We looked at the calendar to get a high-level view of what the next several weeks had in store for us, and decided that we should get away for a few days. With the move looming ahead, we knew that we’d be busy buying furniture, arranging handymen, and scheduling movers. Not to mention all the administrative work like connecting electricity, gas, trash pickup, etc.
I was thinking it would be fun to just go to a B&B at a small village (borgo) somewhere close by us, but Mike said “Let’s go to Rome!” We hadn’t been since 2011, so it was probably time. Being the resident travel agent, I immediately began looking for things to see and tours to take. We both agreed that we wanted to keep this trip low key – don’t overbook! We wanted to see a few things we’d seen before, but also wanted to see things we hadn’t seen before. So I logged into Get Your Guide, a tour site that’s been good for us in the past. There I discovered an all-day tour to Tivoli, where one will find the ruins of Hadrian’s castle and the Cardinal’s estate Villa D’Este with its beautiful gardens.
Mike had said that he’d like to see Castel Sant Angelo, one site we had not yet seen. And that’s when I began to connect the dots. In 2019, we traveled to Scotland for the Ewing Clan reunion, and took a day-long tour of Hadrian’s wall. Hadrian's Wall was the north-west frontier of the Roman empire for nearly 300 years and marked the boundary between Roman Britannia and unconquered Caledonia to the north. It was built by the Roman army on the orders of the emperor Hadrian following his visit to Britain in 122 AD.
Castel Sant Angelo was ordered by Hadrian to be his mausoleum and was completed in 129 AD. It was taken over by the Church and also had been used as a prison. But the point here is that Hadrian’s wall in Scotland was impressive, and the castle looked intriguing. Now, we’ve found another of Hadrian’s legacies, a huge and architecturally impressive villa.
Also in Tivoli, we toured the Villa D'Este, a 16th century villa, famous for its magnificent terraced gardens and fountains that are still functioning. We were overwhelmed by the size and the number of fountains. The villa is now an Italian state museum, and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You must see the photos.
We had a nice lunch at a local restaurant, and our guide took us to a small shop where the owner was making cameos. Beautiful cameos. By hand. She'd been making them all of her life, a skill she learned from her father and that she's teaching to her daughter. Yes, I have one. Mike insisted. :)
Back to being low-key (see the photos here), our first day in Rome was Valentine’s day, and we spent it wandering around, admiring the Coliseum, and many of the ruins. We had a delightful romantic dinner, of course.
The next day, we took the hop-on-hop-off bus to re-orient ourselves to the layout of the city. In our travels, we’ve found that this bus tour is well worth the time. From the bus, we were able to see many sites and hop off at the Castel Sant Angelo.
Our last day, we arranged to have lunch with my Italian language classmate Hariska . She is living in Rome now, studying for a master’s degree. We had met for the first time in person two years ago when another classmate, Bilge, was vacationing in Rome. We became close friends, meeting virtually twice a week for two years during COVID. It was really nice to see her again and get caught up on her studies.
I had arranged to meet at 12:30 for lunch because I was sure that our bus didn’t leave until 4:40 p.m. That gave us plenty of time for a morning visit to the Pantheon, one amazing structure -- which, by the way, was designed by Hadrian. In fact, at his villa we saw a ruin of his proof of concept, a smaller structure demonstrating the feasibility of his design.
After lunch, we casually walked to our B&B to retrieve our luggage, then grabbed a cab to the bus station, arriving at 4:00 p.m. We had plenty of time. Except for one thing. The bus left at 14:40 -- that’s 2:40 p.m., not 4:40 p.m. So we had to scramble to find the next bus to Vasto Nord. Luckily, there was one scheduled to leave in ten minutes, and we were able get tickets! This is one mistake that I think Mike will never let me forget. I am trying hard to remember how to calculate the 24-hour clock.
It was a great get-away, and we thank our neighbors Robert and Maria for transporting us to and from the bus stop.
Now, we are actively planning (Mike’s got his clip board out) our move. Just two more weeks until we get the keys to our new apartment!
Comentários