Volterra

March 21, 2010

Day Trip to Volterra

Victoria, Sera, Ali and I decided to put our massive amounts of work aside for the day and head to the hill-top town of Volterra for the day. After a short hour-ish train ride, one large bus to a deserted lot, and one tiny bus up to the town we finally made it. Like all Italian cities, every street was cobble stoned and uphill. I’m always amazed by the amount of uphill streets you can find in one Italian town. Unknown to us before out arrival Volterra is known for its alabaster and is therefore sold in about every other store. I do not think I have ever seen so many stone products in one place, but if you are in the market for a stone sweater I know the perfect place for you. Also unknown to us was that there was a truffle festival in the main Piazza- which the smell of them could knock you over they were so strong - and another food festival in another part of the town which had very delicious cheeses and olives. Needless to say it was a very good day to come.

In the town itself, there is a old roman theatre ruins, which are amazingly intact. This was the first one that I have seen with the columns still standing on top of one another which I thought was really incredible that after all this time they are still perfectly balanced on one another. It makes you think about how amazing they must have been when fully intact. The Duomo in Volterra is about .0009 times the size of here in Florence but still very pretty, and so different. One of my favorite things in the town however was that in about every windowsill there were flowers. Each sill squeezed in between the shutters were potted flowers of every kind and color.

Two of the best things of the day had to have been at the end. While we were exploring a park that we found, and naturally swinging on the dinosaur shaped playground equipment we started to hear drumming. Normally this would seem weird, but we were in Italy so it just kinda seemed routine. While trying to find the source of the intensive drumming, we also found the seemingly only downhill street in town. Here we encountered an Italian family of a mom, dad, aunt and uncle also trying to place the drumming. While skipping down the hill (how little kids always manage to run, jump, skip and hop down very steep things without tripping and breaking every bone in their body is still beyond me) the little boy ahead of us started picking flowers from in between the cobble stones. First he turns to his mom and gives here one, then continues to pick some more flowers. He then turns to me and hands me a tinnnny little daisy like flower and says “here, for you” (but in Italian) and continues to skip away. He returns one minute later to tell me to make sure not the throw it away, to which I assure him that I will not. It is still in my wallet.

 

Finally the Italian family, and the four of us find the source of the drumming, a renaissance parade, of course! It was complete with a full orchestra, matching outfits and flag throwers. They continued to put on a show in the main piazza with synchronized flag throwing, flag juggling, and music to match. It was the perfect ending to a pretty wonderful day. 

Carnivale

February 13, 2010

      Venice – Carnivale

Stepping off the train into Venice during Carnivale was like stepping into a different world. With the number of people that were in the city that day, it very well could have been its own world. For all I knew the train from Florence had in fact transported me to a dream town, were dressing in costumes, face paint, and glitter were normal. I was immediately enthralled by it all. Everywhere we turned there was someone in a ridiculous costume, in another direction people in the classic Venetian masks in gowns with long trains, all of who were spectacular. The entire day was a eyesight overload of color, fantasy and creativity. We wandered through the city, passing thousands of glittering masks only to turn a corner to find some more. The canals of the city glistened with their costumed inhabitants as if they too were dressed up for the occasion. Everyone seemed to be in the spirit – what ever it was – but it was a good one. The whole city seemed to buzz. For once it wasn’t weird to take pictures of people you didn’t know, in fact it was encouraged.
 It was particularly interesting because it was acqua alta – or the high water season – which meant that basically everywhere you went, was flooded. Normally I am not one for dodging puddles, and get sick of the rain about 8 minutes after it starts, but it added to the magic of the day. When we got to Piazza San Marco (after several misleading signs – literally one pointed left and right on the same sign) it was heavily flooded and closed for the first part of the morning. Finally after a while, the water returned to its proper place, and it became flooded with people instead. The basilica was hardly visible over the sea of heads, but I will take my art history professors and friends words of advice that it is beautiful.  It was as if the city, like most of the people there, could not contain its excitement. I am positive that not one person was in a bad mood. I don’t think you could be. We adventured through the city, moving with the rest of the seemingly millions of people soaking up every thing we could. Street performers lined the confetti covered cobblestone streets and in order to really fit in we felt that face painting was a must. Another must was buying a mask – glitter, feathers, the whole shaw-bang. Dazed, colored, and in awe we made it back to Florence, but Carnivale is something that I will never forget.

Saying good-bye to the electric yellow flower-filled ruins.

February 6, 2010

We woke up to the sad realization that today was our last day in Sicily. Being so we had to pack a lot into one day. We left very early for Taormina. Taormina is a small city on top of a very curvy hill (it reminded me of home a lot - the curvy hill with a ocean view). The city looked over what seemed to be all of Sicily’s mountains and ocean (top), and you could actually see main-land Italy. We first went to the Greek theatre at the top of the town, which had spectacular views of everything below in the town, the ocean and the surrounding mountainside. Like the ruins in Segresta, electric yellow flowers overran the theatre growing out of the stone seats now cracked with time.


After taking in the views at the theatre for a long while, we went to adventure in the town for a little while. It seemed as if every other store was a ceramic store selling more or less the same things with different designs - huge vases, tiny espresso cups, every size plate you would ever need, turtle figurines, etc. It makes you wonder how much ceramics one person can have in their house. Apparently a lot. Sadly our day was cut short because we had to drive to the airport to catch our flight back to Florence. Exhausted later that night we arrived back at our host families, both happy to be home but sad to leave Sicily. 

Echo from the past

February 5, 2010

Today we had a visit to the archeological park in Siracusa. Like the many others the site was huge. At one point the entire site had a stone roof, which has since fallen down and the site had been taken over by trees and greenery. There is a huge cave-like alcove (right) that once entered only reverberates one strong echo, which is highly unusual, which might add to the strong acoustics to the theatre (left) that is situated directly above it. On the other side of the site there is an ampatheatre (below) that reflects somewhat like the inside of the Coliseum with its oval structure (it does not have the walls like the Coliseum but just the same basic ground level), and was perhaps used for some of the same purposes.

After exploring the archeological site we were free to wander around Siracusa for a few hours. We went into the duomo (right), which may be one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen. It was built on the site of a roman temple, which had been destroyed during a earthquake. When building the duomo, the architect used the columns of the ancient temple, which were the only things that reminded and incorporated them into the walls and structure of the building.

Later in the afternoon after exploring the city for a while, we departed again for another nearby barocco town called Noto. The town itself was very small and everything seemed to be on one main street. The main cathedral (left) had been rebuilt sometime back because the original had been destroyed in an earthquake (apparently there are a lot of those here, I had no idea).  While the cathedral itself was still beautiful you didn’t get that overwhelming sense that it had been there for centuries (granted it hadn’t) and it seemed a little out of place in a town that you knew that everything else had been there since its founding. We headed back to Siracusa and had our last dinner all together later that night. Everyone was in a bittersweet mood, everyone loving the week that we had had so far and sad that it would have to come to a close the following day. 

Valle dei Templi

February 4, 2010

We left bright and early this morning for the Valle dei Templi, or the Valley of Temples for a guided tour around one of the most well-preserved archeological ruin sites. The site has seven temples all together all of which are immaculately preserved. All dedicated to different ancient roman gods they vary in size but for the most part retain the same basic overall structure. While walking from temple to temple the road on one side was lined with almond trees which had just begun to bloom and on the other was lined with a type of necropolis were they would have buried people. Now these necropolis, which for the most part look like walls with giant holes in them are open and look out over the valley. The site seemed to go on forever with monumental building following the next. I was continually amazed by the magnitude of the buildings that people in ancient times were able to build without the use of any modern machinery, but simple tools and manpower.

After gawking at all the temples at the Valle dei Templi we went started our journey for Siracusa which would be the last city that would visit while in Sicily. On the way to Siracusa, we stopped at the beach for a few hours. Basking in the sun, hearing the crashing of the waves and the strong smell of the salt water, while walking on the sand made me think I was in California. Walking along the untouched beach, I collected way to many shells which I as convinced would make my luggage overweight on the way home – happy to report it did not- (and for all of you Ireland sea-shell collectors I quadruple checked all my shells so no “incidents” would occur. I can safely say that all of my shells made it back safely, and without any sea-stench). After a little while we headed out and finally arrived in Siracusa.

After arriving we wandered around the city for a while, stumbling upon beautiful cathedrals, fountains, churches, and ponds with ducks. Eventually we started searching for a open place for dinner, which proved harder than it originally seemed and after dinner headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest. 

Sacred Sites Starting with S

February 3, 2010

Today we headed out from Palermo for a final destination of Argrigento. Before we made it there however we stopped first at Segesta. At Segresta we explored the roman theatre and temple ruins. The site was flooded with sunlight and electric yellow flowers. I was amazed at how well preserved everything was throughout the entire site after so many thousands of years, exposed to every sort of weather. Walking around places like always makes me amazed at the things people were able to accomplish so many thousands of years ago. It always makes me amazed that they are still around today, and for the most part well preserved. I always wonder what people throughout the centuries must have thought about them, and what possessed them to keep it around. (don’t get me wrong I’m pretty happy that they did).  At the site there two temple ruins and one theatre ruin spread out over what seemed like acres of land (first and smaller temple = top left hand photo, theatre = top right photo, larger, second temple bottom left photo). Surrounding each archeological ruin were green cascading mountains, and trees as far as the eye could see. We even encountered a large flock of sheep grazing right next to the larger of the two temples. When we got to the theatre, we decided to test out the flawless acoustics by singing Spice Girls “Wannabe” together. I have a feeling it was not like anything that used to be san or preformed when the theatre was originally built. 

 

After wandering around for a while we headed out for yet another ruin site at Selinunte.  Here too was an archeological ruin site with a large temple, which was being restored while we were there, surrounded by ruins of smaller buildings and homes. Plants and wildlife mostly overran the site but the overall plan of the site was still apparent and was interesting to see the design of the huge site. This site unlike the previous overlooked the beach, and with much effort and climbing we ventured down to the sand for a while. After frolicking in the sun at on the beach for a while we headed out from Selinute for out hotel in Agrigento, a tinny little beach town.

Mosaic Masters and Tiny Towns

February 2, 2010

Once again bright and early we wandered out into the Sicilian world, this time to explore the city of Palermo. We met up with the professor we had met yesterday who would be our tour guide for the day. Our first stop would be the Cappella Palatina in the Palazzo dei Normanni. If I thought that the Cathedral at Monreale was covered in gold mosaic, it was nothing compared to this. Gold reflected off of every surface while every vibrant color possible exploded in between. Even after almost 900 years after its construction the Cappella looks as if someone had come yesterday with the newest, most vibrant Bic dye and re-colored all the mosaic pieces. The wooden ceiling looked as if all the bee’s in Italy had just left because of the honeycomb patterns so intricately woven throughout.

Dragging me away, mouth still hanging open we wandered to the Palermo Cathedral. The Cathedral itself is a monster of a building highly decorated in baroque architecture (ie its has a lot goin on all over it). For as impressive as a façade as the Cathedral has, the inside was a little disappointing inside. Stark white with very little details, it looks like it was a house just built and the owners are still waiting for the painters to come. The contrast was almost startling.

We wandered throughout the city going in and out of a few more churches (non of which I ever say a name for…) all of which were beautiful. I was amazed that on every corner it seemed there could be yet another something to see. Like always in Italy I have come to realize. After a few churches, we ended up at one of the major art galleries in Palermo.

After meandering through the gallery for a while, we all decided that because it was such a nice day we would take a quick trip to a nearby seaside town called Cefalu. Once there we explored the tiny town, seeing the duomo, winding streets and buildings that seemed to blend into one another. The streets all seemed to go uphill no matter what direction you were walking in, and there never seemed to be one that led in a straight line. When wandering we saw many signs for supposed Roman ruins, but once follows you ended up at someones bright red front door. Since we got there late in the afternoon, around siesta, most everything was closed, and looked as if it was going to remain closed for the rest of the day, if not year. This lead us to aimlessly wander up and down the ever uphill streets until we stumbled upon an alleyway that led to the beach and took in the familiar smells and sounds that I miss so much.