Goodbye, Giulia! 3/16/18

I had the brilliant idea of trying to exchange our unwieldy Alfa Romeo Giulia for something pedestrian at the Bari Airport. We had no idea whether this would work. We imagined ourselves (John) trying to explain the situation to someone who understood only a little English. It was not an encouraging scenario.

We get to the airport, park, and gird our loins for a protracted fight. We approach the car rental place and are waited on by a lovely young woman who after listening to our plight says, of course, no worries, and she rustles us up an small Opel SUV with automatic transmission. We return the Giulia and, after some discussion among the agents, they decide that the scratched wheel casings are just normal wear and tear or pre-existing conditions and we are on our way. John, I think, is somewhat less excited about losing the Alfa than Sarah and I are. Yay!

Opel Mokka

We head to Siponto outside of Manfredonia to see Santa Maria Maggiore. The complex includes a 11th-12th century church and a much earlier one. Since there are only foundations and a floor left, an artist has made a suggestion of the church with a wire frame. It is quite amazing.

Santa Maria Maggiore in Siponto
Suggestion of Paleo Christian church next to 12th century church
Art Installation

Exchanging the car and looking at Santa Maria Maggiore has taken up the entire morning and so we stop in Manfredonia for lunch. Since it is a seaside town we are lucky to find anything open. We have lunch at Baciati del Mare.

Sarah lunch – spaghetti vongole
John lunch – Grilled octopus
Mary lunch – pasta with pork and asparagus

We take a walk down by the marina and look out over the Adriatic Sea. Something tells us we had better head back to Bari soon.

Threatening sky in Manfredonia

It is a long drive back to Bari made longer by a search for a derelict old church which we could not visit. We meet later for pizza at Botta, a pizzeria recommended by the hotel staff. It is delicious! Not quite NJ pizza but still pretty good!

One pizza Diavalo and two pizza Nocina

Beating octopi. 3/15/18

The breakfast room at our hotel is up on the sixth floor with a panoramic view of the Adriatic Sea. What a view to start our day with!

View of Bari and the Adriatic Sea at breakfast

Since this is a real working harbor we decide to visit the fish market where the fishermen have just brought in the early morning catch. As we walk along the seafront we are impressed by how clean the water is.

Looking down into the water

At the market the fishermen are selling their wares. You can get something called a Bari breakfast which is octopus liver and some other delight. John and Sarah are all gung-ho for trying this but luckily we get there too late for the local delicacy.  There are all sorts of sealife for sale – fishes, octopi, shrimps, and sea urchins.

Fish for sale along the docks

It is interesting to see how the octopi are tenderized and cleaned. First they are beaten on the cement to tenderize them and then they are washed in big buckets of what looks like soapy water.

The fisherman on the left is beating his octopus with a club while the guy on the right is slamming his down hard to tenderize it
Fisherman washing octopi

From here we venture into the old city in search of interesting old churches. As usual we come across features from the Roman past.

Piece of a Roman road with cart ruts in the stone

We are looking for the Basilica of St. Nicholas. The streets are a winding maze of houses, churches, stores, and cafes. Thankfully it is all a pedestrian zone. We come across the side of a large white building and know we are in the right place. On the side is a bas-relief of a Saint with his miracles – dowry to three women, boys in a pickle barrel, three golden balls, it has to be St. Nicholas.

Bas-relief of St. Nicholas and his miracles

The basilica was constructed between 1087 and 1197.  It was is built to house the recovered relics of Saint Nicholas from the saint’s original shrine in Myra, Turkey. When Myra was conquered by the Saracens, it was seen as an opportunity to move the saint’s relics to a safer location. The relics were carried off under the noses of the lawful Greek custodians and their Muslim masters, and on May 9, 1087, were safely landed at Bari. (Paraphrased from Wikipedia)

Church of St. Nicholas, Bari

Like so many of these old, old churches, the interior was redecorated several times to the modern standard of the era. St. Nicholas has been brought back to its original Romanesque look recently but all the frescoes that would have decorated these walls have been lost.

Interior of Church of St. Nicholas

A few early Renaissance pieces exist but like this beautiful Vivarini are kept at a distance from the tourists.

Roped off Vivarini

We want to explore the crypt where some of St. Nicholas is entombed but there is a service going on and we need to keep a respectful distance. I am not sure what sect of Catholicism this is. The priests are in peacock blue vestments and wear beards so I imagine it is Eastern Orthodox. Perhaps these are from Myra, Turkey where the relics were taken from. I have read that they are still disgruntled about the “safe-keeping”.

Service in the crypt

The other famous church here in Bari is the Cathedral of St. Sabinus. It is dedicated to Saint Sabinus, a bishop of Canosa, whose relics were brought here in the 9th century. The present building was constructed between the late 12th and late 13th centuries and was built on the site of the ruins of the Imperial Byzantine cathedral destroyed in 1156. This is another lasagna church and we can explore the centuries underneath for 3 Euros each.

Exterior of Cathedral of St. Sabinus (photo from Wikipedia)

Inside is the same whitewashed look of Basilica of St. Nicholas. Here is a piece of fresco. Maybe St. Sabinus?

St. Sabinus?

We go down below the cathedral where there are catwalks and explanation about what is what but it is hard to visualize.

Under the cathedral is a jumble of earlier constructions

Rounding a corner there is a fragment of fresco. Stylistically it looks 11th or 12th century.

Medieval fragment of a fresco

The most interesting piece is a 6th century mosaic floor by Timoteo with an inscription.

Sixth century mosaic of Timoteo

The border contains flowers, fishes, and squid!

Detail of floor

We have been tromping around for quite a while and now it is time for lunch. We find our favorite restaurant in Bari, Giampaolo, and settle into a our leisurely main meal of the day. Our waiter is the same one from when we ate here three years ago.

John and Sarah are way more adventurous than I am and end up with the better lunches. I am just afraid of eating things I haven’t tried before.

Sarah starter – sea urchin pasta
Sarah main – grilled local fish. She wanted octopus but was steered away by the waiter who brought out a couple of fish for her to look at and choose from
John starter – clams in brood. John wanted mussels but the waiter said not good today
John pasta – local favorite orichiette with bitter greens
Mary starter – tempura shrimp. I could tell the waiter was disappointed by my wimpy selection
Mary pasta tortelloni with lobster, shrimp and crispy zucchini. Never found the zucchini. Dish was pretty meh
Yay, limoncello sorbet with blackberries. Free cream puffs

Thus sated we returned to the hotel for siesta.

Later in the afternoon we went to the local art museum not far from our hotel. John and I had no admission charge because we are so-o-o old. There was a special exhibition by Sandro Chia of the terracotta warriors of Xi-am all painted up in gaudy colors. It was mostly in the midieval and early Renaissance room so we dodged around the 20th century stuff to see the “good” stuff, G. Bellini, Veronese, Tintoretto, etc. Unfortunately no photos allowed and they followed us around so I could not even sneak one!

No dinner tonight we just met for a planning session and retired early.

 

Unplanned spontaneity 3/14/18

Using our time until check out to the fullest, this morning we visit the St. Ilario complex. It is not far from the Arch of Trajan and is a very ancient, small building dating from the end of the 6th or the beginning of the 7th century. It was used as a church and later a farmhouse and thus has not been much changed through the centuries due to continual use. Inside there is a multi-media presentation which explains all the bas-relief carvings on the arch of Trajan. He was a much beloved leader who secured the Roman Empire borders, was emperor and yet still was humble and like a common man or soldier.

St. Illaire with the Arch of Trajan in the background
Many buildings have re-used pieces of Roman buildings after the fall of the Empire. This piece looks like it was some sort of serpent.

Our ride to Canosa di Puglia should take about an hour and a half and we arrive around 1 PM. First we look for somewhere to eat. We can find nothing. All there seems to be are grungy, graffiti filled streets. We decide to head to our hotel to see if we can check in. The hotel is situated among the grunge and everything is behind locked barriers. We go to our not very pleasant rooms and wonder what to do next. The proprietor says there is a restaurant next door so we go to there to find some lunch. The restaurant is also behind a steel grill. John presses the intercom but no one answers.

We decide we do not want to stay in Canosa di Puglia even if there is a penalty for it. John tells the guy behind the desk and they argue but we are not staying. That’s it. Sorry but this is our vacation and we are not staying somewhere like this for three days. We leave. I do not know what will happen next but I will keep an eye on our credit card account.

We head to Bari with much lighter spirits. We stop at an Autogrill and have another okay lunch. There are some weird choices that you can make, though.

Odd sandwich-y thing with French fries
Sarah and I have pizza with peppers
John has lasagna

We have been talking to John about ditching the Alfa at the Bari airport and getting a car that is a bit more driveable in Italy and Sicily. He asks for a picture of him with the Alfa.

John and the Alfa Romeo

We decide that instead of one night in Bari we will make it three and add one additional night onto Lecce to make up for the three days we were supposed to stay in Canosa di Puglia.

After much struggle due to a bad accident right in front of our hotel, we settle into our new digs. Our room looks over the Adriatic Sea. We are so glad to be here.

Our room with balcony overlooking the Adriatic Sea

Tonight our happy hour is happy indeed. We have a glass of wine and order the salami plate which ends up being enormous and more than enough to do for dinner.

Ginormous salami plate

World War II and earthquakes. 3/13/18

Recorded history stretches back a long way in these parts. To day we visit Avellino and Benevento on our way to southeast Italy.

Yesterday Yuri extolled the virtues of Avellino wine. The grapes are grown on the western slope of Mt. Vesuvius and that terroir gives the white wines a particular taste. We figure we will stop and pick up a bottle of their wine while in Avellino and visit the cathedral.

Driving and parking our giant, flashy Alfa Romeo is not an easy task in these ancient streets. John does a great job but we are discussing trying to ditch this car and get a smaller, more workman like car when we get to Bari. We do reach the Avellino Cathedral and find a parking space. The front door is open but the inner door is locked. We cannot get in. This is frustrating!

Avellino Cathedral photo from Wikipedia

This Romanesque Cathedral builtin the 12th century has been mightily changed by being bombed in World War II and by the 6.9 magnitude Irpinia earthquake of 1980. Still we had hope to see some vestige of its former self. On the bronze front doors are panels of planes flying overhead and the destruction of the earthquake. I cannot believe that I neglected to take a picture!

Anyway, since we cannot imagine finding another parking space to buy a bottle of wine, we decide to push on to Benevento where we will spend the night. Benevento is a very old place. Inhabited before the Romans, it gained new importance when two arms of the Via Appia intersected here. The road ran through the Trajan Arch which is still in good shape.

View towards the Trajan Arch in Beneveto
2nd century Trajan Arch

Further exploration will have to wait, though, it’s time for lunch! We stop at the bistro Dionisio and have an interesting lunch.

Sarah’s lunch – porchetta panino
John’s lunch – antipasti from the sea
Mary’s lunch – antipasti from the land

Thus fortified we go take a look at Santa Sofia, a UNESCO world heritage site, a part of Longobards in Italy, Places of Power 568-774 AD. We saw several of this group last year in northern Italy.

The structure built in 760 has an unusual hexagonal star shaped interior. It has been renovated several times,however, in1957 most of the original appearance was restored, based on evidence from historical documentation. Unfortunately most of the frescoes have been lost with only a few fragments left.

Annunciation and Visitation

The other two fragments have to do with the life of Zacharias.

Outside over the door is a bas-relief which is very Lombard looking from the 13th century and depicts Christ enthroned between the Virgin, St. Marcurius and Gregory the Abbot.

Longobard Bas-relief over entrance to St. Sofia, Benevento, Italy
Mary and John in front of St. Sofia

We return to the hotel for a little siesta. Later John and Sarah go out while I try to finish yesterday’s post. They visit the Benevento cathedral dedicated to St. Bartholomew and established in the 8th century.

Statue of St. Bartholomew holding the knife he was flayed with

But nothing lasts forever even if it survives earthquakes. Below is an archival picture of Benevento Cathedral after an Allied bombing in 1943. So nothing much is left of the original church.

Benevento Cathedral after Allied bombing

Later we return to Dionisio’s restaurant (rather than bistro) for dinner. It turns out to be a rather fancy place where you might get a chef’s menu. Really, all we wanted was a bowl of pasta but we do not have the nerve to leave and so have a much longer, fancier meal than we had anticipated.

Mary antipasto – a tart with chestnut cream, squash, apples, Camembert, and crispy pancetta
Mary main course – fusilli with tomato sauce, caciocavallo, and grated hazelnuts
Sarah’s starter – large spaghetti with hazelnut cream, concentrated San Marzano tomato sauce and eel foam
Sarah’s main – quail with fried accompaniments and egg
John’s antipasto – carpaccio of lamb with fried artichokes and herb cream
John’s main – tortellini stuffed with foie gras and broccoli

Oh, and also a bottle Fiano from Avellino!

The joys of a lard sandwich. 3/12/18

Today started out badly and ended spectacularly. You never know what is just around the corner.

This morning John and Sarah need to go over to the train station and pick up the rental car that we are using for the rest of our trip. I am to stand outside with the GPS to make sure it has a signal before they come back with the car. So I am all  positioned in front of the hotel with the luggage and  I wait. Then it starts to rain, then pour, then thunder and lightning. After about an hour they are back with the car. It is much more involved than had been anticipated. Plus we have this very flashy, wide car. An Alfa Romeo. It has weird gears.

Off we go towards Pompeii with an interim stop in Tivoli to see the duomo and maybe Hadrian’s villa. But probably not the villa because a lot of it is outside and it is raining hard. The traffic is horrendous and once we get to Tivoli the roads are very narrow. By the time we get to where we think the cathedral will be we are all pretty tense. We ask directions which we really do not understand because it is a long explanation in Italian but somehow we find the duomo down a long steep hill.

Tivoli Cathedral of St. Lawrence

We are looking forward to seeing the decoration and especially a wooden deposition group. We have seen these groups in a museum in Spoleto. Surviving examples are extremely rare. The group in the Tivoli duomo is supposed to have 6 life size figures including an angel and was carved in the early 13th century.

Here’s what we see when we walk in.

Interior of Tivoli duomo

Oh no, we cry out in unison. It has been such a hard morning and we finally found the church and now it is shrouded in scaffolding and sheets. Bummer.

There is no one here except some workers with noisy equipment so we start to poke around. To the right of the big sheet covering the altar is a little chapel and in the chapel is the deposition group mostly in darkness.

Wooden deposition group carved 1220-30

We get out our phone flashlights and find a switch and a button. We decide to turn the switch on and hope that it is not an alarm. It is not.

Lighted up deposition group

Wow, wow, wow! So old and in such good shape! And we do not have to see it with a big crowd of tourists. Our day is definitely looking up.

View from Tivoli

Back in the car we decide to skip Hadrian’s villa because it is just too wet. We continue on toward Pompeii stopping at an Autogrill for some lunch. We are sure it will be bad. But it’s not! Our lunch is actually quite delicious! Everyone is a winner today.

Sarah and I have artichoke risotto and a salad for lunch
John has flavorful lentils and artichokes for his lunch

Once getting off the toll road we travel down impossibly narrow and potholed streets to our B &B, Certe Notti near Pompeii Center. It is pretty humble but convenient.

John settles into our digs, the Certe Notti, in Pompeii
Out in the back there are lemons and oranges

After some much needed rest we head off for our dinner reservations at Vincanto. This is Yuri Buono’s wine bar and small plates place celebrating the wines and foods of the region and the “slow food” movement in Italy. We give ourselves over to Yuri and his staff to choose what is best. We have eaten here twice before in years’ past and know we will not be disappointed!

Aglianico Don Paolo
Sarah is enjoying it
Salami and cheese board with honey and marmalade

To the left in the picture below is the title’s lard sandwich. It might sound awful but it is so good!

Bruschettone of cheese, mushroom, and lard on ancient grain bread plus tomatoes and cheese
Porchetta with preserved peppers (“paparecelle”)
John is leaning on his left side and it is not even Passover yet!
A layered pistachio and cream mousse in celebration of Sarah’s upcoming birthday

Yuri also plays the guitar and sings songs of his home. The men’s supper club who have been dining in the front room join in the singing. It is a great end to a wonderful evening. (Plus the bill for our dinner including the bottle of wine and three after dinner drinks is less than 100 Euros!)

Yuri serenades us

Last day in Rome. 3/11/18

Uh, oh, there are no happy faces at breakfast. I am used to sleeping in little pieces or not at all for hours but my compatriots are not. Sarah has been up since 1:15 AM and John has awakened several times during the night. I have had about six hours of sleep with a big gap in the middle but that is the way I usually sleep so no biggie.

I have a plan for at least part of the day and that is to go to the Museo Nationale di Palazzo Venezia. We are hoping the rain holds off at least until nap time.

It is quite a distance away so we take a cab from the nearby train station. The building itself is quite large and follows the Italian plan of walls on four sides with garden in the middle. We are told to go up a long flight of stairs to buy the tickets. I ask if there is an elevator. Yes, but I have to go around the block and into a different entrance.

Turns out we cannot find the elevator and are in fact told that you cannot use the elevator unless you have a ticket which you would have had to walk up the stairs for. Sigh.

The Museum has a large variety of works. Here are a couple I liked.

Bas-relief of St. Jerome with his lion either right before or after he pulled the thorn out of the lion’s paw. The lion looks like he wants to jump up into St. Jerome’s lap
Someone made a rather macabre rattle for Jesus
The garden in the middle where I am placed while John and Sarah try to find one another

So the museum is not a huge success. We need to find some other things to do in this area. We decide to look in the church Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. After all a church built over a Roman temple should have some interesting artifacts and maybe a tour of the old temple! While  John runs in to see if the morning services are over, I take a picture of Sarah by the elephant and obelisk out front.

Sarah by the elephant and obelisk in front of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva

The obelisk was found during excavations nearby and the sculptor G. Bernini fashioned the elephant. It was erected in 1667.

John returns from his scouting of the church. No luck! The Mass is still going on. We decide to take a look at the Pantheon instead.

It is party time in the piazza in front of the Pantheon. There are musical acts, food sellers, guys hawking selfie sticks, soldiers with machine guns, and another obelisk. The Romans are just mad for obelisks. This one, the Macuteo obelisk, was created during the period of Ramses II and is set on a plinth in the middle of a fountain.

Crowd in the Piazza in front of the Parthenon with obelisk fountain
Here is a better few of the piazza that I grabbed off of Wikipedia

We head into the Pantheon. The present building was completed by the emperor Hadrian and probably dedicated about 126 AD. It is an immense space. The structure of the coffered dome allows for a space which is uninterrupted by supporting columns. It is the prototype for a lot of Western architecture.

Interior of the Pantheon
Looking up at the oculus

By now it is past noon and we figure Mass should be over. We head back to Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. Unfortunately there is no sign of Minerva. The current Gothic Church was started in the 1100’s and completed in 1370. There has been some redecoration. The most important work of art in the church is Michelangelo’s statue Cristo della Minerva (1521).

Interior of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva
Michelangelo’s Cristo della Minerva

We get a taxi back to the hotel. Funny thing about our taxi rides, the price in one direction always is way more expensive then the price back. We cannot figure out if this has to do with the pattern of one way streets or if some drivers are merely ripping us off. In any case taking a taxi has improved our ability to stay upright longer.

We eat lunch at Binario 37. It is mostly bad but the wait person is charming and we are too tired to care. Sarah wins the lunch selection contest.

Mary lunch – lasagna (glop on a plate)
John lunch – salami pizza (pre-made crackery crust)
Sarah lunch – tagliatelle Bolognese (the winner in a pretty poor competition)

And that’s all I have for today. Third day jet lag has won. We meet at 4PM in a zombie-like state. We walk around the block in the rain. We go back to our rooms. We meet again at 7:30 PM and decide to just eat Happy Hour snacks. Currently John and I have been up since 3AM. Jet lag is still winning.

We are off to Pompei tomorrow in a rental car. We have a planned stop in Tivoli to see the cathedral and Hadrian’s Villa. Hopefully it will not be raining.

 

Planned spontaneity. 3/10/18

We have sometimes been criticized for being overplanned when we travel. Really this is all on me. I am the kind of person that likes to know what is happening next and be early for it! But even though I have had the hotels locked down for ages, have tickets for special events, and generally have an idea of what I want to do, there is still plenty of time to do extra things. I call it planned spontaneity.

Today we want to visit the Basilica of  St. Clement, the Monastery of the Four Crowned Martyrs, and Basilica Of Sts. John and Paul. I get a note in the morning that Sarah has researched the Basilica Sts. John and Paul and it appears that the entire interior has been redone. Oh, Churches, I bet you regret getting rid of all the wonderful old decorations that would have made your church irresistible!

We start the day at the Basilica di San Clemente (St. Clement) and we will have to play it by ear afterwards. The Basilica, built in the 12th century, is pretty unimposing from the outside but pretty fabulous on the inside. There is a wonderfully intricate mosaic behind the altar.

Church interior San Clemente

I have only two pictures because you are not allowed to take pictures in here. I guess it cuts down on their postcard revenue. I get caught by the guard taking this one and sternly admonished. I pretend that I don’t understand all the warning signs and react humbly apologetic. He does not throw me out. My other picture is more detailed. Sarah and John huddled around me so I didn’t get caught on this next one. Stupid rule!

Close up of the San Clemente mosaic

The mosaic is wonderfully detailed. The tree of life is sprouting up from an acanthus plant. Legend has it that the cross is made from the tree of life. All the tendrils (the circular bits) ends in a flower or some other benign aspect of life. In between the tendrils there are birds and saints. Along the bottom edge above the sheep there are charming scenes of farming and husbandry. Plus there are some very robust sheep here. I know all about Christ being the shepherd of his flock but I have never seen so many big sheep!

This church is also referred to as the lasagna church because there are two additional older layers under this one. John and Sarah buy the ticket to go exploring. I must remain above because of my wonky knee and the stairs and uneven pavement. I amuse myself while they are gone by playing with my phone and taking the aforementioned illegal picture.

Next we head to the Monastery of the Four Crowned (anonymous) Martyrs. Built in the 400’s it was destroyed, rebuilt and burned down twice and rebuilt into its final form in the 12th century. Alas, a lot of the interior has been redecorated.

Redecorated altar area

But wait! There are some old fragments of frescoes on the side walls.

On the right is St. Bartholmew. He was flayed with the wicked knife he is holding. His skin, at least from the neck down, is flung over his shoulder.

There are a cloistered group of nuns who live here in silence. We are supposed to be silent too. Going through a side door we are confronted with a sign in Italian. We think it means we are supposed to go knock on some door and a silent nun will give us entry to a chapel. Fortunately some tourists walk out at that moment and we slip in. It is like walking into the 13th century!

Frescoes in the Chapel of St. Sylvester

The narrative panels depict the Emperor Constantine refusing to bathe in the blood of children to cure his leprosy. He dreams in the center panel that Sts. Peter and Paul are advising him to contact Pope St. Sylvester who is in exile so in the third panel his envoys ride out to find the Pope.

Continuation of saga

In the first panel on the next wall, the envoys climb a mountain to find the Pope. Next the Pope returns to Rome and shows an icon of Sts. Peter and Paul to the Emperor.

Continuing…

The Pope baptizes the Emperor and then the Emperor grants temporal Sovereignty to the Pope.

End.

The Pope and the now cured Emperor have a big happy parade to celebrate.

This is not as innocuous as it seems. The work was painted due to the confrontation of Pope Innocent IV and the excommunicated Holy Roman emperor, Frederick II. The church wanted to show with these cartoon-like frescoes that the Church has sovereignty over the Empire.  After all, they did not have Twitter to show their bravado.

We have completed the scheduled portion of our programming and now it is time for some planned spontaneity! John sees some statues in the distance on a building. Maybe it is something we might want to see. We head off in that direction and come to a large square.  It is the Piazza S. Giovanni in Lateran. We know that the the church has to be here somewhere. We walk around. Where could a giant church hide.

In the meantime we enjoy looking at the tallest obelisk in Rome. It is from the temple of Amun of Karnak. It was built in 15BC and transported to Rome in 357. It is covered in hieroglyphics.

Lateranense Obelisk in Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano

Parts of the Roman walls are here as well. Here is a section left standing between two houses.

Old Roman wall

Finally we find the church. It is not merely a church and not merely a Basilica, it is an arch-basilica headed by an arch-priest, which seems kind of villain-y. San Giovanni in Lateran is an enormous church and is the Cathedral of Rome and since the Pope is the bishop of Rome, this is his church.

San Giovanni in Lateran

The arch-basilica was consecrated in 324 and pre-dates St. Peter’s. All the Popes lived here until the French Pope, Clement V, who  transferred the seat of the papacy to Avignon. After a couple of fires and refurbishes, this is what the interior looks like now.

Interior of San Giovanni in Lateran (picture from Wikipedia)

There are twelve enormous statues of the Apostles. Each Apostle has with him an identifying icon i.e. St. Peter has keys. There is an apsidal mosaic created in 1291 depicting the miraculous appearance of Christ in the basilica apse at the time of its re-consecration  by Pope Sylvester.

Apsidal mosaic in San Giovanni in Lateran

So this has been some pretty sweet spontaneity. In addition to our two planned churches we have also gotten to see part of the wall of Rome, the obelisk, and the arch-basilica of St. John Lateran. I think we deserve some lunch! We grab a taxi back to the hotel to wash up and then find a place for lunch.

Today we dine at Elettra around the block from the hotel. It is an okay lunch but not as good as yesterday’s. John wins best lunch choice.

Mary’s lunch – Spaghetti with clams (gritty)
Sarah’s lunch – polenta with boar stew (not enough sauce and dry polenta)
John’s lunch – grilled squid (perfetto!)

Now as everything shuts down that we want to see, we shut down to for an hour’s nap. All of us basically sleep for the entire time without moving. We’ve been up a significant portion of the night and are really tired. Thanks, jet lag!

Remember yesterday we saw the weird painting of St. Pudenziana collecting martyr’s blood with her sister St. Praexedes? Turns out that St. Pudenziana’s sister also has a church in Rome and it is not too far from our hotel. It really doesn’t look like much from the outside but it has some great mosaic work inside. There is a little chapel dedicated to St. Zeno with mosaics from the late 13th century.

Entry to the Zenon chapel, a funerary chapel for Pope Pascal’s mother, Theodora
The two martyred sisters flank the madonna and child
The madonna in blue and the two sisters along with Theodora who was not dead yet and so gets a square halo

We are done sightseeing for the day. We choose a restaurant for pizza. John and I share a pizza Margarita and Sarah has a Calabrese and Roma pizza to herself. They are good but not quite as good as Jersey shore pizza. I will need to keep searching for the perfect pizza!

John and I share a pizza Margarita
Sarah has a pizza called Calabrese and Roma

Once again we pledge to stay awake until 10 PM. Tomorrow is the dreaded third day of jet lag so we will see how everyone has fared in the morning.

Walkabout in Rome. 3/9/18

After a fairly reasonable amount of sleep last night due to exhaustion we meet at breakfast to plan today’s activities. We have decided to visit four churches before lunch and then figure out the rest of the day while having lunch.

First stop is St. Pudenziana a few blocks from the hotel. St. Pudenziana is no longer a recognized saint by the church. She and her sister, Praexedes, were dethroned in 1969 at Vatican II. But her church is the oldest continuing Christian community in Rome and also the patron church of the Phillippines. The morning is brisk but sunny and we enjoy the walk to the church which is many feet below the surface of the street.

Sarah in front of St. Pudenziana’s

Stepping in from the brightness of the street, the first thing we see is a rather bizarre painting of St. Pundenziana and her sister, St. Praexedes collecting blood from martyrs. This was apparently done to facilitate miracles and to be used as relics in churches.

Saints Pudenziana and Saint Praexedes collecting the blood of martyrs

Behind the altar is a large mosaic, striking for its natural looking figures. I am so used to mosaics with Byzantine faces. Since this is the earliest Christian Church in Rome, the figures are pre-Byzantine and Jesus and the apostles are wearing togas and have individual faces and expressions. (This applies to the figures on the left side and Jesus, the figures on the right have been altered.) There is also the first appetarance of the iconography of the Gospels.

Mosaic in Chiesa Santa Pudenziana

Rome was built on seven hills and our next stop, The Church of Saint Peter in chains, is atop one of them. Sarah points out that if we just go up this incredibly huge staircase we will have a shorter route to the church. Reluctantly I agree to go along with this plan. The many, many steps are uneven and perilous. The only reason I am walking around on this trip at all is thanks to a shot of cortisone in my knee right before we left. By the time I get to the top I am pretty shaky and drenched in sweat.

After a few minutes of recovery time, we go up the steps(!) to the church. I take a seat under the guise of wanting to get oriented. Finally I get up and hobble up towards the altar. One of the two main draws for this church are the chains miraculously welded together that St. Peter wore when he was imprisoned and subsequently released by an angel.

Sarah with St. Peter’s chains

The other big draw is Michelangelo’s statue of Moses. He was supposed to carve an entire  sarcophagus for Pope Julius II but only did Moses. We have seen this statue several times and it is always impressive. The hands are beautiful.

Micelangelo’s Moses

Just as Michelangelo’s David in Florence is an opportunity for name-branding, Moses gets a lot of play here.

The Moses Bar

Since we are in the Coliseum area we decide to take some photo ops before we head to the Church of Cosmos and Damien.

Looking out towards the forum with Sarah below checking her phone for directions
Mary and John by the Coliseum
They are putting a new subway line which must be very difficult. First they have to not knock down any of the ruins and they also have to categorize anything old they find

Inthe meantime we are walking down narrow sidewalks jammed with people. Don’t they know it is the beginning of March and they should stay home? It was below freezing and snowing here last week and now it is beautiful and inthe 60’s! We are accosted by people wanting to sells us tours, selfie sticks and food. It is great to duck into a quiet church and get out of the crowds.

Approaching the church of Cosmos and Damian

This Church is partly made from ancient Roman structures. You can view the Temple of Romulus from inside the church. There is a large mosaic of Christ’s Second Coming. There are a lot of big sheep.

Mosaic of Second Coming
Sheep!

By now we are dragging but we have one more church on our schedule before lunch, the Basilica of Maria Maggiore. We manage to have a hard time finding the door that is open and spend some time tromping around this immense church. Finally inside Santa Maria Maggiore, the church is resplendent with mosaics and a beautiful ceiling. The current basilica was erected by Pope Sixtus III (432-440) after the Treaty of Ephesus which settled the question of whether Mary was the mother of God.

The mosaic behind the altar shows Jesus and Mary sitting together in heaven. All along the nave are panels in mosaic with various scenes from the Bible. The ceiling is especially beautiful.

Mary enthroned
Sarah photographing Pope Pius IX in a chamber in front of the altar

Time for lunch! We start to head back in the direction of the hotel stopping now and then to see some interesting Roman piece of history. Rome is such a mishmash of centuries with ancient Roman ruins next to Renaissance buildings and 20th century structures.

Roman vista

We decide to stop at Ristorante Leonetti because I am ready to fall down. We have a delightful lunch of Roman specialties. We are the only Americans in the place!

Cacio e pepe for Mary
Bucatini with cured meat for Sarah and John

Next up, what all of us have been craving – siesta! So far today we have done a lot of walking and stair climbing and we are all tired. We decide we can spare an hour to recharge while most of the churches are closed anyway. They reopen around 3pm. All of us go to sleep but when I wake up I have a terrible pain in my lower right leg and my big toe is sticking straight up. I didn’t know that it could even bend like that. So I am freaked. I have apparently gotten so dehydrated that I am cramping up. John manages to massage my leg enough to relax the cramp and get my toe down. Jeez, what next!?

We meet downstairs and walk to a fairly nearby museum, The National Gallery at the Palazzo Barbarini. They have a couple of floors of art we might be interested in and an elevator. Here are some things we enjoyed –

Triumphant Christ – upright with eyes open and is usually seen before the 13th century
Suffering Christ, a later development in crucifixion art
Giotto-esque lamentation over the dead Christ by Giovanni Branzio mid-14 th century
King Henry VIII by Hans Holbein

We flag down a taxi to get back to the hotel because it is really uphill and I am whining. We decide to meet again at 7 pm at the bar. During this time my leg cramps up again. The toe thing is really weird.

Great thing about a lot of Italian bars is that they have a whole bunch of free food if you buy a glass of wine, a beer, or a cocktail. We are not too hungry and so make dinner out of  the offerings.

Bar snacks

Sarah tells us that we must stay awake until 10 PM but unfortunately we all crash by 9 and end up awake half the night. Jet lag is such fun.

The longest day. 3/7-8/18

  • Today we travel to Rome and while all roads may lead to Rome not all airplanes do. This is true especially today when the Italians have called for a transportation strike which will last until 6pm. So our flight to Rome from London has been cancelled and we are put on a much later flight. We also lose our business class seats. Sigh.

    John and Sarah waiting for the flight to London
John whiling away the hours on the long flight to Heathrow

There is nothing to be done about it so we just try to put on our best faces and soldier on. As I am writing this we are in our 4th layover hour and have two more to go.

Long story short, the later flight is delayed. We arrive in Rome after 8 pm, then we have to go through the giant passport control line, get our luggage, take a very exciting taxi ride which is extreme at up to 90 mph with inventive use of traffic lanes  (plus my seat belt does not work!), and end up at our hotel at 10 pm. Ah the glamour of travel.

Small section of the Disneyland-like line at passport control

But we are here in Rome! So all the hassle has faded into the background (almost).The Hotel UNA Roma has given us an upgrade to a suite and we have plans for tomorrow! Next order of business, sleep!

Suite
Bedroom

 

January and February, 2018

Things were pretty quiet in January and February. I was having a lot of trouble with my knee and an adverse reaction to a medication. Bright spots were Sam’s 9th Birthday, a trip to St. George, and a visit from my dear friend, Sophie. Here are some pictures –

I Sam, who is very into art these days, had us all draw while receiving instruction on a video. It was a fun activity at his birthday party.
Sam blowing out his candles
Sam’s super Auntie Leigh cake
Enjoying the rain in St. George
Watch out for bobcats!