4. Rome - The Vatican (including one Caravaggio)

We've visited the Vatican and its museums, as well as St Peter's Basilica several times before. In 2003 we gave the museums a miss, but this time Ben was keen to see the Sistine Chapel. Photos are banned. But not in other parts.

This time we didn't bother with the long queue to go into St Peter's Basilica.

NB The pictures of the Caravaggios and other paintings were not ones taken by me; I found them on the Net.

Below: Dome of St Peter's and Vatican gardens from gallery within the museum




Below: ceiling of the Gallery of Maps

Below: Vatican Library. It wasn't open to the public, which it has been in the past.
Below: The spiral ramp by Guiseppe Momo (1932)
Below: The Basilica of St Peter's. Dome by Michelangelo, Bernini colonnade, facade by Carlo Maderno (1614):
I set myself the task of seeing every Caravaggio in Rome; didn't quite make it, but very nearly. The Vatican contains one Caravaggio painting - a spectacular Entombment, or Deposition, of Christ. Why the Vatican only has one is quite an interesting question, too detailed to go in to here. You'll find other Carvaggios elsewhere in this blog in other Rome and Naples entries.

20. Ancient Pompei - Botanic Gardens

A project is underway within the archaeological site of Pompei to cultivate many of the plants which were grown in ancient Pompei.

This botanic garden is a serene haven. There are specimens of many food, construction, medicinal and aromatic, textile and decorative plants (many of course had more than one use).

Fruit trees include apple, olive, pear, fig, almond.
Medical and aromatic plants: basil, marjoram, thyme (antiseptic), garlic (high blood pressure), rue (abortion). Construction: ash tree - whose very flexible wood was used to build bed staves; the willow tree - used to weave baskets; the poplar - cut in foils for baskets.
Bulrushes - used to drip ricotta cheese, and vegetables were tied up with them.
Canes - making musical instruments, traps and pikes and dividing walls for houses and padding mattresses with blooms.
Vegetables included legumes and cereals (chickpeas, lentils, peas, broad beans) which were cooked as soups.
Textile plants were flax, hemp, “ginestra” from which ropes, nets and canvas were made, while the cotton-wastes were used for lamps. Fabrics were dyed with blooms of the “ontano” and the card of the “fullones” was used to tease wool.
“Coronarie”, evergreen plants received a special mention in Plinius work book XXI; they were used to weave celebratory, cult and therapeutic crowns.

33. Pisa - the town

We visited Pisa on a day trip from Lucca. In 2005 I was there with my friend Collette, and had everything - money, cards, passport - stolen at the ticket office of the Leaning Tower. We then spent a day travelling to Rome to get an emergency passport, instead of enjoying Lucca where we were staying. We were pleased to see that the arrangements at the ticket office have since changed to make the "crush scam" I was involved in less likely. And nothing untoward happened - we had a great day.

Above and Below: The Arno river and the church of Santa maria della Spina. Spina means thorn, and the church supposedly houses a thorn from Jesus's Crown of Thorns. It was built between 1230 and 1323. It was rebuilt above the river, to prevent flooding, in 1871.
Below: Coconut snacks for sale near the railway station
Below: Piazza dei Cavalieri. This building is one of Pisa Universiy's most prestigious colleges, the Scuola Normale Superiore. It was designed by Vasari in 1562. The decorative effect is called sgraffito - designs scratched into wet plaster. It represents allegorical figures and zodiac signs.It was headquarters of the Cavalieri di Santo Stefano, an order of knights created by Cosimo I in 1561.
Below: Also in the Piazza dei Cavalieri is Palazzo dell'Orologio. It contains the library of the scuola normale superiore. Until 1804, it was an infirmary and residence for elderly knights.
Below: Through a door off the Piazza dei Cavalieri, you can find these gardens

Below: Piazza Garibaldi, near the river. It is in the exact middle of Pisa. They were setting up for a concert.
Below: eating pizza in the main street, Borgo Stretto, after a hard day's sightseeing.

36. Menton - the house

Our beautiful friend, Jilly not only opened her gorgeous home to us, she squired us around and showed us the lovely places in her part of the world. Jilly boards dogs at her dog pension, so we also had the company of four lovely dogs, all impeccably well-behaved.

Below: Houses nestled in a valley above Menton with a view to the ocean. The roof top just below road level is our digs.

Below: The upper terrace

Below: Breakfast on the upper terrace




Below: Ben and the pugs settle in for some TV watching
Below: The lower terrace. Our suite was through the further blue shuttered doors
Below: Looking from the lower to upper terrace

Below: Our room
Below: one of our fellow guests at Pension Milou, Rosie.

Below: Beau is Canine-In-Residence. A lovely fellow who has had a hard life until adopted by Jilly. Now he is king of the castle, but a very 'umble one!

62. Barcelona - Gaudí - Park Güell

Eusebi Güell was an industrialist who wanted to develop an English garden suburb on this hill overlokking Barcelona. He had used Gaudí as his architect on various other projects and once more engaged him. The development was a flop, but Güell was too rich to care, and lived there himself, and allowed charities to stage fund-raising parties. After his death in 1918 his family donated the park to the city. In 1984 it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Below: The Grand Staircase and Salamander


Below: The main entrance with two pavilions perhaps inspired by Hansel and Gretel. Topped by roofs of swirling coloured mosaics, supolas and mushroom forms.

Below: On Sundays people gather to dance the traditional Catalan dance, the Sardana, accompanied by a band playing the traditional tunes. Here's a Sardana in Park Guell on Youtube.




Below: the Serpentine bench. To form the mould of the seat Gaudí got a naked man to sit in wet plaster. The trencadi (smashed up ceramics, reassembled) design was the work og Jujol...he broke up his own cupid-painted dinnerware for the project.











Below: the Sepentine bench forms the perimeter of the roof of the Sala Hipóstila underneath. It was planned as a covered market. The columns are hollow, allowing water to run down the insides to a cistern to store water for irrigation.