Megz and Peter in Europe 2004

Italy, Part I

We arrived in Italy on Thursday 8th April, three weeks after we left home, and two weeks since we arrived in Europe.

After a run of fine weather across France and Spain, once we got to Italy our luck ran out, down came the rain and out came the English brolly. It rained every day we were in Italy, sometimes only overnight / in the evening, often during the day but never really heavily. Just enough that we still had to bundle ourselves up in jerseys and jackets the whole time.

We stayed two nights in Pisa and five nights in Rome (plus another six nights elsewhere which is covered in Part II).

Pisa made an excellent base from which to see both the Leaning Tower and to travel into Florence. The campsite was situated just down the road (800 metres) from the Field of Miracles where the Leaning Tower is situated. We went there both by evening, by night and by day. In the evening it was great because we could look around without any crowds in the way. During the day was good because we could see a lot more and could go up the Tower. But it was so crowded and very expensive (over NZ$60 for both of us), so we didn't go up or stay very long.

We ate dinner at a restaurant near the Tower, and just as we were finishing our meals, along came a parade of hundreds of young men, representing what appeared to be many different football teams. The parade was proceeded by a band and followed by flag bearers who would stop regularly to twirl and throw their flags in the air. It was really neat to be caught up in this spectacle. We asked the restauranteur afterwards what the occasion was, and he said it was a protest march. Must have been something lost in the translation there because they all looked too happy to be protesting. It also happened to be Good Friday that day, so that may or may not have had something to do with the parade/march.

We caught a train to Florence and spent the day wandering around. It rained a lot that day and I played "dodge the umbrella" with all the other tourists crowded into the Squares and narrow streets. In the end I put my brolly away and decided I'd rather get a wet head than have to continually try and avoid hitting other people/brollys with it. Had a hilarious moment watching one girl walk across the Ponte Vecchio (old bridge), holding her umbrella without a care in the world - and watching everyone else in her vicinity either get hit by the umbrella or have to suddenly duck for cover. A fact which she was blissfully unaware of.

In Florence we pretty much just wandered around. Saw the beautiful old Duomo with Bruneleschi's (sp?) dome on top. I still think it's one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. Saw the Ponte Vecchio lined with expensive jewelery stores on both sides of the bridge. Queued for an hour to get into the Uffizi art gallery. After an hour we still hadn't made much progress and estimated we still had about another hour to wait. By which time it would be getting near to the time the ticket office closes, and quite possible we wouldn't even be able to buy tickets at all. And if we did manage to get in we'd have had maybe an hour inside if we were lucky. So we gave up and left. At least we'd had somewhere dry and out of the wind to stand during that hour we waited.

The next day we drove south to Rome through the Tuscan countryside. Everyone raves about Tuscany and I was looking forward to the trip. But perhaps it was the wrong time of year because I couldn't see anything spectacular at all. Just lots of towns, hills, trees, empty vineyards.

In Rome we stayed at a campground just outside the ring road. It wasn't very well signposted and we spent hours trying to find it, and it was getting late and we were both tired. Not fun at all. In fact we found this problem just about everywhere in Italy, that things weren't well signposted. Whereas in France we had no problem finding anything because the signposts were on virtually every corner.

Our first full day in Rome was Easter Sunday so we headed on down to St Peter's Square and saw and heard the Pope giving Easter Mass. I had expected the Square to be jam packed full of people but although it was crowded it wasn't too bad. We were able to see everything pretty well. Security was tight and to get into the actual Square you had to go through metal detectors etc. It's funny how much a part of normal life this procedure has become.

Then we walked into town and saw the main attractions - the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, the Victor Emmanuel moment, various Triumphal Arches, Churches and Roman ruins everywhere.

The Roman Forum is free to the public, but you have to pay to see the ruins on the Palatine hill above the forum. When I was last here eight years ago it cost 12000 Lire to get into the Forum so I was most surprised to find we could just walk straight in. At first I felt really guilty like we were breaking the rules, until I found out that it was free. The problem with not having to pay an entry fee to get in is that now you can't hire an audio guide or pick up a pamphlet at the same time you buy your ticket. So we were left wandering around looking at the ruins thinking "I wonder what that is". Also it is a real shame that by looking at ruins alone you just can't imagine what it used to look like. It would be really good if they had signs in several languages explaining what all the ruined buildings were, and perhaps an artists impression of what it looked like. But there is nothing like that. We bought a book from a trader but it didn't help much either. We saw several tour groups go through and overheard some of the commentary, but didn't know how to join a group.

Then we went to see the Colosseum. Outside we found where the tours go from. Just informally from the area between the Colosseum and the Forum. There is no tour office or building. The tour we went on cost 16 Euro each (I think) and included the 8 Euro entry fee for the Colosseum and a two hour tour of both the Colosseum and the Forum. It was well worth the money, especially as it allowed us to skip ahead of the two hour queue to get into the Colosseum. It was highly informative and interesting. We wished we'd known about it sooner.

On day two we visited more monuments (being Monday all museums were closed anyway). Saw the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps (WHY are they so famous???), the Pantheon, several Plazas, Churches and more Roman ruins. Went to the Baths of Caracalla which contained many amazing mosaics (apart from those that had already been stolen and put into museums).

One of the best places we found in Rome (by accident) was Torres Argentinas. This is an archeological site full of Roman ruins and also home to 400-odd stray cats. 10 years ago a group of women began looking after the small colony of stray cats which had been abandonded in the archeological site. Now it has turned into a full time job for I don't know how many volunteers. They take in unwanted cats and neuter, vaccinate and rehabilitate them. The cats are available for adoption from the shelter, and until they are adopted they have the run of the shelter offices and archeological site. They all look like fat, happy cats. Tourists are welcome at the shelter and we spent over an hour there looking around and cuddling the kitties (we miss our babies at home). The office is constantly full of cats and people tripping over each other, and it is a place of lots of love and smiles. They do an amazing job. See www.romancats.de for more information.

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent with our friends Tina and Wayne who flew over from Oxford for a weeks holiday in Rome (just a coincidence that we were all there at the same time). It was great to see some friendly faces again and to catch up with them.

Together we all visited the Vatican museums and St Peter's Basilica, and took a day trip out to Hadrian's Villa near Tivoli outside Rome. The Vatican is amazing. So many treasures and works of art (both in the museum and the basilica). The Sistine Chapel is neat but there are also many other frescoed rooms that are equally good, which you pass through in order to get to the Sistine Chapel. Hadrian's Villa was huge. The ruins of the mansion of the Emperor Hadrian, on the hillside with expansive views. The size and scale of these buildings would be on a par with the mansions of today's rich & famous, if not bigger (I guess - I've never been to the house of anyone rich & famous ;) ). Guest suites, bath houses, formal rooms, gardens, private oases, some of which were pretty well preserved. But like all the ruins we've seen, it was difficult to imagine what it looked like or how it was used.

It was a very busy week. It was nice to stay in one place for a while though, and not have to pack up the tent every day. Because we stayed so far out of town we ate at the camp restaurant most nights. Had some good meals though - and lots of gelati of course. Roman artichokes, raddicio, eggplant, suppli (cheese & rice croquettes), loads & loads of pasta, and lots of good wine.

From there our schedule had us travelling on to Naples and then back north to Venice. But that will have to wait for Part II ...

posted by Megz @ 4:07 pm