Sixteen
days. Over 5000 pictures. Seven trains. One ferry ride on the Mediterranean. Lots and lots and I mean lots of
walking. Roman ruins that were far more
amazing than I had anticipated. Artwork
that even mesmerized the kids. The most picturesque,
can this place be real, walled town sitting high on a hill in Tuscany. A few treacherous but breathtaking
climbs along the cliffs high over the Mediterranean. Oh, and food.
Let’s not forget the food.
Ravioli, pesto, oranges (oh my goodness the oranges), bread and pastries,
succulent chicken with figs and how can you make potatoes taste that good, prosciutto
and cheese, and gelato, gelato, and more gelato (we attempted to get a
different kind every time we got some).
And vino – yes we enjoyed some wonderful Italian wine at the end of most
days, and sometimes at noon, and sometimes just because.
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| View from the guest house we stayed at in Cinque Terre. |
Italy was
at the top of our list of places to visit while living abroad. There was no doubt we would be heading there
and the two weeks the girls had off between terms in April was the perfect
time to go. The springtime weather would
be nice (hopefully), the crowds wouldn’t be too bad (or so we thought), and
with two full weeks to travel, we could plan a wonderful tour that would allow
us to see most of the sights at the top of our list without feeling like we
were running a race across the country.
We wanted to enjoy as much Italian cuisine as we could (who doesn’t),
visit some of the many architectural and artistic marvels that call Italy home,
walk in the countryside amongst olive trees and grape vines, dip our feet in
the Mediterranean, and in general, just experience the great country that is
Italy and its people. So that’s just
what we did and it did not disappoint.
I’ve always wanted to visit Italy and now, having been there, I can
honestly say it was even better and more beautiful than I expected.
Don’t worry
– I won’t be sharing all 5000+ photos, but a smaller selection as I relive this
amazing trip for both your reading and viewing pleasure as well as for us to
keep and remind us of this wonderful journey.
We have tales to share and since we were in Italy for two weeks, it’s
all too much to try and put into one or two or even three blog posts, so I’m
going to do as the Italians do and go slowly.
This may take a few weeks and several blog posts, so keep coming
back. There’s lots to share.
Our trip
actually started in London at Kew Gardens.
Yes, you’ve seen pictures from Kew on here before but we had a 6:30 am
flight to Rome to catch at London’s Heathrow airport so we headed down to the
city the day before to spend the night at a hotel near Heathrow, so why not
spend some time at Kew Gardens and see the changes spring has brought since our
trip here a month ago during winter.
The girls had fun running around the obstacle course created entirely from trees that had blown down during some bad storms in 2013 and 2014. Ok, Eric and I might have had some fun on these too.
We climbed up to the treetop walkway and enjoyed views of the entire Garden.
This visit to Kew Gardens was spent entirely outside because it was warmer than our last visit back in February.
Sunday
morning. Or was it still night? The bedside clock explains everything. Normally, I would be upset by the fact that Eric booked us on a 6:45 AM flight, but hey, I'm heading to Italy. Can't be upset about that regardless of the insanely early hour.
Heathrow is quiet at 4:30 in the morning. The stores aren't even open yet. Hopefully one opens before we need to board the plane because for Leah, a plane ride means a piece of gum (to help with the ear popping) and we need to get a pack.
The flight to Rome is quite scenic. We flew over the English Channel, then over the snow-covered Alps. Which Alps, French, Swiss, we aren’t sure. But they
were breathtaking from the sky. And later, we caught our first glimpse of the beautiful blue Mediterranean Sea.
We arrived at
the Rome airport by 10:00 am. A driver
met us as we exited, we threw our bags in her car and off we went heading for
the city. We had a 30-minute drive so we
just sat back and enjoyed our first glimpses of Italy. As we pulled away from the airport I spotted
an orange tree, its branches heavy with bright, round fruit.
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| This isn't the actual orange tree I saw leaving the airport (we whizzed by that one much to fast to get a photo), but one of many we would see during our visit to Italy. |
One of my most favorite things in the world
is seeing citrus fruit still on the tree.
Simply beautiful! I think I'm going like
it here.
Our hotel
was located in the heart of Rome so as we drove into the city, we got a bit of
a tour of what Rome has to offer and, well, I don’t think there is any
better way to describe it than – Wow!
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| The National Monument to Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of a unified Italy, completed in the early 1900s, and one of the first structures we drove by on our way into Rome that made our jaws drop. The statue in front and chariots on top would dwarf a person standing next to them they are so large. As this Monument wasn't far from our hotel, it would be the chariots sitting high on top that would guide us back in the right direction each day. |
The somewhat arid Mediterranean landscape sprinkled with the
architectural ruins of the great Roman empire mixed with more modern (and by
modern in Rome I mean 100+ years old or so because in the grand scheme of things,
that is modern in an ancient city like this) buildings adorned with statues the
size and likes of which I have never seen before took my breath away. Eric and I looked like two little kids who
just entered a candy store with our eyes bulging out of our heads as we
took it all in. I could not wait to
start exploring this majestic city.
It didn’t
take long for us to discovered the warmth and depth of Italian
hospitality. Never have we received such
a welcome at a hotel. The couple that
owns the small hotel we stayed at welcomed us with open arms and supplied us with
all the information we would need for our three day visit: what to see, where
to eat, how to navigate the public transportation system, they assured us of
the safety of Rome but warned us to watch out for pick pockets, and even gave
the girls a little Koala that clings to their bags (ok, the Koala said “Australia”
on it, but the gesture was nice). In fact, the gentleman even paid our driver
for us when we discovered there had been some miscommunication about the bill
already being paid (we thought it had been, but apparently not) and we didn’t
have any cash in Euros yet. How nice was
that?
Now, you
may be wondering why we didn’t discover the friendliness of the Italians with our driver from the
airport. Well, it’s because she spoke
very little English, which became quite apparent as soon as we jumped into her
car and Eric asked her “How long is the drive into Rome?” She glanced over at him in the passenger
seat, smiled, and then nodded her head yes.
There wouldn’t be much
conversation during the car ride.
By the time
we finally made it to our room (which used to be an abbey and still has the remnants
of the frescoes painted on the ceiling), we felt very well equipped with the
knowledge we needed to get exploring this fine city. So off we went.
We spent
most of the afternoon just wandering the streets.
We climbed the Spanish Steps, which were
covered in other tourists just like ourselves,
and stopped
to enjoy our first gelato in Italy, partly to console my disappointment when we
arrived at Trevi Fountain which I was very excited to see only to find it empty
of water and buried under scaffolding as some restoration and maintenance work
is being done to it. Oh well, the gelato
was delicious,
and we would see many more beautiful fountains in Rome, like this one.
We laughed at the teeny, tiny cars that look like wind up toys but after wandering the narrow, people filled streets for awhile made oh so much sense in this city.
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| This girl cannot keep her hands out of a fountain. Can you see the water droplets glistening on her arm? |
We wandered
from Piazza to Piazza because there are a lot of them in Rome and each one has
it’s own flavor. We enjoyed the
fountains, and street performers.
This guy’s
act was simple but brilliant. Bubbles,
especially lots of big ones, always attract a crowd. In another Piazza, another performer brought
tears to our eyes we were laughing so hard as he imitated unsuspecting tourists
who were walking by on the street behind him.
Towards the
end of the afternoon, we wound our way through the narrow streets searching for
the great Roman-built Pantheon. Why did
we have to search for it? Because this
gigantic building that houses one of the largest unreinforced concrete domes in
the world is easy to miss.
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| The front of the Pantheon. |
It is buried deep in the city, hidden amongst narrow streets lined with
shops, cafes, offices and apartments. If you
were merely one block over and didn’t realize the Pantheon was so close, you
could easily miss it.
The outside
of the Pantheon, while massive in size and very impressive, has been quite
beaten up by the elements and time. But
the inside – now that is another story.
Once inside you see the dome – the mind bogglingly huge dome, the size
of which just can’t be relayed through a photo.
Truly a marvel of Roman architecture.
How did the Romans build this thing 2000 years ago? Despite its incredibly vast size, it isn’t
known why the building was originally built, but most likely as a temple to the
gods. In 609 AD, it was given to the
Pope and converted into a Christian church.
It contains the tombs of many notable Italians, including two kings and
a queen, the painter Raphael Sanzio da Urbino, as well as other artists, a
composure and famous architect.
Just
outside the entrance of the Pantheon, a group of people had gathered, some old,
some young and some in between. They were
standing with arms linked, waving flags and holding signs, and singing in a
language I didn’t recognize but I knew was not Italian. They weren’t street performers, yet they were
here to get peoples' attention. We
stopped to watch and it didn’t take long to puzzle out what the signs they held
were saying. They were singing for peace
in the Ukraine. We were in Italy. The Ukraine is not all that far from
here. This group wanted to get some
attention. Well, they got my
attention. As we were roaming the
streets of this beautiful city on vacation in Italy enjoying gelato and all the
splendid sights, this gathering was a humbling reminder that ordinary everyday
life is going on for most people, and often not in a good way. After explaining to Ellie and Leah what was
going on, they both stood and watched the demonstration with the most serious
looks on their faces I would see during the entire trip. What an educational experience. And may there be peace in the Ukraine.
From the
Pantheon, we decided to head back to our hotel to eat and rest before venturing
out again to see some more of Rome. We
stopped at a little grocery store, with aisles so narrow in places you couldn’t
even pass another person. But the
food! This was just a standard little
grocery in Italy but by American standards, it seems like a gourmet shop with
the selection of fresh breads, meats, cheeses, pastas, oranges and lemons grown
right here in Italy (I have never seen such large, beautiful lemons), and wine. It wasn’t hard to gather some delicious fare
to take back to our hotel and enjoy on our little terrace.
Our dinner was simple, but fresh and
delicious. Some cheese and salami, fresh
bread, olives, hazelnuts, and the juiciest oranges. And for dessert (we forgot to take a picture),
some shortbread cookies filled with jam that we would see all over Italy in the
days to come and were my favorites.
We had been
in Rome for almost a full day but we had not yet seen the Coliseum. Well, actually I had caught a very brief
glimpse of it down a long narrow street as the driver from the airport was
delivering us to our hotel. We were all
itching to see it so after our first Italian dinner, we put our shoes back on
and headed out the door.
Walking up
to the Coliseum for the first time at night is nothing short of amazing.
In some respects, approaching this enormous
structure feels very much like approaching a modern day outdoor NFL stadium,
but the architecture – my, oh my!
And at
night, the massive stone arches that encircle the entire stadium were lit up
from the inside giving it a majestic, romantic glow against the deep blue of
the evening sky.
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