Back in October, Frank and I took off for two weeks in Italy. We flew directly from San Diego to London, then connected to Rome once we got to Heathrow. We’d both visited Rome in the past, on separate occasions, but it had been a long time since either of us had visited “The Eternal City,” and were both looking forward to getting reacquainted with this majestic city and all her beauty.
There aren’t many cities in the world where the past and the present coexist so effortlessly. Walk any Roman street, and you’ll find a statue, a wall, a fountain, a piazza, a pillar, that dates back thousands of years. And, right next to an ancient artifact, you’ll likely see a young man clad in jeans and skateboarder shoes, striding by listening to his iPod, or a couple of teenagers texting away furiously on their phones! This mingling of old and new is the essence of Rome and her endless charm. Yesterday and today is all rolled into one mesmerizing kaleidoscope filled with a thousand enchanting images. Churches, cathedrals, castles, towers, museums, galleries, fountains, winding streets, corner cafes, riverside terraces, leafy parks, bustling squares, quiet old neighborhoods, high-fashion stores, elegant restaurants….these are just a few of the elements that make this beautiful city the alluring place that it is.
We were lucky enough to book a private tour that took us inside the Vatican museums and the Sistine Chapel before it opened to the public. What an experience that was! To have the Sistine Chapel almost to ourselves (except for a few security people and our tour guide) was a surreal experience. Photography is not allowed inside the Sistine Chapel (a Japanese company that paid millions of dollars for the restoration of the ceiling and wall frescoes has the sole rights to all photography of the Chapel), so we, unfortunately, don’t have any pics of Michelangelo’s glorious masterpieces that he painted between 1508 and 1512. We just had to burn the memory of this experience into our minds! The following two photographs were taken inside St. Peter’s Basilica–stunning in its own right.
After spending a few days in Rome, we headed to our next destination–Siena. Neither Frank nor myself had ever visited this Tuscan hillside town before, and we didn’t really know what to expect. Well, we fell in love with Siena, and we’re already talking about a return visit! It’s hard to really define what we loved so much about this enchanting place; in part, I think because Siena is a place that has a certain “feeling” about it that just awakens all your senses — the sight of the city skyline with its striking domes and towers – the sound of the church bells ringing – the colors of the terracotta-tiled roofs and sun-baked buildings – the warmth of the Tuscan sun – the aroma of fresh-cut flowers, home-baked bread, and freshly chopped garlic – the mystery of winding lanes and secluded piazzas — it all adds up to an experience that’s hard to forget.We can’t wait to return!
The Cathedral of Siena (Il Duomo), with its elaborately carved exterior, is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful churches in Italy. It was designed and completed between 1215 and 1263.
While in Siena, we took a day trip to San Gimignano, a Tuscan town that dates back to the 10th century. During its heyday, it boasted 72 towers. Fourteen of them remain today. The region is known for its good wines, and we sampled quite a few of them!
The last place we stayed while in Italy was Barga, a little walled town in northern Tuscany, that not too many tourists know about. It’s not easy to get to (we had to take 3 different train connections from Siena to get there), but it was a great little retreat, tucked into the mountains. It offered wonderful hikes in the surrounding hills, and the town itself was extremely quaint and filled with plenty of old-world charm.
While we were in Barga, we took a day-trip to Lucca, which is just 15 miles northeast of Pisa. In fact, we enjoyed Lucca so much, we returned for a second visit a few days later! This medieval city, like many in Tuscany, is enclosed by broad walls. What makes these walls different is that they are wide enough to have bicycle paths on top of them, which look out over the town’s churches, towers, and charming piazzas. Frank and I started off by cycling around the walls, and then headed off on foot to explore the many nooks and crannies of this bustling town. Bicylces are the number one method of transport in Lucca. If you don’t watch where you’re going, you’ll be run over by them!
This final image was taken from the balcony of our room in Barga, looking over part of the town and toward the nearby mountains.
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