Tag: travel

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Street

Taking it to the streets

Welcome to Week 58 of the Tuesday Photo Challenge.

This week’s theme is inspired by some of what I have seen in Italy this week, in particular in the smaller towns that are here in Tuscany.  As many of these towns have rather interesting street layouts due to their geography, I’m going with the theme of Street.

My challenge to you is to share something that you enjoy about a particular street or streets, which should give you plenty of latitude in providing something truly creative.  I expect that there may be some unusual posts with a theme like this, as this can clearly range from beauty to the people on the street to an intergalactic highway.  The choices are yours!

Here’s One of the streets that caught my eye this week…

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Streets in Chiusdino

Chiusdino is a small town close to where my wife and I are staying in Tuscany.  It’s filled with streets like this, where you have to traverse stairs to get to your front door.  Movers must have an interesting job in towns like this!

The full rules of this challenge are in TPC Guidelines, but here’s the tl;dr:

  • Write a post with an image for this week’s topic
  • Please tag your post with fpj-photo-challenge (if you’re not sure about how tags work, please check out this WordPress article about tagging posts)
  • Create a pingback link to this post, so that I can create a post showing all of the submissions over the week (note: pingbacks may not appear immediately, as my site is set up to require approval for linking to it; helps against previous bad experiences with spamming)
  • Have fun creating something new (or sharing something old)!!

Very much looking forward to all of your great images!  Should be a fun week!

A lazy Sunday in Tuscany

Relaxing doesn’t have to be hard work

Sometimes, vacation is all about doing as little as possible, rather than visiting every possible point of interest in the area.  This Sunday, started with a wonderful time to relax during the morning, as we slept in and enjoy a leisurely breakfast on the back porch of our AirBnB place in Colordesoli.  As we didn’t have any firm plans, the decision was to find a gas station that was open and then get some lunch.

The little Fiat 500 was pretty low on fuel, so gas first!  As I wasn’t used to how gas stations are operated in Italy, I mistook no human presence for the station being closed.  As I stopped by a station that, according to Google, was open 24 hours a day, I was still somewhat befuddled by the machine set up.  Luckily, a friendly motorcyclist was helpful and showed me the basics and the tank was soon filled!  After that we stopped by a trattoria for some delicious lunch and were treated to some free dessert.

Roaming around, we stopped by the Abbey at San Galgano, which was a rather interesting locale to visit and photograph.


A trek up the hill next to the abbey got us to the Eremo of Montisiepi, which is a beautiful round structure that was built over the site of the hut where San Galgano spent the last year of his life.  In the center of the round, is San Galgano’s sword, which has been stuck in the rock for over 800 years.

After visiting the hermitage, we stopped by a lovely little wine bar down the path for a bit of sustenance after our trek uphill.

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Round Up 57

You won’t believe all these places!

Welcome to the 57th round up of the Tuesday Photo Challenge!

Wow, wow, wow!  You have travelled all over the world and lots of places that I would love seeing.  The variety of images and posts is nothing short of mind-blasting!  There’s lots of viewing and reading in these posts and I enjoyed it all!

Thank you for your wonderful participation!!

I thought I’d share this image with you that is from yesterday…

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Chiusdino in the Distance

This view was from Sunday’s drive through the hills of Tuscany, as we were closing in on the beautiful little town of Chiusdino.

The following were this week’s participants in the challenge with links to their posts:

  • Xenia managed to presage this week’s topic by posting a wonderful Haibun and photos in Whippetwisdom, all about passing places!
  • Wow, ladyleemanilla all the places that you have been to!  And so many great photos.  There is a challenge in recognizing all of them…
  • pensivity101 shares a great photo from Comberton Quay and thoughts of canal boat travelling.
  • Stella truly is a world traveller, as demonstrated by the photography in her entry in Giggles & Tales.
  • Candace shows us some fantastic images of her travels to really cool places in her post in Netdancer’s Musings.
  • Miriam’s post in the Showers of Blessing highlights the wonderful aspects of a family visit.
  • The blog might be called Watching the Daisies, but Bridgid’s post this week focuses on much more than daisies in her report on the Keukenhof, which is magnificent!
  • This week’s entry from theonlyD800inthehameau takes you to one of the places that is on my bucket list: Petra!
  • Miriam takes us Out an’ About on the Taloongi Trails, which certainly is a travel adventure, particularly when Doug overestimates the ground clearance of his truck…
  • Une Photo, un poéme goes on a pilgrimage to a fantastic monastery in Bulgaria in a wonderful post!
  • Bullyboy first takes us to a site representing the Dravidian culture in India in his first post in Travel387 and then takes us to Ooty and area in his second post in Travel387.
  • Ron’s post in Progressing Into Solitude provides a view of what reminds him that he is travelling… a bit eerie!
  • Judith takes us to Thailand in her travel post in Nature Knows Best: what a wonderful holiday!
  • Marie went to North Pole and provides us with a great post about Alaskan Spring in The New 3Rs: Retire, Recharge, Reconnect!
  • George tells us about his travels in and around Greensboro, NC, in his post in the Alchemist of the Woods, which experience is very different, depending on the season!
  • Justine provides us with a view of a town closer to my residence in her post in Justine Taylor Photography.
  • Debbie gives us a wonderful post in ForgivingConnects, filled with the happiness that comes from forgiveness.
  • Khürt takes us camping in the Poconos in his post in Island in the Net.
  • Grace goes to visit Grandma and does a repair job in her post in Following Him Beside Still Waters; nice flowers!

This is another great set of images, posts and participation! Thanks to each of you for taking the time and being creative! Tomorrow’s theme is already written and scheduled! See, if you can guess what it is 🙂

Il Castello di Giulio II

Warrior Pope at this best!

Saturday was our travel day from Ostia Antica to Colordesoli, up in Tuscany. Before we left Ostia Antica, we wanted to take the opportunity to visit the papal castle of Julius II, as it is open for visiting during the weekend.

I mentioned Julius II in a previous post; he was nicknamed ‘The Fearsome Pope’ or ‘The Warrior Pope’ likely due to his rather active foreign policy.  He was elected to the papacy unanimously in 1503, due to a bit of backroom dealing, in which he made the Borgias believe that they would get lots of money as a result of his election.

However, upon getting elected, he stated:

“I will not live in the same rooms as the Borgias lived. He [Alexander VI] desecrated the Holy Church as none before. He usurped the papal power by the devil’s aid, and I forbid under the pain of excommunication anyone to speak or think of Borgia again. His name and memory must be forgotten. It must be crossed out of every document and memorial. His reign must be obliterated. All paintings made of the Borgias or for them must be covered over with black crepe. All the tombs of the Borgias must be opened and their bodies sent back to where they belong—to Spain.”

He very much became his own Pope and was ambitious in building, as much as striking out into foreign lands.  His building projects included the destruction and rebuilding of the St. Peter Basilica (it wasn’t big enough before) and the commission of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo.

The castle in Ostia Antica is not huge by castle standards, but nonetheless very impressive.  It is clearly set up for battle, both inside the castle and taking on any siege that may be laid upon it.  Canon and gun ports are everywhere, and they even used the residual heat from gun fire to warm that water for bathing.  In its more recent past, the castle has also been used as a prison, as evidenced by prisoner’s markings on the walls of cells, counting down the days till their death.

The guided tour of the castle is full of information, and even though our tour was in Italian, a couple of our fellow tour participants were nice enough to provide us English translation of a number of tour highlights.  So, if you’re in Ostia Antica during a weekend, check out the Castello de Giulio II!

Travels in Italy – Roma

Colossal with a great forum

Today, we went to visit the Eternal City, and got caught doing the obligatory stop of the Colosseum.  When I say ‘got caught’, that is almost literal, as before you even get out of the subway station by the Colosseum, you get accosted by people trying to sell you tours of the iconic landmark.  On this non-high-season day, it was still a mob scene outside this building.

To me, the Colosseum was rather underwhelming, as it is filled with too many tour groups and not enough space to actually appreciate the building itself; the restoration is not exactly spot on in getting you the feel of what it may have been like during the days of its operation.  That was the mediocre part of the day…

Looking up to the Streets
Colosseum View
Inside the Underbelly
View across the Colosseum
St Francisca
St Francisca
Toward St. Francisca
Rome’s rooftops
Grand View
Beauty among Ruins
Statuary
Angles abound
View across Forum
Mystery Location
Caesar’s Ghost

Then there’s the Palatine Hill and Forum, which is part of the same tour ticket as the Colosseum; hint: go to the Palatine Hill box office, as the lines are much shorter and buy your ticket there.  Wandering through this area gives you a good impression of what it may have been like during the heyday of the Roman regime, whether republic or empre.  There are fantastic views and interesting discoveries.  Because of its size, you don’t feel overrun by tour groups and masses of people, as you do across the street.

Bonus discovery: if you take a wrong turn toward the Palatine Hill, don’t just turn back, but continue into the church of Saint Francisca, which is impressive and usually devoid of people.

Il Scavi de Ostia Antica

Life among the ruins…

On our first full day in Italia, we focused on the nearby opportunity of visiting Il Scavi de Ostia Antica (the excavations of Ostia Antica).  For the very reasonable price of 8 euros, you get more than a day’s worth of exploration at this amazing site.  To put it mildly, a single day is not enough to appreciate all the wonderful structures that have been excavated at this old harbor of Ancient Rome; the route of the Tiber was right by Ostia Antica 2,000 years ago.

We decided to explore on our own with the map that we purchased, and we were immediately astonished by the detail that has been preserved across the millennia.  Get off the main thoroughfares to look at the plaques that are sometimes hidden from direct view to get to the really good stuff!

After well over 5 hours of exploring on a beautiful Italian Spring day, we decided to call it a day and go for a gelato.  We didn’t see everything, but did unearth some rather cool items that definitely are not seen by everyone; most tour groups appear to focus on a shorter route than we took, and when we got to the further regions of this park, we were rewarded with quiet time and some hidden treasures.

Minerva as Winged Victory
Dolphin Gang with Neptune
Strutting your Stuff!
Amor and Psyche making out
Diana’s Bar
View across the Ruins
Poppies among the Ruins
Temple of Ceres
Through the Portal
Hercules hanging
Sacrificial Cow
Ruins among us

Our decision to base ourselves in Ostia Antica first appears to have been solid thus far, particularly after a great meal at La Bussola, which I recommend highly with fresh, well-prepared food and friendly service!

Tomorrow, we strike out into Roma!

Arriving in Italy

A walk through Ostia Antica

After getting as much work done at the last moment, as possible, we were off on our next sizable vacation in several years, packed in our flight from Boston to Rome like a good harvest of sardines.  8 hours later, we landed at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport, which is beginning to look very nice with all the renovations that are under way.

We picked up our rental car, a rather cute Fiat 500, which is pretty sporty for a little car, and were off to our first stop in Ostia Antica.  Despite traffic, we checked into our really nice AirBnB location here in Ostia Antica and decided to crash for a little bit and refresh ourselves after the flight.

After this, we decided to explore the center of Ostia Antica, where we went for a rather nice walk, through the Castello I’d Giulio II…

Castello di Giulio II
Alley Way in Ostia Antica
Castello di Giulio II
Doorway in Ostia Antica

The papal castle of Julius II looks rather impressive with its heavily fortified walls.  Considering his nickname of the Warrior Pope that doesn’t surprise; this pope was an interesting character, if what history writes about him is correct (Wikipedia article).  We’re looking forward to seeing the inside of this museum on Saturday, before we’re off to Tuscany.

After this pleasant stroll, we enjoyed a gelato (#1) and found some simple, yet delicious pizza for an early dinner (dinner is typically served after 8, but we were a bit too tired to wait for that).  Overall a good start!