Naples, Italy

On day seven of our trip, we went to Naples Italy. We didn't really have much of a plan, so we decided to just enjoy the culture. The first thing of interest we saw was a huge medieval castle. My husband has always been fascinated with castles, so we decided to take a tour. Castel Nuovo is on the coast and we later found out it was the home of several Italian kings and the site of many famous events and battles. One pope was elected here, and one resigned here.





The castle has beautiful interior architecture and contains some
amazing medieval art. I was fascinated by the statues and carvings of Jesus in which he always holds up a peace sign. Inside the floor there is a Plexiglas window that you can walk on and underneath there are several human skeletons. We tried to take a picture of them, but it didn't come out because of the flash.

















Next we stopped inside a huge shopping mall to have a drink. It wasn't like any mall we'd seen at home. It was inside a gorgeous old building with high glass ceilings, and there were several stray dogs laying in the middle of the main area enjoying the cool temperature of the marble
floors.





At this point, we realized we were hungry, so we asked the locals at the table next to us where we should eat. They told us about their favorite Pizza  and also a small cafe that serves their favorite limoncello.

After roaming the streets for a while, and almost getting ran over by a scooter, we finally found the Pizzeria. The traffic in Naples is completely insane. Everyone drives very fast and they don't follow the rules of the road, but somehow it works out for them. You have to be careful as a tourist though.

The Pizza we ate was unbelievable, nothing like the Pizza in the U.S. It was Pizza Margherita, which has buffalo mozzarella, olive oil and fresh basil and was named after Queen Margherita because it resembled the Italian flag. We had the pizza with a delicious red wine because that's what the locals do. They wouldn't think of eating it with beer.





After eating we took another stroll around the streets to check out the local culture and stopped in a cafe for some cappuccino and limonecello. Limoncello is a sweet, lemony aperitif that Italians usually drink after dinner to help with digestion, and it became my new favorite drink. It was very interesting to watch the locals stop in and get their usual drinks and converse with each other even though we didn't really know much of what they were saying. They were very warm and welcoming and seemed to be delighted that we chose to come into their local cafe. Overall, I liked Naples very much, even though it seemed a little dangerous. But just like any other big city, you just have to be aware of your surroundings.

Rome, Italy

In Rome, we only had one day, but we had a lot planned. We would need more that a day to see Vatican City, so we decided to bypass that and see it next time. What we wanted to see the most was the Colosseum, so we opted to ride the subway there and make our way back through the city on foot, stopping at the Forum, the Pantheon, The Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps.









We had to wait in line about a half hour to get in the Colosseum, but it was well worth the wait. The Colosseum was built in 80 AD and is still the largest building ever built in Rome. It was used for gladiator shows, among other things, and was able to hold 50,000 people. The structure is partially deteriorated due to earthquakes and stone robbers, but you can still get a really good sense of what it must have been like originally. On the inside, the original wooden floor is missing, so you can see the maze of rooms below where the gladiators and animals were once kept before entering the arena.





Right outside and across the street from the Colosseum is the Roman Forum which is a plaza surrounded by numerous ancient government buildings. It was the center of Roman life for hundreds of years and although it is in great ruin, it is amazing to see it still standing here. It consists of a great number of structures, mostly government buildings, but also temples dedicated to gods, royal residences, and an assembly area. Some are in better shape than others. We were particularly fascinated with the temple of Caesar and the complex of the Vestal Virgins. When we approached the complex, we were lucky enough to be right behind a tour guide who told us about the Vestal Virgins. They dedicated their lives and their chastity to the Goddess Vesta, but if they strayed from they're path, were buried alive.





Our next stop was the Pantheon, but we needed to stop and rest our feet a little. We sat at a cafe directly in front of the Pantheon, which is probably one of the busiest cafes in Rome. When I asked the waiter if he spoke English, he said "probably better than you do". Although the cafe was busy, we couldn't have picked a better setting. There were a lot of tourists, but also a lot of Italians passing by in their daily grind.



The Pantheon was truly amazing. Built in 126 AD as a dedication to ancient Roman gods, it's ceiling is the world's largest unreinforced dome. It has since been used as a tomb for the painter Raphael and several Italian kings, and a Roman church. It has a beautiful marble floor and a hole in the center of the ceiling called the oculus, which is it's only source of light.






Next we went into a small deli and got some arancini, small deep fried rice balls, and sat on the Spanish Steps for some people watching. The steps are the widest staircase in Europe and there were a lot of people doing the same thing we were.








Our last stop was at the Trevi fountain. A must do for anyone visiting Rome. They say if you throw a coin over your shoulder, you will return to Rome one day, and we definitely wanted to come back. We needed way more time in this beautiful city.

Pisa, Italy

Pisa was the unexpected detour on our trip. We were supposed to go to Florence, but right after we arrived at the train station, the train operators decided to go on strike. I hear this is a common thing in Italy so we just decided to go with the flow and see the leaning tower instead.


 


The tower is located in the Piazza Dei Miracoli, which basically consists of the tower, a cathedral, and a baptistry. The piazza is surrounded by peddlers trying to sell a lot of touristy merchandise.
We checked out the tower first. We opted not to go to the top because the top levels don't actually have any railings and I am deathly afraid of heights. So we decided to admire it from below and take the classic photos of us holding the tower up. I'm sure we looked like cheesy tourists, but we had a lot of fun doing it.







Next we went into the cathedral which has a lot of beautiful stained glass windows and intricate stone carvings depicting scenes from the New Testament. Next to the cathedral is the Campo Santo, which is an old cemetery building that also houses a lot of medieval art. We were especially impressed by a carved stone bathtub, which was later used as a crypt, and a baby's tomb that had a haunting depiction of a skull and crossbones.


On our way out, we stopped to have some gelato and buy a couple of souvenirs. All in all, I would have to say that Pisa was our least favorite stop on the trip. It was definitely impressive, but very touristy. Maybe if we had ventured away from the Piazza into the city, we would have experienced a little more culture. Next time, hopefully we'll make it to Florence.

Cassis, France

On the third day of our trip, we took a taxi from Marseilles, France to a small fishing village about 12 miles away, called Cassis. It is said by many to be like St. Tropez without the attitude.  The drive along the coast was beautiful, and the first thing we noticed as we got closer to the town was the vineyards. Cassis is known for it's wine making so we decided to get some local wine and cheese and find a beach to relax and enjoy the amazing views of the coast.



We found a small market that sold local wine, but had a little trouble communicating that we needed a bottle opener. Since it is a such a small town of only about 8,000 people, not many of them spoke much English. We eventually found what we needed and headed over to a local beach which had striking blue water and an amazing view of an old castle up on the hill. It was a warm day, and the water was cool and refreshing.




After basking in the sun for a while, we walked down the coast for a while to see the limestone cliffs that Cassis is famous for. It was quite a long walk, but when we got there we knew it had been worth it. The views were truly breathtaking with crystal clear blue-green water surrounded by steep, sheer cliffs topped by fig and olive trees. It was definitely one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. We sat in the shade of a huge pine tree, and drank our wine which was light and delicious.

When we got back into town, we sat at a local cafe near the pier and had coffee and crepes with Grand Marnier, which were so good, I had two. The view from the cafe gave us an even better view of the old castle up on the hill and we pondered whether someone lived in it now. It looked like it was straight out of a fairy tale. The waiter told us it was a hotel called Chateau de Cassis, and we immediately knew where we wanted to stay when we came back.

Barcelona, Spain

The first city we visited on our Mediterranean journey was Barcelona, Spain. It was September 24, 2006, the last night of a week long, annual festival dedicated to the Virgin of Merce (Mercy). Upon arrival we we're in such awe of the festivities going on that we checked into our hotel, had a cappuccino at a local cafe, and went straight out to explore the city. We were so excited, we forgot to bring our camera which I still regret because this was one of the funnest nights we had on the trip. Two blocks from our hotel, at the square in front of the city's government building, we saw some traditional Catalan folk dancers and a group of castellers. All dressed in red and white, they had erected a human tower several stories high. It was really refreshing to see people celebrating their heritage and culture with such passion.

Next we went to a local tapas bar down the street from our hotel. We drank sangria and ate paella, a delicious seafood and rice dish made with saffron, and several different types of tapas which were all fabulous. My favorite was the pan con tomate (toasted bread with garlic, tomato and olive oil). I couldn't get enough of it.










After dinner we went to see some more of the festivities. The festival is city wide, and they have something going on in every square. We watched a parade with giant, fire breathing dragons, and I ended up dancing in the street with a 7 foot tall skeleton puppet. There were street entertainers, people with giant papier mache heads, and tons of fireworks. We decided to check out one of the concerts. There were lots of different types of bands playing, and we had such a good time meeting people and dancing. The people in Barcelona are so friendly that it was easy to conversate with them even through the language barrier. At one point, one of the bands started to play YMCA and the entire crowd danced along with it.

The next morning we set out to see as many of the popular sites in Barcelona that we could in one day. We walked down Las Ramblas. It's a rather touristy shopping street, but it was charming and fairly quiet. Everyone must have been sleeping in after the previous night's festivities. We rode the subway to La Sagrada Familia which was a fun experience. You can tell a lot about a city by watching the people on it's subways. On this day, there were a lot of young people flirting with each other.

La Sagrada Familia is a large, Roman Catholic church designed by Spanish artist and architect, Antoni Gaudi, which was never fully completed as he died during it's construction. Despite being incomplete, the church is unbelievable. Constructed in a mixture of Gothic and art nouveau styles, it is truly breathtaking, and is a must see for anyone visiting Barcelona. We had to wait in line a little while, but it was worth it. At the entrance I noticed the very intricate carvings of roses around the arches and thought about how long it would have taken just to do that one little area. We walked up a very narrow dark, spiral staircase for what seemed like forever to get to the top. We could see the entire city and got a really good view of the strange but beautiful spires at the top of the cathedral. There are so many details, from the stained glass windows, to intricately carved statues and ceiling, it took us half a day to see them all.

After leaving the cathedral, we decided to see another design of Gaudi's, Parc Guell. It is a beautifully designed park at the top of a mountain which also has a phenomenal view of the city. To get there on foot was pretty easy. There are miles of escalators that go all the way to the top. Everything in the park was designed by Gaudi, including the house he lived in. There are some benches and a gecko fountain covered in colorful mosaic tiles, and a cool walkway with stone arches. We sat in the shade and listened to a man play the guitar. There seemed to be music playing everywhere we went in this city. It was definitely in my top two favorite cities that we went to, and I highly recommend visiting especially during Festes de la Merce.