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Naples, Pompeii and Capri…

Published

zim

on May 2, 2005

in Travel

. 12 Comments

We used the frenetic town of Naples as our base camp for a quick taste of the more southern side of Italy. This place moves fast, everyone is moving and you can’t help but get caught up in the energy of the town. And the things that move quickest are the scooters of which there are at least two for every adult citizen.

Our first morning we got the Circumvesuviana train for Pompeii. Pompeii as you probably know was destroyed when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, but this was actually it’s second bit of bad luck, it had been partially destroyed by an earthquake 16 years earlier and the citizens were just finishing rebuilding when the Vesuvius dumped ash on them. The site was discovered in 1594 but excavation didn’t start until 1748 and continues today. I like to think that the first place to be dug out was this ancient tavern..

Of course they’ve uncovered lots of other buildings including this bakery…

.. a few temples,

and this remarkably intact theatre…

Vesuvius looms over the town and considering that until it erupted in 1944 it had a huge smoke plume you’ve got to question the sanity of the people who founded the town.

George however was not afraid…

After a few hours in Pompeii we caught a bus half way up Vesuvius. There used to be a chairlift and they began construction of a funicular however the bright lights at Greenpeace protested it so now instead of an electric funicular they have dozens of diesel tour buses go up the mountain every day and then people hike the last 1.5 km up the volcano. We didn’t have a lot of time to get to the top, take in the view and get down so it was a good thing that we’ve been using the Cathedral Stairmaster lately.

While there may not be a big plume of smoke anymore the volcano is definitely not extinct.

The next day we set off for Capri; the government run ferries didn’t look much better than these so we took a hydrofoil which got us there in about 45 minutes.

The view of Naples from the boat was great…

But didn’t hold a candle to the view approaching Capri from the sea…

The town was gorgeous on land as well.

After a quick drink we headed for the beach where I got right to it.

Ali was a little more tentative…

but soon was right at home (except of course for shouting ‘Don’t take my picture’).

Mid-afternoon we left the beach and headed up the mountain to see the other side of the island.

The views were great but I’m sure nothing compared to the view this fellow had off his port side.

After a great day we headed back for Naples. We spent our last day in Naples wandering around the shops and just soaking it in before getting a train to Rome and our plane to Athens. We were both sad to leave Italy as we enjoyed every minute of it. We hope to be back soon to explore further…

Cheers,

Mark & Ali

P.S. Sara, I’m glad the girls enjoyed the lobster and that the seasons off to a good start. Take pity on us poor landlocked ‘upper’ Canadians and save a few; pretty please?

Rome, Caput Mundi

Published

zim

on May 1, 2005

in Travel

. 1 Comment

Sorry it’s been so long since the last update; we were really busy in Rome and our hotel in Naples only had dial-up so I’ve been procrastinating, we’re now in Athens where they have high speed so hopefully I’ll get caught up again before we leave… Now brace yourselves, ’cause this is going to be a long one.

Over four days starting Sunday the 25th we covered a lot of ground in Rome. And we had to move quick to even get a taste of this great city, founded on my birthday (April 21) in 753 B.C. by Romulus (the craftier of the two kids under the wolf in our pictures from Siena).

Our first full day in Rome was spent mainly with the relics of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire. First stop the Colosseum. The Colosseum was started by Emperor Vespasian in AD 72 on the grounds of his predecessor Nero’s private lake which Vespasian had filled in as perhaps just a touch too ostentatious. Vespasian didn’t make it for the opening in AD 80, his son Titus did the honours which lasted for 100 days and nights and consumed 5,000 animals and around 6,000 gladiators in front of about 50,000 screaming fans. The building is in remarkable shape considering it’s age and the fact that it was used as a quarry for marble and travertine to be used in other buildings. And it’s a good thing to as Bede said “while the Colosseum stands, Rome shall stand, but when the Colosseum falls, Rome shall fall - and when Rome falls, the world will end”. George was right at home though he cheered for the lions rather than the gladiators.

Our next stop was the Roman Forum. The Forum was the heart of Rome; religious centre, parliament, and stock exchange all rolled into one… I haven’t had a chance to sort these into which buildings are which but I think you’ll enjoy them anyway…

From the forum we walked up the Palatine Hill, home of Rome’s aristocrats during the Republic and Empire.

Next stop was the famous Trevi Fountain where legend has it you must throw a coin over your shoulder into the fountain if you want to return to Rome. Sounds like a legend invented specially for the tourists but we did it anyway…

We devoted Tuesday to the Vatican.

On our way there we were serenaded by these guys on the subway.

We started with St. Peter’s Square. The line up here looked horrific but only took about 20 minutes or so. Note to other visitors to the Vatican: once you’re through security the line splits into two queues, one for St. Peter’s Basilica and one to climb to the Cupola of the Basilica. We took the Basilica line and once we’d seen the Basilica we had to line up all over again to view the Cupola. If you do it the other way around (start with the Cupola) the stairs back down let you out in the Basilica without lining up again.

We’ve seen a lot of churches in our travels so far but in terms of splendour and gilt this one is head and shoulders above the rest.

This statue of St. Peter is worn down from having his feet kissed and rubbed by pilgrims over the last few centuries.

This sculpture by our old friend Michelangelo is the only signed piece of art in St. Peters. He didn’t sign it before delivery but snuck in after it had been installed to add his name as various other sculptors were claiming it as their own.

After that we climbed to the top of the basilica for the great views, inside and out.

Of course no visit to the Vatican would be complete without seeing our buddy Mike’s masterwork the frescos and roof of the Sistine Chapel. You aren’t supposed to take photos in here so I’ve risked fire and brimstone to bring you these…

The rest of the Pope’s art collection isn’t too shabby either…

Wednesday we started the day hanging out on the Spanish Steps before spending the day wandering around the city just soaking it in. We saw the original Jesuit Church, the Victor Emmanuel II Monument, the Piazza del Popola, The Pantheon and the area known as Testevere. The amazing thing is the sheer number of monuments and ruins that you stumble across just walking around the city, there’s a pleasant surprise around every second corner…

Thursday we took the day off to just eat gelati in honour of Kohl’s birthday.
Kohl, gelati is Italian ice cream and they make it a lot better than we do and in an amazing number of flavours, last night I had tangerine and green apple. Well not quite the whole day off, while we did of course have gelati (in fact I don’t think we’ve missed a day since our second day in Venice), we also visited the San Callisto catacombs. No pictures inside the catacombs but a few from the walk there along the ancient Via Appia Antica. The catacombs are where early Christians held their religious ceremonies and buried their dead before Christianity was legally tolerated and then adopted by the Roman Empire. In San Callisto alone (it’s the largest of a half dozen catacombs) they’ve found more than 500,000 bodies, including a dozen saints and early popes. Our fantastic guide was a retired American priest.

Late in the day Thursday we hopped the train for Naples, er Neaoplis er Napoli.

As I mentioned above we’re in Athens now and I owe you all updates on Naples, Pompeii and Capri but they’ll have to wait as we’ve lost an hour coming here and it’s getting late.

Cheers,

Mark & Ali

P.S. Mike we got your recommendation on the Giolotti’s gelateria after we’d left Rome, but as you can see above we’ve been indulging in it frequently. So far we’d say Venice would win the gelati crown if we were the judges…

Siena and Pisa

Published

zim

on April 26, 2005

in Travel

. 4 Comments

This one is going to have to be brief as I’m in the lobby of our hotel in Rome (the only place where the WiFi seems to reach, though otherwise the hotel is good) and I’ve only got 20 minutes worth of juice left in the laptop.

When we last updated you we were in Florence. We took two day trips from there before heading to Rome where we’ve been for the last two days. Rome is fantastic and they’re right when they say a lifetime is not enough to see all the sights but that’s another update.

Our first trip was to the small town (~50,000) of Siena. Siena was Florence’s arch rival in the the 12th and 13th century but Siena didn’t have the quite the political connections of the Medici who ruled Florence so in the end the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V handed Siena over to Cosimo Medici as a gift in 1555. Siena today is a ‘company’ town with the bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena (founded in 1472) being the main employer besides tourism.

We spent the early part of our day in Siena’s main square. The building at the lower end of the square is the Palazzo Comunale, the tower is the Torre del Mangia. The people you see waving the flags are supporters of the Siena football team who had a match that evening and hold a rally in the square before each game. Kind of an Italian tailgate, though they might want to import a Browns fan or two to show them how to take things to the next level. Anyone know if Siena won last week?

After the square we went wandering outside the town and got pleasantly lost in the Tuscan countryside.

We managed to find our way back in time for a late lunch and then off to you guessed it the cathedral. This one was begun in 1196 with the first phase completed in 1215. The mosaics decorating it are from the 19th century however. The other thing you’ll notice is the she-wolf with Romulus and Remus usually associated with Rome. Legend has it that Siena was founded by one of Remus’ sons so the wolf is everywhere in Siena as well.

All in all a great day, with great weather in a wonderful quaint little town. Our only regret was that we missed their famous horse race around the square, but we’ll be back for it soon. One last Siena shot that I think in a strange way captures the place.

The following day we hoped the train for Pisa. Had a great train ride, we sat across from two American’s and a Japanese lady who were all studying painting in Florence and they gave us a few good tips for Napoli and also helped us with a few additional phrases in Italian.

Of course in Pisa the thing to see is the leaning tower or Torre Pendente. Like I expect most people I had always thought (the few times I ever thought about it) that the tower must have once been straight and started to lean over time as the foundation shifted. Wrong. The tower started leaning almost immediately while it was being built, by the time it had reached it’s third tier in fact. The architect (Bonanno Pisano) and his various sucessors tried to stop the lean without success. The tower today does however lean less than it used to. In 1998 cables were wrapped around it and soil from the north (high) side was removed, as a result the tower lost 40cm of it’s lean, down to 4.1 meters off centre at the top.

Of course Pisa, like every town in Italy (and a few in France) has a Piazza Girabaldi. And of course a problem with grafitti, I’m not a fan of grafitti at the best of times but the low quality of European grafitti combined with the quality of the art and architecture they deface really does grate. Either they need to import a few grafitti artists from New York or South Central or they need better cops.

That’s it for now, update you all again soon. Thanks for your good wishes and comments and a Happy (Belated) Birthday to Cousin Daan.

Cheers,

Mark & Ali

P.S. Of course George pulled a ‘Kong’ on the leaning tower. He says it was one of the nicest views he’s seen so far and plans to help out the next time they need the tower straightened.

Florence, er Firenze…

Published

zim

on April 22, 2005

in Travel

. 6 Comments

Spent a magical day in Florence. Started the day with a visit to the Cathedral of Florence known as the Duomo. It’s was designed by Arnolofo di Cambio who also carved some of the statues there at the end of the 13th century. The facade wasn’t complete until the late 19th century, so the project was only about 600 years or so behind schedule. The church wasn’t even consecrated until 1436, 140 years after work on it started. Beneath it we visited the archeological dig that uncovered the remains of an earlier church, dedicated to Santa Reperata built around 400 AD and torn down in 1375. Needless to say the Duomo has been witness to and site of a lot of history. Notably the temporary reconciliation of the Catholic and Orthodox churches under the Council of Florence in 1439.

From there we were off to the Galleria dell’Accademia where Michelangelo’s David is housed. You aren’t allowed to take pictures in the museum so here’s my picture of the post card I bought and also of the replica of David from the Palazzo della Signoria down the street.

David was commissioned in 1501 when Michelangelo was 26. It was chiselled from a leftover block of marble which had previously been worked on by various other artists. It’s very impressive though the scale seems off when you see it at eye level. The head and upper body are too small. Apparently this was Mike’s intention as he thought the statue would be mounted on a pedastal and therefore the upper body should appear farther away. Regardless it’s impressive in it’s detail, the finger nails, the veins on the neck, etc.

From the Academy it was off to the Ponte Vecchio, literally ‘ye olde bridge’ across the Arno. Before getting to the bridge I knew that it was the only one that the German’s hadn’t destroyed during their retreat in WW II, that it had been built in 1345 to replace an older Roman bridge destroyed in a flood and that it used to be home to butchers and tanners before the Medici kicked them out in favour of goldsmiths who were less odiferous and paid higher rent. What I didn’t know was that the focus of the bridge is now locks. Literally hundreds of locks put there by lovers who then toss the keys into the Arno to seal their love. Well, when in Rome, er Florence, do as the Romans, er Florentines. Please keep your ‘aww, shucks’ comments to yourselves.

The views from the bridge are great despite the tacky tourist shops and the guy trying to sell me one of his 30 genuine Louis Vuitton bags.

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering from patio to patio until we came across a little art market. We loved the work of this fellow Vitaliano Iannettone and bought a great piece showing the Tuscan country side. More importantly he gave Ali a lesson.

All in all a great day…

Cheers,

Mark & Ali

P.S. We also visited a small museum dedicated to the machines of Leonardo Da Vinci. George loved it!

P.P.S. Those of you in Toronto should go see our friend Joann in Problem Child & Criminal Genius at the Alumnae Theatre. More info here. I promise she’ll be great.
.

Venice, ah…Venezia

Published

zim

on April 22, 2005

in Travel

. 7 Comments

Greetings form Venice or as the locals say Venezia. Which brings up one of the weirdest things we’ve encountered lately, that places have different names in different languages. As I right this I think I’m in Florence but an Italian would tell you I’m in Firenze. We had breakfast this morning with a french couple who were telling us of their day in Pise by which they meant Piza. Anyway when I get back I’m planning to discuss this with Kofi and get some kind of a international commitee together so that we can all agree on where I am at any given moment. If the people who live there want to call a place Qesiqh then we should all call it Qesiqh. End of rant.

Venezia was lovely once we found our way to our hotel. The streets are not numbered like anywhere else I’ve been in the world, instead each building has a unique number within the entire city. Our hotel was 4680, in the Sestiere San Marco which means it’s near San Marco Square but doesn’t help much after that. As an added bonus there are two sister hotels, The Bonvecchiati Hotel and the Palace Bonvecchiati both in the same area but on different streets. Anyway let’s just say it was an adventure schlepping two big suitcases up and down the narrow streets and stairways and I’d encourage future visitors to spring for the high priced (but direct) water taxi route. Once we got there the hotel was excellent. And my muscle memory of the adventure gave me a great deal of empathy for fellow suitcase luggers who we saw over the next few days. We helped three Canadian ladies find their hotel and assured them that it was a shared right of passage. Did I mention that it was raining?

We spent the first evening and the morning of the next day wondering the little streets and just soaking up the beauty of the place. Around every little bend was another quaint scene, whether a gondolier, flower boxes along the windows or the tilted facade of a 15th century mansion.

That first morning we also stopped for the most expensive coffee we’ve ever had. Just to sit in one of the Cafe’s in San Marco Square you’re in for 4.5 Euros a piece to pay for the band, add in 8 Euros per cappucino, 4 Euros per croissant and things add up quickly. Needless to say the next day we had breakfast at our hotel.

Of course if you’re in San Marco Square you have to feed the pigeons. I’m not the bird lover my dad is but this was pretty neat. Tried to get Ali to have a go but she was too scared that one of the pigeons might ‘let go’.

We also took the required gondola ride, which was really a special experience. From the gondola everything looks older and prettier some how. Our gondolier was great, pointing out the sights in heavily accented english. We both got a kick out of it when his wife called him on his cell phone and afterwards we noticed that every second gondolier we saw was on the phone.

The other highlight of our visit was yesterday, which was sunny and clear by the way, when we toured St. Mark’s Basilica. This is the most unique church we’ve seen so far in Europe. It’s outside is half ‘European’ half Byzantine and inside all of the walls and the ceiling are covered with mosaics showing the life of Christ and St. Mark. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside however we did get a few pictures of the outside mosaics which should give you a feel for it. The view over St. Mark’s Square from the basilica is also great.

After St. Mark’s we sat on a patio along one of the canals and soaked up the sun and the suds (it was my birthday after all) before hopping on a water bus and heading to the train station. Two and half hours later we were in Florence. We went out for a birthday dinner the highlight of which was the ‘Degustation for 2′ which is a fabulous new word we discovered, that basically means one of each desert. Thanks for all your birthday wishes here on the site and via e-mail; couldn’t really think of anything to wish for as we’re having the trip of a lifetime.

Cheers,

Mark & Ali

P.S. When George learned what they charge for a gondola ride he thought he’d set up shop in Venice. He didn’t do very well fiscally as his gondola was a little tiny and his Italian isn’t great but i think he had a good time anyway.

Zim’s

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