Rome!

Our Roman holiday is coming to a close. Rome is Rome is Rome. It doesn’t change, of course, as some other great world capitals do. And that’s its charm. It is reliably ancient. The Italians are reliably fun to watch and listen to. Even Anthony has remarked on the Italian sense of fashion, particularly in menswear. Both men and woman have that certain, I-don’t-give-a-damn confidence. They smoke and make no apologies and we just tough it out when dining al fresco. If you don’t like the taxi prices? Too bad. Someone else will pay it. The wine is cheaper than Coke Zero? Drink the wine then.This is Italy. There is no other.

If you like ancient history, museums, art, style, come here. This is what Italy is about. And love. Saw much open affection on the streets with unabashed young lovers. La vita è bella! Arrivederci, Roma!

In 1885 construction of the monument started The Monument to Victor Emanuel II, the “Father of the Nation.” Built of white marble, it is decorated with allegorical statues, reliefs and murals. It measures about 260 x 390 feet, and consists of a large flight of stairs leading up to a massive colonnade. Two fountains represent the two seas that border Italy, the Adriatic and the Tyrrhenian. At the center of the monument is the colossal equestrian statue of Victor Emmanuel. The statue weighs 50 tons and measures 39 feet. At the foot of the statue is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, inaugurated in 1921. Guards of honor, alternatingly selected from the marine, infantry and air divisions, stand on guard here day and night. The upper section of the monument consists of a massive curved colonnade with 50-foot tall columns, framed on either side by small temple-like wings with a classical front. The monument is known as The Wedding Cake. You can see why.

The Piazza Navona is situated in the historic center of Rome, west of the Pantheon. It is one of Rome’s liveliest squares, with many outdoor cafes, restaurants and night clubs in the neighborhood. Christmas market is held here.

Italians love the Virgin Mary. She appears in many places. Here she is given great honor on an apartment house wall.

During the Middle Ages, Hadrian’s Bridge was the most important connection between the city of Rome and the Vatican. Hadrian (117-138) was one of the most “visible” of all Roman emperors. In many aspects, he tried to follow the example of the founder of the empire, Augustus. One of the emulations was the building of a large mausoleum near the Tiber with a bridge connecting to the other side.

Italians love their flag, too, of course, mixing it here with May blooms.

The strains of classical music can be heard throughout the city, by instrumental musicians and singers alike. The fellow plays outside the Parthenon.

The Pantheon was commissioned during the reign of Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD) as a temple to all the gods of ancient Rome, and rebuilt by the emperor Hadrian about 126 AD. It is one of the best-preserved of all Ancient Roman buildings. It has been in continuous use throughout its history, and since the 7th century, the Pantheon has been used as a Roman Catholic church dedicated to St. Mary and the Martyrs, but informally known as “Santa Maria Rotonda.” The building is circular with a central opening (oculus) to the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon’s dome is still the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome. The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same, 142 feet.

The crowds on the Piazza della Rotonda through the pillars of the Pantheon.

Inside the Pantheon.

A couple of Americans at the Trevi Fountain.

The Roman Colosseum

Tom’s panorama of the Colosseum.

Liz’s gladiators

 

The Roman Forum through the arch of the Colosseum.

 

Our Appartamento!

Our apartment is two blocks from the Spanish Steps in the heart of ancient Rome. Not only is our flat roomy and airy, with high ceilings and tall windows, it comes with live concerts at no extra charge. We are entertained daily throughout the day by either a soprano, tenor, violinist and saxophonist who stand beneath our second-floor flat and fill the air with classics. Add church bells, which ring intermittently, and you have a movie set.

Also, when you leave your passport in Venice a week earlier and don’t discover it until two business days before leaving the country, the location is only an 8-minute taxi ride to the American Embassy. A guide in Turkey called McDonald’s the American Embassy, so we’ve been joking about that each time we see a McDonald’s. The American Embassy in Rome wasn’t serving up burgers and fries, but I did get a replacement passport in short order — in under two hours.

After a month of hotels, I knew we would be ready for a more homey atmosphere, where we could eat breakfast in our jammies and chill out comfortably, so I took a chance on renting apartments online. Criteria were three bedrooms, two baths (as it happened, both flats came with three bathrooms), a clothes washer, dishwasher and a lift, if not on the first floor. We scored on all the above in Florence and in Rome. I present the Rome apartment, because it didn’t occur to me to photograph the Elizabeth (named after Elizabeth Barrett Browning), where we stayed five nights in Florence.

We rented our Rome flat for six nights, and still have two nights to go. It’s a wonderful location. We have a market nearby for breakfast groceries and snacks, many choices for al fresco lunches and dinners, and we and find we are dining with the locals wherever we go, living among them. And we have lots of space, a good thing after so many weeks of family togetherness.

If you have never done a rental in lieu of a hotel, I highly recommend it!

Welcome to Via Bocca de Leone 11

Living Room with four windows, double exposure

Living room

Master Bedroom

Master Bedroom and Blogging Central

Many live plants in the place

Outside our window

Outside our window

Another window view

Vatican City!

We felt confident we could “do the Vatican” without a guide, as we have been there in other years. Rick Steves said we could do it, and told us how. Go online, he said, and buy tickets with the audio guide. You’ll avoid the lines. We did avoid the lines. We got right in. But Rick neglected to say the devices are like phones, you have to hold them. No earbuds. That doesn’t work for people who like to take pictures (photography is allowed through the Vatican Museum and St. Peter’s Basilica, but not in the Sistine Chapel). So we slogged through the procession (think Africa’s big migration of the herds) without the benefit of our audio guides, but taking lots of pictures.

The Vatican Museum is very large and linear, so you are mostly walking a very long gauntlet, and up and down four flights of stairs. By the time you are done, you are at the Sistine Chapel, the end of the museum. You are hot and tired of jostling and being jostled by the herds of guided tours ahead, behind and around you. You enter the Sistine Chapel and guards move you in one direction. Don’t even think about walking around the chapel to look here and there. You push yourself to a place and plant your tired feet to stand firm and bend your neck and head so that they hurt. Drink in all those fabulous Michelangelo frescoes. You do it until your neck can no longer stand the torture. Then, because Rick Steves told you about the savvy way to leave the chapel (to the right and not the left), you will be dropped right at St. Peter’s Basilica where you will wrap up your visit to the Vatican. But wait.

Rick Steves didn’t tell you that if you rent audio devices, you have to return them. At the beginning of the museum. Once you do that, the only way to the Basilica is to do the museum all over again, or leave the building, leave the Vatican walls and walk all the way around to the front of Vatican Square and finally to the Basilica. Remember, I said it was a very big, linear museum. Herds of wildebeest to get through. We opted to do that. We were relegated to the dreaded Sistine Chapel exit on the left. It was late afternoon, and a museum guard must have been too tired to object, and he let us do an end run against the herd and take an elevator reserved only for disabled people (hey, by this time we feel disabled). We hurried through about half the galleries with this short cut, dodged through the Sistine Chapel and out the door to the right. It was miraculous. There was the Basilica. So immense. So very beautiful. And so easy to get to if you don’t listen to Rick Steves.

The Vatican

St. Peter’s Square

On top of the Vatican’s colonnades are 140 statues of saints (or as Anthony called them, action figures), crafted by a number of sculptors between 1662 and 1703. 

Inside the walls of the Vatican

Swiss Guards

Vatican Museum

The ceiling of the galleries goes on forever. This is in the Gallery of Maps.

Closer up of gallery ceiling

I was shooting pictures in the nave of the Basilica when out of nowhere (well, from the left) the cardinals filed in for Mass.

Vaults and dome of St. Peter’s Basilica

A side chapel in the Basilica

Basilica

Find the gawkers among the statuary

Stained glass in the Basilica

A marble pope welcomes his flock to the Basilica

Outside St. Peter’s Basilica

 

 

 

Pisa!

A day trip from Florence took us an hour west in Tuscany to see the Tower of Pisa and the Cathedral of Pisa, of which the tower is its campanile, or bell tower. The cathedral’s construction began in 1064, and set the model for the distinctive Pisan Romanesque style of architecture. The mosaics of the interior, as well as the pointed arches, show a strong Byzantine influence. Construction of the bell tower began in 1173 and took place in three stages over the course of 177 years, with the bell-chamber only added in 1372. Five years after construction began, when the building had reached the third floor level, the weak subsoil and poor foundation led to the building sinking on its south side. The building was left for a century, which allowed the subsoil to stabilize itself and prevented the building from collapsing. In 1272, to adjust the lean of the building, when construction resumed, the upper floors were built with one side taller than the other. The seventh and final floor was added in 1319. By the time the building was completed, the lean was approximately 1 degree, or 2.5 feet from vertical. At its greatest, measured prior to 1990, the lean measured approximately 5.5 degrees. As of 2010, the lean was reduced to approximately 4 degrees. (What would I do without Google?)

On the bus ride from Florence to Pisa, I mistook the Carrara marble in the mountains for snow! This is where Michelangelo procured the marble for his sculptures.

Cathedral of Pisa and its Leaning Tower

The cathedral’s Baptistry

Inside the cathedral

Florence!

Ah, beautiful Florence. A revisit to the Galleria dell’Accademia to see Michelangelo’s magnificent David was a highlight (no photography allowed), as well as the Uffizi Gallery and Il Duomo, or the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence’s cathedral. Making one’s way across the Ponte Vecchio is mandatory, as it’s where all the action is, and only a short walk from our apartment.

Our rented flat is in the Elizabeth, a 19^th Century apartment house named after Elizabeth Barrett Browning. She and husband, Robert, moved into the building (they dubbed it Palazzo Guidi) in 1847, and she died here in 1861, right across the hall from our flat. The Pitti Palace is mere steps away.

Florence on the Arno River

Uffizi Gallery exterior. This is one of the most famous museums of paintings and sculpture in the world. Its collection of primitive and Renaissance paintings comprises several universally acclaimed masterpieces of all time, including works by Giotto, Simone Martini, Piero della Francesca, Fra Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, Mantegna, Correggio, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo and Caravaggio. German, Dutch and Flemish masters are also well represented with important works by Dürer, Rembrandt and Rubens. The Uffizi Gallery occupies the top floor of the large building erected between 1560 and 1580 to house the administrative offices of the Tuscan State. No photography allowed inside.

Along the Arno River next to the Uffizi Gallery

Il Duomo, Florence’s cathedral named in honor of Santa Maria del Fiore, dominates the city with its magnificent Renaissance dome designed by Filippo Brunelleschi. The basilica is a vast Gothic structure begun at the end of the 13th century by Arnolfo di Cambio, and the dome was added in the 15th century on a design of Filippo Brunelleschi. The cathedral holds 20,000 people.

The exterior of the basilica is faced with marble panels in various shades of green and pink bordered by white, and has an elaborate 19th-century Gothic Revival façade.

The people at the top of the dome give you a good perspective of the size of il Duomo, or the Dome that caps the basilica.

The basilica is particularly notable for its 44 stained glass windows, the largest undertaking of this kind in Italy in the 14th and 15th century. This photo does not do justice to the size of the window.

The dimensions of the basilica are enormous: 502 ft. long, 124 feet wide and 295 feet wide at the crossing. The arches in the aisles are 23 75 ft. and t he height of the dome is 375 feet.

The frescoes in the dome were begun in 1568 and completed in 1579.

The Palazzo Vecchio is the town hall. A massive, Romanesque fortress-palace, it is among the most impressive town halls of Tuscany and one of the most significant public places in Italy.

The Ponte Vecchio is the only surviving Medieval bridge crossing the Arno River in Florence. It’s noted for still having shops built along it, as was once common. Butchers initially occupied the shops; the present tenants are jewelers, art dealers and souvenir sellers. I spotted earrings there a couple of days ago and must return today to further check them out! Photo taken from the west side in early evening.

Ponte Vecchio

Ponte Vecchio from the east side.

Ponte Vecchio

Venice!

Well, we can say we’ve been to Slovenia. One must go through this little country between Croatia and Italy to get from Opatija to Venice. Another former Yugoslavian republic, Slovenia is a very pretty country, all green and hills and prosperous, too. At the border, the customs guy came on board our motor coach and stamped our passports. Our tour guide arranged a morning coffee break so we could say we’ve been to Slovenia.

Then on to Venice, with a noon stop at a small family-run winery for a tasting and lunch before driving into Venice. The city charged 300 euro for the bus to enter. We arrived at the bus station, which is the last stop before all roads end, boarded a water taxi and off we went to the Venice Lagoon.

There are no roads in Venice, so no motorized vehicles. Everything is done by boat, including garbage collection, deliveries, fire and ambulance, personal and commercial transportation, all of it. You want flowers delivered? They come by boat. Need a plumber? Comes by boat. There are water taxis, water buses, gondolas (purely for tourists), ferries and private boats. In the mornings (all day, really), the canals are very busy with deliveries of all types. Of course, walking is an option; however, Venice is a maze, so getting lost is easy. But the walking streets, narrow as they are, are well marked. We followed the arrows either to Rialto or to San Marco and with our hotel midway between, had no problem getting around on foot.

Venice was the final stop on our two-week tour with the Odysseys Unlimited group. Now we are doing Italy on our own, concentrating on Florence and Rome.

On our wine-tasting-lunch stop on a farm near Venice, this rooster started crowing to beat the band at midday when I walked over to the chicken coop to take his picture. He clammed up when Tom came to video him.

Lots of flowers at the farm/vineyard.

Lovely grape vine. You can see the tiny green immature grapes if you look closely.

This old shuttered window was part of the chicken coop.

The gondolas get a tad fancy in Venice.

The gondolas have their own choregraphy. I shot these from our hotel window. The gondoliers sing opera all evening long, along with accordionists, which made for a lively ambiance outside our windows.

Sunset over Venice rooftops, outside our hotel windows. Rooftops to the right, canal to the left. Quintessential Venice!

Can’t get enough of quaint windows and window boxes. Tom shot these.

The Grand Canal

The Grand Canal

The Rialto, a shopping mall/bridge over the Grand Canal.

Masks are available in shops all over Venice. Entire shops are devoted to just masks. Here’s a little background on these Venetian accessories: “Venetian masks are a centuries-old tradition of Venice. The masks are typically worn during the Carnival (Carnival of Venice), but have been used on many other occasions in the past, usually as a device for hiding the wearer’s identity and social status. The mask would permit the wearer to act more freely in cases where he or she wanted to interact with other members of the society outside the bounds of identity and everyday convention. It was useful for a variety of purposes, some of them illicit or criminal, others just personal, such as romantic encounters.”

A typical workday in Venice, delivering goods along the canal.

Can’t get enough of flower-laden balconies.

Cutouts span two buildings between which a canal flows.

Pula and Ravinj, Croatia!

We enjoyed a day trip from Opatija down the Istrian Peninsula of Croatia to Pula, on the southern tip, and up the western side to Rovinj. Both are steeped in ancient history and diverse takeovers, starting with the Romans. It appears there was never a dull moment for many centuries, including the 20^th.

The Pula Amphitheater was built between 46 and 45 B.C.

 

Ancient wine jugs on display under the Pula Amphitheater.

The Pula Forum has been the center of the town’s important functions for more than two millennia.

The Pula City Gate

Rovinj Harbor

Rovinj

Rovinj

Trio of tourists taking a break from sightseeing in Pula.

 

 

Zadar and Opatija!

Didn’t expect to see snow enroute from Split to Opatija as we made our way north up the Adriatic coast, but we did. These mountains are the southern Alps, and run all the way down to Albania. Didn’t expect to see mussels production either, but we did, along small bays as we drove along the curvy coast. The terrain is steep, rocky and very lush with trees as we started out from Split, and only changed to smaller and fewer trees as we got closer to Zadar. Didn’t expect to see the “California of Croatia either, but we did. It’s the fruit basket of Croatia in a lush river valley with many diversions to water the orange trees and other fruits and vegetables. The crops are irrigated in a flooding state, and the growers harvest their crops via little boats. Didn’t expect to hear a sea organ, but we did. The architectural object located in Zadar, plays music by way of sea waves and tubes located underneath a large set of marble steps. Concealed under these steps is a system of polyethylene tubes and a resonating cavity that turns the site into a large musical instrument, played by the wind and the sea. It’s quite remarkable, and has earned the European Prize for Urban Public Space.

The Southern Alps

Croatia’s Fruit Basket

This fellow relaxes to the music of the Sea Organ on the Zadar quay.

The Greeting to the Sun installation on the Zadar quay consists of 300 multi-layer glass panels set on the same level as the quay paving. It forms a 22-meter diameter circle. Beneath the conducting glass panels are photovoltaic solar modules providing symbolic communication with nature for the purpose of communicating – by sound in case of the Sea Organ, and by light in this case. It becomes a light show at night.

The rocky, hilly, green countryside.

A random village along the route up Croatian’s coast.

The Venetians built the Land Gate – then the main entrance into Zadar – on the little Foša harbor in 1543.

Medieval tower in Zadar

St. Mary’s Church and Benedictine monastery, built in the 11th century in the Romanesque-style, now is the Museum of Church Art run by Benedictine nuns. It contains relics and works from various centuries, including the 14th, 15th and 16th.

 

Sister sells her wares in the church museum.

 

Opatija’s botanical garden by the sea.

Opatija

Adriatic view from Opatija’s waterfront 7-mile promeade.

The Maiden with the Seagull welcomes all ships to Opatija.

Mošćenice offers charming vignettes. It is a hilltop village near Opatija dating back to the 6th century.

Pansies by the city gate of the ancient village of Mošćenice.

Zadar bridal party . . . and babies make six

 

Hvar to Split!

A sliver of Bosnia (and) Herzegovina intrudes into Croatia’s Adriatic coastline, forcing us to cross into Bosnia as our bus made its way up the Dalmatian coast from Dubrovnik to Split. At the border, the Bosnian guard poked his head into our motor coach and asked the guide who was on board. “Americans,” she responded, and he said, “Go on through.” We had our passports at the ready, just in case, but they were not needed. At Split, four hours north of Dubrovnik, we boarded a ferry for the two-hour sail to the island of Hvar, one of the world’s 10 most beautiful islands, according to Conde Naste. From Hvar’s main harbor it was a 20-minute ride to our hotel in the old town where nuns still tat lace, restaurants serve a bounty just pulled from the sea, olive oil is local and the wine is too. After two nights in Hvar, we returned to Split and toured the ruins of Diocletian’s Palace, built between the late 3rd and the early 4th centuries AD. The Roman Emperor Diocletian spent his declining years in this enormous palace, which represents the most valuable example of Roman architecture on the eastern coast of the Adriatic. It is the only palace of its kind still inhabited. Many Split residents live in apartments built within the palace walls, although not in the opulent style of Diocletian.

Aboard the ferry leaving Split for the island of Hvar two hours south

The medieval town of Hvar, from our hotel

Hvar rooftops

Because the Adriatic coastline is steep and rocky, steps, steps and more steps is the mode of transport in these charming old towns.

Diocletian’s Palace ruins. The palace, a city, really, was built between the late 3rd and the early 4th centuries A.D.

 

A little drizzle in Split brings out the tourists’ colorful rain gear and brightens the day.

 

Dubrovnik!

If there is a more gorgeous place on earth than Dubrovnik, on Croatia’s rugged Adriatic coast, I don’t know what it is. When I was here in 1974, I remember shooting pictures in this magnificent medieval city was like shooting fish in a barrel. You simply cannot miss. I was glad to see in this visit that nothing has changed (in spite of the Croatian War of Independence in the early 1990s when it received significant shelling damage—thank heavens the damage has been repaired). In 1979, Dubrovnik joined the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. It’s among the 10 best medieval walled cities in the world. The Old Town is all about the walls, which protected the city from invaders. The walls run an uninterrupted course of 6,360 feet in length, encircling most of the old city, and reach a maximum height of about 82 feet. The bulk of the existing walls and fortifications were constructed during the 14th and 15th centuries, but were continually extended and strengthened up until the 17th century. Here I post more photos than usual, because I cannot help myself!

We think this guard’s turret is a good place for this tourist.

The top of the funicular cable was a great place to look down on the walled city and the beautiful Adriatic Sea. About 45,000 people live in Dubrovnik, with about 10 percent living within the old city walls.

An ice cream break is called for after climbing up and down on the old city’s walls.

This is the main street of the old city, as seen from the top of the wall.

The narrow side alley ways give the old city its charm.