Pompeii

We left Rome on Thursday 4 October, making our way to Amalfi via Pompeii.

We had a mid morning stop at Monte Cassino and a visit to the war memorial there. A lot of Australians and New Zealanders were buried there. The countryside was amazing, lots of rolling hills, little towns, churches and some castles perched on the mountain tops. Then, Vesuvius started to appear...wow!

We arrived at Pompeii just before midday, and had some time to grab a quick lunch before our tour. We had some pizza, the further north you go, the better the pizza is, honestly the pizza is amazing...the lightest base, fabulous tomato sauce, better cheese...in fact the less toppings the better.

So, lunch devoured off we set with our guide. Again, I was pretty excited. When we were planning Italy, Pompeii was on top of the list.

Walking up to the entrance, Pompeii is perched highest, you had no idea what to expect, everything is hidden by it's walls. You could also see how close they were to the bottom of Vesuvius. They thought it was a mountain, they probably didn't even know what a volcano was. Poor buggers, they never had a hope.

We entered at the site's lowest point, at the outside area of their arena. This area was completely covered when found, looking to the very top was the height of the ash. Amazing!! From there we walked up into the arena, which was pretty close to perfect with amazing acoustics. It was hot sitting there in the full sun.

We walked up more stairs to the edge of the 'town', walked through some shops, down some streets and to the red light district! The streets and building ruins are quite well preserved, everything makes sense, you can see how things would have looked and I realized it was much larger than I had anticipated.

The red light district was loads of fun, the main brothel had heaps of frescoes on the walls depicting various 'menus' the men could choose from. A lot of them were marked on the outside with obvious phallic symbols...everyone was snapping away on their cameras, what fun!

From there we continued up the hill, main streets etc, we saw relics of a pizza oven, their pipe systems, wells for water, plumbing for toilets and so forth, just remarkable.

Then we moved to the town square area, temples, marble, smaller arenas (Pink Floyd shot a live concert/film here early in their career at the smaller round amphitheater), market areas, too much in one spot, it was very overwhelming. To the side of the main temple were cages filled with relics, vases, urns, jewellery cases, furniture, tools etc. Most of the real treasure has been moved to the Pompeii Museum in Naples.

Within this area there were casts of bodies. These were taken from actual bodies found. I was incredibly moved by this. You could see and feel the sheer terror of the people by the poses, most of them in the fetal position, one lady obviously pregnant. It was upsetting to see and think about. Near the market area were cave like rooms with bits and pieces inside, including a skeleton. I couldn't look at that, it was too much.






We walked around for a bit and ended up near the exit area, with amazing views looking down to the new town of Pompeii and towards Naples and the Amalfi coast...our next destination

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Tivoli Gardens and A Roman Holiday

For our last day in Rome, we headed out to Tivoli to the famous gardens of Villa d'Este. I've known about this for a long time and again held high hopes...it was beyond my expectations. 450 fountains and acres and levels of hedges, trees, statues and monuments.

Owned by The Borgias family and commissioned by Ippolito, son of Lucrezia Borgia and Alfonso d'Este. He was named Archbishop of Milan at 10, Cardinal at 30, and Governor of Tivoli in 1550 when he began working on the gardens. When he died in 1572, the Villa was bequeathed to further Cardinals of the d'Este family, who continued to work on and add to the gardens. Bernini, the famous sculptor/builder assisted with parts and in 1918 then Villa was passed to the Habsburgs, where it was neglected. The Italian state took over and restored it only for it to be partially bombed during WWII. Repairs were made and it is in much the same state today.

The drive up into the mountains of Tivoli was picturesque. After a short walk through the town, we arrived at the Villa. First we toured the house, a beautiful old monastery with fresco painted rooms, some with glass sections in the floor to show the dug up sites underneath. After touring the house we came out on the back terrace. It was a jaw dropping scene, great views and the garden seemed to go on forever.

We followed some stairs and paths down to the first large fountain, we had already seen quite a few smallish regular fountains. This one was called The Fountain of the Ovato or The Fountain of Tivoli. It was beautiful. So large and too much detail to take in especially in a photograph. We kept meandering down and came to the masterpiece of the garden, The Fountain of the Organ. A huge stone and statue monument with small fountains and a working Organ in the middle. At 10.30 the monument opened and the organ started to play. It was a tinny sound but remarkable nonetheless, given the instrument was hundreds of years old.

Next tier down held the largest fountain, The Fountain of Neptune, in terms of how high the water came out with 3 large jets flying out incredibly high. In front of this was 3 large ponds with carp in them, surrounded by lime, lemon and olive trees, some carrying fruit. We wandered around this area with its straight paths shaped by elegant hedges, and windy paths surrounded by trees and bushes. I cannot imagine how amazing it would all look in Spring when the flowers were blooming. Still amazing on this day without that.

At the edge of this area were views out over the mountains and to Rome. We then started our way back up, past the row of 100 fountains...100 smallish fountains along a path, all precise in their placement and spurts!

The last major fountain was The Fountain of Romulus and Remus. There were more of course, I would need to write a book to describe them all. I cannot really describe the beauty and serenity of The Villa, add to that the views, it's age and history and you will understand what a special morning we had. We finished off with morning tea on the back terrace, then back through the little town of Tivoli to catch the bus back to Rome.

After a short break at the hotel we did the touristy thing and used the hop on/hop off bus pass we were given. We sat on top of the double decker bus for about 40mins before getting off at Circus Maximus. This is where they did the chariot races. But our agenda this afternoon was pure Hollywood. We were searching for la Bocca della Verita, or The Mouth Of Truth.

This was famously featured in Roman Holiday starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. It is situated outside a small church and is a round statue or relief of a face, there are holes where the eyes and mouth are, you put your hand in the mouth and rumor has it if you are a liar it will eat your hand. So we lined up and paid our 50 cents to get our picture taken with of our hand in it's mouth. Thrilled wouldn't begin to explain this experience. In the film, Peck's character takes Audrey to visit it. Her character refuses to put her hand in it - she is a Princess in hiding - so he does and when he pulls his hand out, he yells and sticks his hand up his jumper. Audrey screams and freaks out thinking he has lost his hand...for real as he ad libbed without telling her, so her reaction is priceless...great film!

We then walked to the next hop on hop off stop and hopped back on the bus, Mum and Dad had been on it since we left them an hour or so earlier. After a rest, we headed out for our final night in Rome. We looked around for a while, waiters try and coax you into their establishment. When we came back to one place to eat, the waiter was so excited he kissed us all when we left. Was a great choice, not only fantastic service but great, cheap food. I had steak, salad and veges, followed by a Chocolate Truffle gelato dessert.

I loved Rome, I always like big cities, so much to see, history, architecture, art, people, excitement...Rome was just that. I would like to come back and spend a week or so really exploring, and getting to see the galleries and museums here that we just didn't have time to do.

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The Vatican, St Peters and The Colosseum

Today was a little overcast, but warm. We arrived at The Vatican with great
anticipation. Our guide for the day, was an older chic Italian lady, very knowledgeable and funny. The entry was overwhelming, our first taste of huge crowds.  Once inside it got a little better. We moved through the halls of The Vatican taking in the most amazing pieces of art. So many statues, ornate ceilings, paintings, frescoes and so on...they just kept coming. Then there was the hall of ancient maps...painted with colors that you hardly seem to see anymore. Tapestries with amazing motifs...I could have spent hours here.

Art from The Vatican

Then with more than great anticipation, we entered the room of The Sistine Chapel. It was smaller than I expected. But the colors and the detail were breathtaking. So many panels, so much to look at and take in. It was amazing, yet I was a little disappointed...I think when you know a piece as well as this, sometimes the expectations are higher than the reality... I think I enjoyed the art in the halls better, but having said that, The Sistine Chapel is still an amazing piece.

From there we headed into St Peters. What a remarkable building, inside more pieces of perfection than the eye can take in. We saw the tomb of John Paul, statues including Michelangelo's Pieta, mosaics, paintings, alters...oh my! And then there was the Dome...every building should have a dome!!

 

 

 

 

Scenes from St Peters and then outside The Vatican

From there a break, some food and a little shopping in The Vatican gift store.

We then headed to The Colosseum, we had seen glimpses of it but to see it properly is just something else. Entering through the huge columns and arches you get a feeling of excitement and anticipation. We got lots of information on how it was used, built etc, but I just liked to find quiet areas to sit, admire and contemplate. This was difficult as there were many groups coming in but you can find little areas here and there. I broke away from the group to do this and spent some time taking photos. A storm was coming through and the dark clouds provided a stunning backdrop to this magnificent piece of history.

We arrived back at the hotel in the late afternoon and had a rest before heading out for dinner. We chose an outdoor place as it was a cooler evening. Veal Scaloppine Italian style and some veges. Also our first glimpse and taste of garlic bread. Hoping my Italian friends can help me, we have not really seen it anywhere, so obviously an Aussie invention ? The garlic bread we had was more garlic infused olive oil...delicious!