 3.30pm.

The Grand Hotel La Pace is absolutely beautiful, 1950’s style, marble floors (including a beautiful blue marble in the entrance), art nouveau chandeliers, huge rooms, marble bathroom, marble floored bedroom, inlaid wooden furniture everywhere.  A quick break then onto a smaller bus & off to Positano & the Amalfi coast.  The drive to nearby Positano is both breathtaking & scary, clinging to the cliff face, switching back & forth, climbing higher all the time, before descending into the town & bus parking area – I’m glad Luigi & not me is driving the bus.    We walked down the narrow twisting cobblestone footpaths towards the beach area, passing lots of clothes shops, some high end art places, a few pottery places & the odd cafe.  We passed the old church where an American couple were having their wedding photos taken before passing through a very narrow alley to the stony beach.  A few boats pulled up on the beach & a few anchored offshore.  What sand there is, is black, mostly stones & pebbles, no waves – terribly uninviting – yet people go there (the rich & famous).  We met up with a few of our group on the beach & had a quick chat, then walked slowly back up the hill, checking out some things in a few shops before rejoining our little bus at the parking garage.  I noticed a roadway built out from the sheer cliff high above & said out loud, “I’m glad we don’t have to drive on that” – well, that was the road out.  The same exhilarating drive back – these Italian drivers are crazy, overtaking anyone anywhere, scooters are mayhem, they do anything they like, anytime, anywhere – & all this with a 500 foot drop on one side plus the road is barely wide enough for two cars to pass, let alone a bus.  Anyway, we made it back safely in time for a quick change, then dinner time.

Back into the bus for a drive up to a little town on the mountain behind Sorrento,  Sant Agata & a little restaurant recommended by our driver Luigi,(who is a Sorentonian)  the Osteria dei Baroncelli.  The Italian food we had here was absolutely amazing, some of the very best we have had on our trip plus it was six courses, we could hardly move to get up when finished.  Aperitif was Limoncello that they made themselves & very nice to boot.  This is a family affair, with momma & papa in the kitchen, the son looking after everything else – giving us ladies farewell kisses & smiling shaking hands with the men, made us feel like one of the family.  What an enjoyable night was had by all.

It was a beautiful balmy night, we were driving down from the hills enjoying the night lights of “old Napoli” with a huge “pizza pie” moon shining down, well Dean Martin was right –  “that’s amore”.

Day 32 – May 17 Tuesday

A 6.30am wakeup call, brekkie at 7am then off by 7.45am.  Off with our local guide Rosa to the Academy of Art to see the statue of David by Michelangelo.  We were the second tour group there &  (because we are a tour group) jumped the queue of people without tickets, about 200m long, waiting to see David.  He is magnificent, around 5 metres tall & weighing around 5 tonne, he is an amazing sculpture – the attention to detail is amazing.  Veins on the hand stand out, tendons in the arm, veins in the neck, the look on the face, the stance – he comes to life – the photos don’t do him justice.  We left as the Academy started to get crowded, it was shut yesterday so it was especially busy today.  We continued our walking tour of Florence, looking at the 4^th largest church in the world, in magnificent marble of green, white & red colours, very impressive.  Next off to the Piazza del Seniora & an outdoor display of more magnificent statues, all originals (apart from the copy of David), including some 2,000 year old Roman statues.

We then walked to the main town square & another great church, before heading into a gold shop & looking at a demonstration of all the different types of gold jewellery on display – it really good with some very nice pieces.  Next it was into a leather factory called Peruzzi where we got an explanation of leather manufacture plus a demonstration of gold embossing, before being shown some very nice leather jackets.  Some of the women in the group modelled some & they did look good.  Time for a wander then off to San Gimignano with another tour group as there wasn’t enough people from our group that wanted to go..  We met the group at 12.30 & off we went in a spanking new Mercedes bus.

The drive out to San Gimignano was great through the Tuscany countryside, it is really beautiful, old restored stone farmhouses with manicured grape vines & olive groves.  Then San Gimignano itself from a distance, a fortified walled town from the 14^th century with stone 6 story skyscrapers – it is an amazing sight. We walked through one of the two city gates into the old town – straight into history.  This medieval town is just as it was built – stone buildings, cobble stone streets, amazing stone towers (built by the rich as a status symbol).  Every few metres was a steel ring in the wall for tying the horse or the donkey to.  Again we managed to get in before the crowds – there were the passengers from 3 cruise ships arriving in Florence today – about 6,000 people.  A few hours wandering the streets of San Gimignano & it was back on the bus for the short trip back to Florence.

We walked down to the Ponte Vechio when the bus dropped us off.  This is a famous Florence stone  bridge over the River Arno with shops built out over the sides of it (the only bridge around here that didn’t get bombed).  The shops are all gold & jewellery & again are medieval – it looks great – apart from the crowds.  Back to the hotel for a shower & change before dinner at 6.30pm.  Dinner was at a restaurant close to our hotel recommended by our driver Luigi, the Baroncelli.  Again the meal was superb – some antipasto, pasta, pork with potatoes, a sweet desert all washed down with some chianti – followed by an Italian espresso.  Our tour group dinner companions were great & we had a wonderful time over dinner.  Back to the hotel to try if we can connect to the free hotel internet.  (there is supposed to be free internet but it’s not working).

Day 31 – May 16 Monday

A late start, 6am wakeup, bags by 7am, depart by 7.40am from the hotel.  Beautiful & sunny, a stark contrast to yesterday.   By the time we walked across 3 bridges & about 1km of canal sidewalks we are at the bus by 8am, waiting a short while for our luggage to arrive by water porter.  This is a bit scary as the bags are piled high in a boat, you’d think any lurch of the boat & the bags would be over the side & at the bottom of the canal.  We left Venice with a drive through some of the outlying suburbs, with some nice country villas owned by wealthy people.  We could see lots of snow on the high Dolomite Mountains, no wonder it was cold yesterday.  Our bus trip was uneventful, travelling through fertile floodplains with lots of wheat growing.  Travelling through the Apennines we could see a new freeway under construction, the existing one was built by Mussolini before the 2^nd world war.  There are so many long tunnels through mountains, we have never been through so many before, not even Austria had this many – the Italian’s must be very good at tunnel engineering.

After a brief rest stop we continued passing through nice farmlands & drove into the outskirts of Pisa.  Buses are not allowed in the centre of Pisa so we had to stop at a bus park about 2km out of town & caught a “train” bus in.  We didn’t expect to see so many beautiful buildings.  The leaning tower is actually the belltower for a beautiful church in front plus another beautiful building in front of that again, all surrounded by a fortification wall.  We wandered around, taking the obligatory photos, then had lunch in a cafe looking straight at the leaning tower.  There are so many black Africans trying to sell everything from hats to sunglasses to umbrellas to fake watches – they are annoying & sad that this is how they have to earn their money.  Off to the bus by 2.30pm & on to Florence.

A couple of more hours & we were in Florence, after gathering the required bus permit to drop off luggage we drove down the extremely narrow streets to reach our hotel, the Cavour Grand Hotel, built in the 14^th century & right in the middle of old Firenze (Florence). It was the very first hotel in Florence, a converted palace.  Our bus driver did extremely well navigating such narrow streets, it’s amazing he didn’t hit anything (such as walls, scooters, cars, people – all so very close).  The Cavour hotel room is amazing, huge bedroom, 2^nd bedroom & a massive bathroom, so different to our Venice accommodation.  The building is about 500 years old & underwent a refurbishment to make it a very comfortable modern hotel.  A short time to settle in & then it was off to our night destination, a tour of the Chartreuse Monastery just out of Florence, built in the 14^th century.  The monks here never spoke or saw anyone, they maintained isolation in their cells doing whatever monks do.  The tour was very sobering, such an austere life, no wonder there are only four monks still alive & living there.  Dinner was at a restaurant run by a different order of monks (these monks actually care for those other crazies) just a short distance from the monastery.  Dinner was magnificent – aperitif of orange spirits made by the monks, a fantastically fresh salad, fettuccine, steak, washed down by Chianti, then an ice-cream desert with a liquor on it, followed by a digestive liquor.  All the while we were entertained by a monk playing the piano accordion plus an operatic tenor singer – they were an extraordinarily good combination.  Now & then the senior monk serving got involved, he had a great sense of humour & an excellent singing voice & mannerisms totally uncharacteristic of what I thought a monk was like – we laughed & sang until it was time to go back to the hotel.  We had a fantastic night & it was with joyous hearts we rejoined the bus for the trip back into Florence singing along with Dean Martin some old Italian favourites.  A nice hot shower & bed for a well needed rest even though we slept on the bus a bit (it’s exhausting doing nothing).

Day 30 – May 15 Sunday

I was up at 5.30am, a shower, then woke Tereza for a walk around the Perugia old town before breakfast at 7am.  The main street was covered with litter from the night before (Perugia is the only foreign students university, young people from all over the world study here & it seems that a lot of them like to hang out at night together, they were orderly didn’t even make very much noise) – we were up before the street cleaners – there wasn’t a soul around & we had Perugia to ourselves while we walked up to the main square.  The air was lovely & fresh, it wasn’t until we were on our way back that the cleaners started to move in & we came across a few people.  Breakfast was superb, there was a great selection & it was all very good quality, the cold meats were amongst the best we have tasted.  The pastries were also superb.  We were on the road by 7.40am to Venice.

The road from Perugia to Venice was fairly good for a while & the beautiful farm scenery continued.  As we got into the Tuscany the road got twisty & steep & there were hardly any houses in sight.  We passed through a former volcanic area with lots of ash visible – there were also a large number of men fishing in isolated spots on the creeks & rivers.  As we came out of the mountains back down onto the east coast of Italy the road improved & the number of houses increased.  A lot of the farms were now orchards with neatly trimmed & espaliered fruit trees.  The rain also started & came down heavy for a while.  We stopped for a quick bite of lunch at a roadside rest house then reached Venice around 1.30pm.

In Venice the buses stop & unload baggage at a special boat porter station, where the luggage is all loaded onto special baggage boats & ferried to the hotels.  We had to walk about one kilometre to the Hotel Amadeus along the canals, up & down bridge after bridge (4).  The Hotel is a small boutique place, old but quaint.  We left nearly straight  away by ferry boat, shared with another Insight tour group, along the Grand Canal into St Mark’s Square.  Lucky it was low tide so no flooding problems, however, it was still raining lightly.  We admire all the old Venetian palaces, saw the Doge’s Palace & the Bridge of Sighs & ended up at a glass factory, where we saw a demonstration of glass blowing by a master glassmaker.  He was very, very good & very fast.  It was amazing how quickly he made an elegant cobalt blue vase & a horse standing on its hind legs.  Next we went into the showroom & saw a display of some exceptional glass artwork, with an explanation of how it was made.  There really are some magnificent pieces displayed, with a price to match.  The glass chandeliers were very creative & elegant, all too big to fit our tiny house.   We wandered around a little bit more by ourselves before heading back to catch the ferry to the hotel.  By this time our rooms were ready & it took a little bit of exploring to find room 101 – it was actually more 2^nd floor – but not quite.  The room is small, but well decorated in 18^th century Venetian style with antique furniture to match.

There was really only time to change clothes & put something warm on I had a singlet, a long sleeve thermal shirt, skivvy a thick jumper & my thick jacket & my rain coat on – unbelievable yesterday we had 31C I don’t think it was 11C today plus wind & rain) before it was off to dinner at a nearby very elegant restaurant, a nice three course meal with tiramisu (again) for desert.  As we finished dinner it was time to catch a water taxi for a tour along the canals, Magical Venice, to see some of the more famous & beautiful Venetian palaces by night.  It was cold but at least the rain had just about stopped.  W ended up at St Mark’s Square again, this time at nigh & as we arrived I noticed some water bubbling up out of some manhole covers.  We went to a beautiful cafe, had a drink & were entertained by a quartet – violin, cello, piccolo & piano – playing some beautiful classical music.  The band was really good & we were thoroughly enjoying the music before we had to leave to catch our 10.30pm boat back to the hotel.  Just as well because the water levels had risen significantly from the water bubbling through the manhole covers in the square,  (we had to doge around to miss all the water) a few more minutes & we would have had to wade through water to get out of the square.  Luckily the rain had stopped & we had a 20 minute boat trip back to the hotel.  Even if Mother Nature didn’t smile down upon us in Venice we still enjoyed this amazing city & the gondola ride was the only thing cancelled due to the rain, strong winds & choppy water.

Day 29 – May 14 Saturday

A lazy start – 6.30am wake up & 8am departure – we left Rome in brilliant sunshine & noticed the river was running higher, it must have rained further upstream.  A bit out of Rome we ran into fog & it stayed with us about half the distance to our destination.  The countryside looks fabulous, the fields are all green & planted with wheat or corn, there are some fields that have just been cut for hay & some that are in the process of baling the hay.  The style of house is different in rural Italy than the other countries we have been in, they are generally in good condition, though mostly old.  The villages seem to cling to the hilltops, the hills are generally lower than the other European countries we have visited.  The scenery of the Umbrian countryside is absolutely beautiful.  We reached our hotel, the 5 star Brufani Palace on the hilltop in the old town of Perugia before midday & checked in immediately.  Our two room suite is lovely, very comfortable with a great view out over the Umbrian landscape. Most of the hotels on this trip have been very nice with dressing gowns, slippers & safe for our valuables, but this one is very luxurious a lovely sitting area & a beautiful big bedroom  decorated in a Tuscan (may be Umbrian) style.  We have had our beds turned down before, but this is the first time bedside mats, slippers & chocolate were laid out.  Dinner at the palace restaurant tonight – we feel we could get used to all this. Romana, our local guide took us on a walking tour of Perugia old town (no cars allowed) & took us down first to the old fort, built in the 1400s & destroyed over a number of ancient wars (so much history).  The old town has some medieval parts, still from the 1400s, however, lots of the houses have been renovated inside & fetch rents of 10,000 Euro per month per apartment.  The outside remains medieval – there are no external changes allowed.   Perugia is really beautiful & from the walls outside our hotel Assisi can be seen in the distance.  The hotel swimming pool has a glass bottom, to view the ancient Etruscan ruins uncovered during excavations for the pool.  We had a bite to eat & a gelato then it was time for our trip to Assisi. The bus took about 20 minutes to reach the Assisi new town & our stop was at the church of St Francis (of Assisi), we waited a short while until it opened at 2pm.  This is a big relatively new church built completely around & over the original grotto that St Francis built his religious following from.  The old church is very simple & small, with a very small building next to it where St Francis died.  St Francis is the patron saint of Italy & lots of people make a pilgrimage to this little church.  The big church has lots of beautiful frescoes in it plus some nice little chapels & altars. Next it was off to the basilica of the old town of Assisi on the hill a short drive away.  A huge monastery dominates the hill & hides the old church contained within (apart from the belltower).  This is another beautiful large church with some more fabulous frescoes on the walls & ceiling.  The important part of this church is the crypt below that holds the sarcophagus & remains of St Francis & is another very religious site.  The crypt is very simple – no carvings or embellishments & he is surrounded by five of his close assistants.  Back up the flights of stairs & then we climbed more stairs to the upper church.  The upper church was badly damaged in an earthquake in the 1980s when four people died, however, has since been repaired very well to protect the 24 frescoes by the painter Giotto – they really are special & portray the complete life of St Francis. We had over an hour to ourselves to explore the old town of Assisi & walked up the hill & narrow road, again admiring the ancient buildings (one dated 1477). All the shops seem to be mainly selling religious souvenirs.  Back to the bus by 5pm & back to Perugia.  Our beds have been turned down & a chocolate on the pillow.  Dinner at the hotel tonight was fantastic, a 3 course meal with fettuccine to start, veal scallops next & a yummy tiramisu desert to finish.  All washed down with a very nice red & finished off by a great cappuccino.  The two American couples we sat with were great company & we learned of the hotel swimming pool.  After dinner they took us down the special lift 3 stories under the hotel & the swimming pool area is magnificent.  Built in amongst the ruins of the old fort there is a gym, spa, sauna & swimming pool with built-in spa & swim jets.  The pool has a glass bottom & displays the Etruscan ruins discovered while they were building the pool.  So naturally afterwards we went back to our room, changed into the hotel dressing gowns & slippers then went back to the pool (we were  excited like two kids about this pool) & met our dinner companions.  We had a great spa, swim & chat in these fantastic surroundings & finished up around 10pm.  What a magnificent culmination to another great day.

Day 28 – May 13 Friday

Back to tour mode – wake-up call at 6am & depart at 7.15am for the Vatican.  We were the 2^nd tour group there & only waited a short while before the 8am opening with our local guide Nicoletta.  We went through the Vatican museums first, admiring all the magnificent statues & paintings, plus a pair of magnificent red marble sarcophagus 2,000 years old.  We entered a closed hall hung with ancient tapestries & marvelled at the size & detail of all the magnificent works of art before entering a very long hall with painted & decorated ceilings.  The paintings on the ceiling were wonderful, with the artist having the ability to make them look three dimensional.  Then it was down a few flights of narrow stairs & we were in the Sistine Chapel.

The paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo are astounding, then you turn around & see the wall he also painted later – magnificent – he was really talented.  I’ve seen the photos in books but the reality is so much better.  Next it was into St Peter’s Basilica, the largest church in the world.  The height of the dome is amazing, plus the sheer volume of space inside.  The pictures on the walls are all mosaics in marble, absolutely amazing, than the patterned marble floor is all stolen from ancient Roman ruins, including the Colosseum.  The different altars around the church are all beautiful, then the main altar is especially so.  We went past some coffins of  popes with death  mask of wax & even  silver but John Paul II is interned in a plain marble coffin.  As we walked out the front door we saw the line up of people waiting to get in – my goodness – at least an hour or so standing in the sun in the square – I’m so glad we were on a tour & finished – it was hot – 31C in Rome today.  The obelisk in the square is the largest in Rome & was used to crucify St Peter upside down & then beheaded.  It makes no difference if you are a Christian believer or not you can’t help being blown away by all the magnificent skill of the artists & the enormity of it all, words & photos can’t possibly describe it, you have to actually see it to be awe struck.

Next to the Colosseum & Nicolette gave us a very good explanation of what, why, who & how.  Today we were inside the Colosseum with our tour group & were able to see the seating plus the vast amount of underground structure to support all of the events.   It is huge inside as well & after all the photos we waited in the shade for our walk back to the bus, then hotel for a late lunch.

After lunch siesta time then a walk to the Piazza Del Popolo, a gateway in the old city walls before walking along the gardens of the Villa Borghese, where we came across another obelisk.  This one was a memory to the Roman victory in Romania  We saw the museum to Leonardo Da Vinci & went in for a fascinating exploration of his work – what a genius this man was – architect, engineer, & painter – so talented.  We continued on to the top of the Spanish steps, what great views over the city.  A walk down Via del Corso & then around the Mausoleum of Augustin before back to a small cafe near the hotel & magnificent sea food Italian dinner.   It was really good.  The noise of a rally of old cars kept blaring past as we were eating – they must  have made around six laps of the circuit around the city in the time we were eating – police escort with sirens blaring & all.

Today was our last day in Rome, 6 days really went fast, we have walked many kilometre & seen so many wonderful things, we have fallen in love with this beautiful city of history, art, ruins & architecture & it’s people.  We will leave with heavy hearts.

Day 27 – May 12 Thursday

Up at 6.30am & a bit of blog time before another hotel breakfast, a day planning session & out the door by 9.15pm on the well trodden Corso Vittorio Emanuele II.  We walked to the Area Sacra as it had a sign up next to it saying it was a free Wi-Fi internet area.  Well, I spent about an hour going through all of the available unsecured Wi-Fi services, I found & couldn’t get any free Wi-Fi (Why aren’t I as smart as James, he would have solved it in no time).  We kept on walking to the Musei Capitolini, just behind the impressive Monumento Vittorio Emanuele.  Today we went into the museum on top of the Capital Hill, it was built on the foundations of ancient Roman ruins & these are incorporated into the museum exhibits on the ground floor, impressive!   There is a great outlook over a massive excavation site, with a great arch & columns standing everywhere.  The rest of the museum consists of statues, burial inscriptions, sarcophagus & paintings.  A complete floor is dedicated to statues & busts with another floor devoted to great painters from the 1500s-1700s.  Outside in the courtyard is the remains of a massive marble statue of Hadrian, feet, hands & head are all huge, the statue must have been very impressive when assembled.  After a few hours in the museum we sat outside in the shade on the steps, rested & had our orange & apple.

We stopped in a small cafe & had a very late lunch.  In Rome when crossing the road it’s like playing Russian Roulette – you walk across praying (you cross & pray) that the drivers will stop for you (otherwise you’d never get across).  We are convinced that the Italian drivers must be pretty good drivers the way they get through this organised (or not) chaos. There are so many mainly small cars & scooters (many Vespas) on the road & they park everywhere & so close together that they are just about touching.  There are not too many big motorbikes in Rome, the vast majority are scooters.  It seems that the stop signs, pedestrian crossings & lane markings are advisory only.

Then off to Basilica San Pietro, with thousands of visitors streaming out of it.  We went inside an exhibition of the last pope who was sainted last week (glad we weren’t here then) & a very good display was set out of his life from childhood until death.  We exited on the portico outside the church, it is huge, a grand scale.  A few pictures then back off across the Piazza San Pietro & wending our way back to the hotel through the maze of streets.

At 5pm we met up with our new tour group for our upcoming “Best of Italy” & had a few quite glasses of water & orange juice before our tour briefing & handing out of bits & pieces. A full bus, 36 Americans & 4 Australians & Giani an Italian tour leader.  We had a fantastic time up until now, let’s hope the next 10 days will be as good.   Finished by 6pm & blog time.

We had a meal at a side walk Pizzeria & an Italian beer.  What I can’t stomach is that people light up a cigarette while we are eating & this happens in good restaurants too – spoils the meal for us.  We are amazed how many little clothing/shoes shops, etc. & that every side street has restaurants/cafes/pizzerias.  How do they all exist?

Day 26 – May 11 Wednesday

Another lazy start with a very good breakfast, lengthy day planning session & on the way by 9am (this will change when we start our next tour).  Again past the Palazzo di  Giustizia & over the Ponte Umberto I this time, a very plain old bridge.  We took the more direct route through the Piazza Navone before emerging on the Corso Vittorio Emanuele.  We crossed over & had a look at the Area Sacra, the excavated ruins of four different Roman temples, all built at different times next to each other.  One had the fresco’s still visible, amazing after all this time (being buried helps I guess).  Very close by was the Chiesa del Gesu (another ruin facade) before we got to the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II (on purpose this time).  This is a very impressive new (only 100 years old) monument that looks a little out of place, everything else is so old.  We climbed the many stairs (our knees were thankful when we stopped) & admired the magnificent statues before venturing inside, looking briefly at the displays then venturing outside upstairs.  The view from up top from the balcony is fantastic, as you move around the building you get a great vista over the city, more ruins very close by & the Colloseo in the near distance, plus all the church domes.

Next more serious looking ruins just across the road , the magnificent Colona Traiana, a column with fantastic continuous carvings going up the column in a spiral, telling a story in graphic detail of Emporor Trajan’s victories in Romania.  This is surrounded by the remains of Trajan’s Forum, then the remains just continue down this street, next is the Trajan Markets, next to the House of the Knights of Rhodes, next to the Forum of Augustus, next to the Forum of Nerva, next to the Forum of Julius Caesar, with the Mamertine Prison virtually underfoot.  All this history is staring you in the face from just one spot.  Then you turn your head & there is the magnificent Colloseom, it is huge & really stands out, so a short walk down the street & the crowds got thicker the closer we got.  There where people hawking guided tours outside & inside, the line would have done Disneyland proud, weaving in & out of columns, hiding the real number of people in line to get in.  We walked around the outside gazing in awe at the sheer size of this ancient blood sport building, built 1,900 years ago, a lot of it is still standing.  When we came to the Arch of Constantine we stopped & sat in the shade for a while to rest our weary legs & eat some fruit.  We were pestered continually by shady looking  hawkers trying to sell all manner of trinkets.

We walked back past the Palatino, another huge area of uncovered ruins & reached the Campidoglio, now used as the Museo Capitoli, where we had another stop for a leg rest in the shade ( it was hot & sunny hate  to think how hot it gets in high summer). We headed back down towards the river, past the Teatro Marcello (more ruins) before reaching the Ponte Fabricio  footbridge to the Isola Tiberina.  This island has a hospital & must be busy, there were ambulance with sirens blaring going to & from it.  We crossed to the other bank of the river on the Ponte Cestio & walked along the shady riverbank on the narrow footpath back towards the hotel.  The walk was very pleasant & when we reached the Castel Sant’ Angelo we stopped for a bite while looking at the trinket stalls set up along the shady riverbank (we liked the shade).  It was only a short walk back to the hotel, an ice cream on the way then an afternoon nap, my feet were complaining about the distance we had walked.  Ron is in second heaven with all the history & magnificient architecture & art we both love these walks as we see so many un expected things (un expected for us) We both had a long hot bath after our sleep ( my sweet Tereza washed our clothes while I slept) then we caught up with our blog before heading out to a sidewalk cafe close to the hotel for dinner.  The food was great, I had mussel & octopus hot pot while Tereza had ravioli stuffed with spinach & cheese.  Back to the hotel & looked through photos before lights out around midnight.

Day 25 – May 10 Tuesday

A late start this morning, breakfast in the hotel, a day planning session, then out the door by 8.45am.  We walked straight down Via Cicerone towards the river & the nearby Piazza del Tribunali, then walked along the riverbank to the Castel Sant’ Angelo, a very impressive & imposing building.  As we walked around it the Piazza Giovanni opened up to a magnificent view of the Basilica of St Peter – now that was an impressive sight.  We decided not to head there as we will be seeing it on our tour & headed instead across the Ponte Vittorio Emanuele (bridge) over the Fiume Tevere (river).  The statues on the bridge are amazing, so many, so much work, so good, so much traffic.  We headed up towards the Pantheon & passed through tiny alley ways, classic small Rome streets, classic Roman houses & got to the Piazza Navona, full of painters selling their artwork, another big fabulous fountain & another big church.  On the way from there we passed the Palazzo Madama, an impressive big old palace now a government building surrounded by police & soldiers.

A bit more walking & we arrived at the Pantheon, my goodness, what a huge building this is, the facade is amazing, so tall & imposing & built 1,900 years ago – amazing it’s still standing.  We went inside & the height of the oculus (round hole in the roof, 8.3m diameter) is 43m above the floor – a long way up.  The building is round inside with an ornate marble floor, a central altar surrounded by minor altars all around the walls.  The tombs of two Italian kings are on opposite sides from each other, the other tomb of interest is the painter Raphael, in a plain stone sarcophagus.  The massive doors are made of bronze & must be so heavy.  This building is really impressive, inside & out.  While we were there the sun was shining through the oculus with a round light on the base of the dome wall.  Out of the Pantheon & past the Templo Adriano to the Via del Corso, where I made a wrong turn & we ended up at Palazzia Venezia & were looking at a stunningly beautiful white building, the Monumento Vittorio Emanuele.  We could see the Coliseum in the close distance, so we had gone the wrong way, so I dragged out the map & we headed back up the Via del Corso for a couple of blocks before making the correct turn off past the Trevi Fountain.

The next impressive building we came to was the Palazzo del Quirinale, it was surrounded by lots of police & soldiers, facing a large square that looked out over the city, with the obligatory large fountain & Egyptian obelisk.  We kept on going up the Via del Quirinale, past the San Carlo Quattro Fontane & got to the Porta Pia, an impressive marble gate that was once incorporated in the walls of the city.  We turned at the Porta Pia & followed the big old walls down along the Corso D’Italia before turning off to the Villa Borghese – our destination for the day.  We arrived around midday & went straight to the ticket booth under the front stairs to collect our tickets for the 1pm viewing that I had pre-purchased in Australia over the internet before we left, lucky, the next available tickets were for the following Saturday.

The Villa Borghese is set in the gardens of a very big park & was built by a Cardinal in the 17^th century to house his private collection of works of art, given to him by his uncle, Pope Paul V.  To this he added to & ended up with one of Rome’s richest art collections.  The villa looks good from the outside, but its when you get inside you realise the full splendour.  Every ceiling is very high & vaulted & painted with the most amazing artworks.  The floors are all marble & all the walls are marbled & painted decoratively & hung with some magnificent artwork, mostly with a religious theme (he was a cardinal).  The gallery is spread over two floors with the magnificent marble sculptures spread out over the two floors & throughout the various large rooms.  Some of the marble sculptures are absolutely amazing, they are so talented the way the stone is brought to life.  We were also very impressed with the small mosaic artwork.  There were three small mosaics, the tiles were the size of a pinhead, you can’t imagine the time that went into them, they were really very good.  The others that impressed were the inlaid marble mosaics, these were exceptional works of art, different coloured marble, cut precisely into shape in such fine detail, the artist was extremely talented.  Our two hour time limit just flew, luckily we managed to see it all.  We rested on a seat outside in the shade in the garden before deciding where to go next.

We wandered down past the Rome zoo in the Villa Borghese gardens, went past an Italian National Day display of Police vehicles, new & old, then to the Villa Giulia.  This villa was built by Pope Julius III for hedonistic pleasures in the 16^th century.  These days it is a museum full of Etruscan treasures unearthed in Italy during excavations of ancient Etruscan cities & tombs from the 8^th to 3^rd centuries BC.  The collection is very extensive & set over three floors.  There are lots & elaborately decorated pottery, lots of bronze cooking items, weapons & jewellery, the jewellery collection is amazing.  The fine artwork & elaborate design of the jewellery is extraordinary.  The collection would make a modern high end jewellery designer envious, it really is very good.  After another hour or so looking through this museum our feet & legs were getting very tired, so it was straight home to the hotel.  Out with the map, working out the shortest path, back across the river at Ponto del Risorgimento & eventually back to the Cicerone Hotel – very tired feet at 7.30pm – a very big day.  A long hot bath was in order.  We crashed & didn’t even bother with dinner.