Here we are! My last backlogged travel post before my next trip abroad! In a little over a week’s time. We are certainly cutting things close. In the interest of expediency, I might let my 150 photos speak mostly for themselves. It will not be a super wordy post. (Edit: this ends up being UNTRUE).
In the spring of 2024, I found myself wanting an adventure. I had recently gotten extremely into watching Formula 1, and fancied myself a trip to Monaco to watch the Grand Prix. Now, tickets to that particular Grand Prix are insanely expensive, so I thought I could maybe watch from far away on a hill, or befriend someone with a yacht. I got fairly far along planning this trip, I had a spreadsheet and had priced things out, when my cousin suggested that I go to Imola instead.
That was a fabulous suggestion. Imola was one of the rare races that had extremely reasonable GA tickets for race day, and I remembered public transit there being great. I also had a very good friend from my MA program in Rome. She made some appearances in my posts on Iceland, Zanzibar, and Kenya. One planning call and another spreadsheet later, I landed in Rome, and was reunited with Francesca =)
I landed May 11th in the afternoon, and the flight attendant had to physically shake me awake for landing. I lucked out, was placed in the middle of a 3 seat row, and was completely on my own there. I slept on and off for 8 hrs, and had no jet lag. Best outward bound trip of my life. Fra got me at Termini station, and it was like I had just seen her! We went to her flat and unpacked and caught up, and I showered. We met Fra’s friend in the city for a lovely dinner. I ate a TON of great food on this trip, possibly my weight in pasta, but still lost weight. So much walking!
If you want to get on local time quickly when traveling, hit the ground running when you arrive. We got back well after dark and I passed out, then woke up the next morning and got started at 8 am. I took lots of notes on what I ate and how much I walked (my first full day, Sunday the 12th I traveled only by foot and walked 24.8 km, had coffee and cookies for breakfast and crostini cheese and salami for lunch). I walked by the Colosseum and visited the Roman Forum in the morning. It was my second time there, and it was as impressive as ever.
After a meander around the ruins, I headed to cool off in the Mamertine Prison across from the Forum. This Roman prison dates from 7th century BC, and I took no worthy photos. It was cool, literally and figuratively, especially if you like to explore below grounds, which I do.
After that I headed to the Capitoline Museums.
I stopped over briefly to take a look at Trajan’s Column
Then stopped in to St. Mary Major Basilica.
And then stopped to eat dinner in at Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II. I love buying some cheese and meat and bread and just eating in a park when I am traveling. Fueled by that and a coke and I can go for another 6 hours. Now you can see how I walked almost 35 km in one day!
The next morning, Fra posed for me by frankly one of the coolest things I have ever seen in a house abroad, a DISH DRYING RACK OVER A SINK, and then I headed over to another country for the day.
I had a morning ticket to the Vatican Museums, and spent several hours there. I have been once before, but frankly there is so much to see you could spend a lifetime discovering new things in its halls.
You are NOT supposed to take photos of the Sistine Chapel. I have been there before, and still was so stunned and awed that I snapped ONE photo of the ceiling before the signs everywhere saying not to do so permeated my brain. In fact, this photo is a live photo, and in the background you can hear a man yelling at me “no photos!”. Oops. It is that stunning though. I love a good ceiling, and this quite frankly is the best ceiling there is. Don’t be like me, look and admire and buy a print instead!
I also popped in to St.Peter’s Basilica to see La Pieta, which was beautiful as always.
I stopped to snap a picture of Castel Sant’Angelo, which I toured on day 4 in Italy. By the end of day 3, I had walked 19.1 km. That’s nothing! I took both the metro and bus that day.
On day 4 I spent the morning doing laundry and recovering a bit, then headed to the Archeological Park of Ostia Antica around 10 am. I caught a train to reach this small seaside town full of awesome Roman ruins.
Ostia is a modern town, but also the site of an ancient Roman port town. This may have been Rome’s first colony, and was abandoned in the 9th century BC. The oldest remains there date back to the 4th century BC. I was particularly enamored with the tile floors scattered around the ruins, many of which you could walk on, which seemed wrong.
I was walking around the ruins from around 11 am to 3 pm. At one point, at the Roman Theatre, I ran across a school group touring the ruins. How cool must that be, to go to school near such ancient relics of history? We didn’t have anything like this growing up in Ohio.
I could talk about these ruins for hours. They are well worth a half day trip from Rome. Escape the crowds and take a walk through history by the sea.
Right outside the ruins I stumbled upon the 15th century Julius II Castle, in a cute little plaza where there seemed to be a film crew scouting. I assumed it was a historical documentary. As I discovered this year while watching Emily in Paris, they were filming for season 5 there. If my photos of the buildings with flowers look like the scenes from Solitano, that is why.
Across from the castle, I found the most charming ceiling in the Cattedrale di Sant’Aurea, and I headed from Ostia back to Rome, and stopped in another beautiful church with yet another beautiful ceiling.
My last activity of the day was a tour of Castel Sant’Angelo. This castle was originally built as a Mausoleum for Emperor Hadrian and his wife around 130s AD. It was repurposed, like many Roman constructions, in the 15th century for use by the papacy. If you want to see some blinged out papal living quarters, this is the place to go.
By the end of day 4, I had walked 23 km. I would beat that on day 5! These recaps also give the impression that I hardly saw Fra, or her partner Filippo. Not so! We had many dinners together, they just had to work during the day =)
On the morning of day 5 I walked around Cimitero Monumentale, which was close to Fra’s place. After that I headed out to Tivoli to visit Villa d’Este.
My visit to Tivoli resulted in some of the best sightseeing on the trip for me – it had everything I love – palaces, gardens, and ruins. Villa d’Este is a 16th century villa built for a cardinal, but fit for royalty (Cardinals back then were essentially royalty). For their age, the gardens have been well maintained. Tivoli was apparently a cool spot to summer since Roman times, due to its altitude, and proximity to Hadrian’s Villa, which was my second site I visited that day.
From there I headed to Hadrian’s Villa. This was build around 120 AD by, you guessed it, Emperor Hadrian. It was meant to be a retreat from Rome, like Villa d’Este, just built a smidge earlier. By about 1600 years. Here’s a fun fact: most of this site is still unexcavated. Which is insane to me, as I spent hours walking around it and still didn’t see everything.
This site was exploited a few times throughout history. Marble and art was taken – and the cardinal who build Villa d’Este was one of those people that relieved the site of its treasures. The Canopus, which I found so charming, was meant to evoke the Nile and Egypt, with statues of Egyptian gods and crocodiles. I ended this day having walked 24.6 km.
Day 6 I was ready for a break. On this day I walked a measly 12.5 km, and spent most of the morning doing laundry and nursing my swollen feet. I walked around the Villa Borghese, then did the Spanish steps, Trevi fountain, and grabbed gelato!
On day 7, a Friday, Fra joined me on a trip to Bologna! We met her friend Chiara, who was graciously letting us crash at her flat, and had a lovely vegan meal at a restaurant called Zem, then had a coffee and walked around!
The next day, Saturday (day 8 if you are still counting with me) we got up and went to a market where I found one of my favorite travel shirts, a loose gauzy cotton top, and some enamel jewelry that reminds me of sea shells. We love an open air market!
Bologna is known for their porticoes, no other city has more! We wandered around, coming across an F1 exhibit later that night where I got to pose next to an actual F1 car, and went to a sonic meditation in an old church with Chiara!
Day 9, Sunday, was all about Formula 1. Fra was kind enough to indulge me and came along for the ride. We caught the train from Bologna to Imola that morning, waited in a very long line to get in, and enjoyed walking around and inside the track. I discovered quickly that being TOO close to the track can make it kinda hard to know what is going on, and realized that the cars are in fact, QUITE loud and fast. I assumed as much but being trackside really drove the point home. Max Verstappen won. On this day I walked 27 km. We caught a train back to Rome, which was a nightmare because of the crowds.
Day 10, Monday, I did a bit of planning and laundry, as the next day I was taking a Flixbus to Perugia. Fra suggested I would like it, and boy was she right.
Perugia is a stunning city. It is the capital city of Umbria, and is really quite a cultural hub. I arrived there around 9 am, and killed some time walking around, visiting the local Archeology Museum, and the Rocca Paolina. I thought the Rocca Paolina was pretty neat, but in reading about it while writing this I discovered that it was constructed on the orders of the pope in the 15th century, and destroyed a lot of older historic buildings. Lame!
On a whim I visited the Giuditta Brozzetti, which is part museum, part shop. This workshop, in the old convent The Church of St Francis of the Women dating back to 1212. Here artists are using looms from the 18th and 19th century to make textiles using traditional methods, and they are truly gorgeous. An absolute highlight of my trip. I then spent some lovely time at the National Gallery of Umbria, bought some of the chocolate that Perugia is famous for, and had a lovely dinner of pizza.
I left Perugia with some regret after my short time there, and headed to Florence via train. I arrived around noon on day 12 of my trip and hit the ground running. I said hi to the Cathedral, bopped over to Palazzo Vecchio and toured there, climbed a rooftop bar AND the bell tower, and then called it a day.
It might seem insane to arrive in Florence and turn around and leave again for a day trip, but that is what I did. I spent most of day 13 in Lucca after catching a morning train to the city, which is surrounded by almost intact medieval walls, very neat. I spent the whole day wandering around, visiting churches and climbing towers and dropping my gelato on the ground. I saw some stunning textiles at Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Mansi, and headed back to Florence. I managed to get a very sought after reservation at a restaurant called L’Ostaria di Giovanni that night in Florence, where a nice couple took pity on me and let me try their filet mignon, which I had not ordered, and it was fab.
Day 14 I was back in Florence the whole day, and had an early reservation at the Uffizi Gallery. I had an interesting encounter on my way to that gallery, and in an alternate timeline I like to think I married the guitar playing artist/grandson of fisherman that I met in the streets of Florence, but it is really best not to meet up with complete strangers when you are traveling alone.
Uffizi was as special as I remembered it being, and after wandering around there for awhile and snapping some pictures I went inside Il Duomo, after which I was ready to explore the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens, which were new to me. Since I had the opera at 8 pm that night, and didn’t plan on going back to my hostel, I was a tad over dressed for this 28 km day. The palace, garden, and opera were all wonderful, and the icing on the cake to a wonderful trip!
Day 15 I left Florence early and reunited with Fra. It was a Saturday, so I was able to spend the day with her and Filippo. We grabbed some lunch (I checked and I have NO photos of the three of us, they don’t either, which just means we were having fun) and I caught a train to the airport.
I am forever grateful to Fra and Filippo, who let me crash on a mattress on their bedroom floor for over a week. They fed me, showed me around, and listened to me rant about F1. Truly amazing friends. Hopefully one day I can return the favor.
This blog was about 2 years late, but I am now finishing it one week prior to my next trip. Here’s hoping the next one gets done in a more timely manner.
Until then, Ciao!
All Abroad! 