Rome, Italy - Colosseum & Palentine Hill

 The Colosseum was originally known as the Flavia Amphitheater because it was built by Emperors Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian, successors to Nero of the Flavian dynasty.  When Nero was deposed and Emperor Vespasian ascended to the throne, he had Nero's palace complex torn down & ordered that the Colosseum be built on top what had been an artificial lake.  The construction of the Colosseum was built with Travertine Stone and completed in the year 80AD.  The Colosseum is the grand amphitheater for all Roman citizens could seek entertainment.  The arena would have bloody gladiator battles, epic hunts pitting humans against wild animals, and gruesome executions of prisoners of war and criminals.  Unfortunately, Vespasian descended before it's completion.  

                                  LIII                                     LIII

It consisted of 80 arches on each level, of these 76 were numbered with roman numerals.  If you look closely, you can see the Roman Numerals just above the arches.

Original Colosseum

After the Colosseum, we walked up to Palatine Hill

Palatine Hill was the location of magnificent imperial palaces.  The residence of the city's affluent society.  

Views of Rome from the Hill

In this picture you can see the Colosseum in the background

Positano and Pompeii along the Amalfi Coast

Positano and Pompeii down the Amalfi Coast via Bus

We had about 3 hrs. travel to the town of Positano.  Just before we arrived, we stopped at the Limoncello factory.  It's Sunday so no production.  We of course had to by a bottle. 

Positano

Positano is quaint little town known for its beautiful cliffside, quaint shops, restaurants and breath-taking views.  The first evidence of a settlement in Positano dates back to the Upper Palaeolithic, when the "Grotto La Porta" was frequented by gathers and hunters.  Jumping to modern times, Positano was a relatively poor fishing village during the first half of the 20th Century.  It began to attract large number of tourists in the 1950's especially after John Steinbeck published his essay about Positano in "Harper's Bazaar" in May 1953.  Mick Jagger & Keith Richards from The Rolling stones wrote the song "Midnight Rambler" in the cafes of Positano while on vacation.  To complete the picture, natural lemon, orange and olive groves grow prominently across the cliffside town.  

Lunch at the top of the viewpoint.  Calamari w/ Zucchini and Pasta w/Clams, absolutely delicious paired with a very nice Italian Chardonnay

Pompeii

Pompeii is for history buffs which I am not.  This was very difficult to walk through the ruins and my brain was on overload.  This ancient city was buried under 13-20 feet of volcanic ash and pumice with the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 79AD.  The mountain is located about 5 miles from Pompeii and caused 20k deaths.  The town was rediscovered in 1599. It is a completely preserved ancient city, with buildings, artefacts, and human bodies. Archaeologists have unearthed 1150 bodies to date. You will notice that all the paintings are red.  They were actually yellow and were turned red by the gases emitted from Vesuvius (the volcano).  If you are interested in reading more, here is a link.  https://pompeiisites.org/en/

Mythological Half Man/Half Horse

Nocera tuff columns that remain from the Temple of Apollo

Balilica of Pompeii

The Macellum is an ancient Roman indoor market that sold mostly provisions (especially meat and fish)

Casa del Menandro (The House of Menander)  

After our tour we stopped in at a local market to get Bread, Salami, Cheese and Champagne to go with our Limoncello.  Enjoying the evening back at the Hotel. 

Rome, Italy

 We had a free day for a Hop on Hop off Bus.  We stayed on the bus the whole trip to explore this very ancient City. Here are just a few of the photos.  There will be plenty of photos in the later days of the blog.  

Altare della Patria (built in honor of Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, the first king of a unified Italy)

Side view of the Altare della Patria. (243 Steps)

Basilica di Santa maria Maggiore (largest Catholic Marian church in Rome)

Piazza della Republica and the Fountain of the Naiads.  The fountain background was to display water from Rome's Aqueduct

Florence - Rome

Travel day: Florence to Rome via train

Everything was going well till we arrived at the train station, only to find out that there was some kind of protest happening which delayed our train up to 50 minutes.  All the trains were delayed from an hour to two hours.  Here are also a couple of train ride view pictures.

Once we arrived in Rome, we checked in and went to a desk of whom we thought was the Concierge desk, only to find out it was the hotel Manager.  She asked if we had a problem and we asked her some questions in which turned into her explaining several places to visit, eat, drink, etc....she also escorted us to the bar for a complimentary glass of champagne.  WOW!!!  This stay was amazing.  The room was a great view and the breakfast every morning on the rooftop was spectacular (sorry not rooftop pics.)  

Complimentary Champagne

View from our room

 One of the many recommendations for dinner.  I don't think they know how to pour beer...ha ha. Pizza's are very interesting.  The ingredients are placed separately on the pizza.  The wine was delicious and so was the pizza.  

Cinque Terre, Italy

 Cinque Terre full day trip - 13 hrs

Cinque Terre (5 Lands) are made up of the Riomaggiore, Monterosso, Monarola, Vernazza and Corniglia

We visited Riomaggiore, Monterosso and Monarola which is located on the coast of the Ligurian Sea

Riomaggiore is a very colorful small fishing village with Shops and Cafe's.  The weather was very rainy and wind.  We toured the town and then decided to have a Cappuccino in one of the cafes.  

Monarola (2nd smallest of the Cinque Terre's)

The town is all ups and downs with very narrow alleys.  The population is only ~350 residents.

It is a tourist attraction for the colorful houses and very small village.  Locals shaped the slopes to create terraces that allowed them to plant Grapevines, Olive & Lemon Trees.  The walls are supported by Stone. 

 

Monterosso is a coastal town grown along two short valleys and facing on the few beaches that exist in the area.  Mostly beach paths, Churches, Shops and of course Restaurants.  

 

Parish Church of St John the Baptist. 

This statue was built in 1910 by the architect Fracesco.  Neptune is the God of the Sea.  

  

Florence, Italy - Galileo Museum

This is actually a day off of any organized tour, but we bought tickets to see the Galileo Museum.  The museum is a large interactive science museum.  Dedicated to the life and work of the famous Italian astronomer, Galileo Galilei. The museum features display and exhibits that focus on scientific advancements made throughout the renaissance era.

Galileo Galilei

Santucci’s armillary sphere is a remarkable Ptolemaic armillary sphere, and it holds the distinction of being the largest existing armillary sphere in the world.

Optical Illusion with Portraits of Charles II and His Daughter Christine of Lorraine 1593 by Lodovico Buti

Looking bit creepy, the middle finger of Galileo’s right hand sits in an egg-shaped glass display.  You ask why, the museum says the finger "exemplifies the celebration of Galileo as a hero and martyr of science. 

After the Museum we decided to have the meal that Florence is known for...it's beef.  We went to Trattoria Dall'oste which has 12 different selections of the finest meats.  We chose the 1.5lbs Chianina T-Bone steak, with potatoes, salad and a nice wine.  It was fantastic.  No leftovers.