Xativa

Taking a break from my previous travels, we're going to jump to the present and talk about today's adventure: Xativa!

we loaded up on a bus near the stadium and started our (short) journey. as we were heading out from the flat plain of valencia towards the mountains crowned by xativa, we passed fields of orange trees - fields of trees the way one sees fields of corn or grain. and orange trees here are vastly superior to what wimpy trees i've seen before- the tree fills with oranges, not just a few tiny specimens.

driving into the mountains was oddly homey, like driving from stafford to charlottesville and watching the mountains pop out. the transition from valencia to xativa is harsh though - mountains literally just seem to appear, unprecedented by foothills.

my lit professor prepped us with a short historical description of xativa, relevant to our study of El Cid. Xativa was once the main stronghold of the area, a castle on top of a mountain which was impossible to attack until all the surrounding fortresses had also fallen.

the modern day town of xativa sits farther down the mountain. we wound through the streets, past this ancient laundromat...

we also looked in at this great little church. one of the things i really like about spanish churches is how different the style is from roman churches. i think its that they've been less re-decorated throughout the years/decades/centuries.

bell tower of the church:



the inside:

the church from above:



the church from wayyy above:


after the church, we stopped in a drab little museum and then ascended up to the ancient castle of xativa. it was a bit of a hike, but we were rewarded with some fabulous views of the surrounding country side, plus we got to hike around some gorgeous old ruins.

ash clouds and pizza

Our second day trip sent us to Naples. We started at the Naples archaelogical museum, which I thought was sort of a disappointment compared to all the amazing museums I’d seen. Then we stopped for pizza – a delicacy born in Naples. It was easily the best pizza I’d ever eaten. We even watched them slide it in and out of the brick oven.

For me, the real highlight of the day trip was Pompeii. A whole little village half fallen apart but still laden with history and interests. I would’ve loved to visit Vesuvius, but we were out of time and headed back to the train station.

One of the weird things about Pompeii was the dogs. At the front, was a sign for adopting dogs - how nice, using a tourist location to publicize a cause, right? Wrong. Turns out, the dogs actually live in pompeii, probably subsisting off tourist love and trash. So there were dogs running around through all these ancient baths and standing on top of all these ancient buildings.

Whenever we traveled in Italian train/metro stations, we’d hear the same commericial for a Nissan car. It had a sort of haunting melody ‘Nice day for a walk in the park…..Nice day for a drive in the ..”, where it cut off into the commericial. There was also a haunting whistle that seemed follow us everywhere.

photos: an arch in pompeii, my family awkwardly standing about (i deemed this picture decent because at least my eyes are open...unlike in most of the pictures)

FLORENCE!

We got up at the crack of dawn to catch our first train. Luckily, first class on a high speed train is nice – big seats, lots of space, juice, breakfast pastry, hand wipes and chocolates. I knew I’d miss it once we hit second class slow trains, but it was lovely to enjoy. in the mean time, caroline and i ended up saving all the little things, which later became our "emergency food" and a rather intense collection of "frecciarosas"- handwipes.

It was so cold when we got there, and we headed straight for the Uffizi – Florence’s famous art museum. Caroline and I picked up some breakfast snackies, and we traded off turns standing in line and wandering around. After 3 hours in line, we got in. Paintings of note: Botticelli’s Spring and the Birth of Venus, a Michelangelo, a da Vinci, and a small collection of titians (although there were no red heads in it!). I especially enjoyed the chiaroscuro paintings – full of soft focus with dark backgrounds and emphasis on the conveying beauty through emotion.

After dinner, we met up with one of my mom’s college friends, who married and Italian and lives in Sienna, nearby to Florence. She introduced us to the leather market and to Italian hot chocolate. The market was fun to browse through. Hot chocolate in Italy is also amazing and unique – its thick and flavorful, almost like pudding.

picture: me and my mom, right in front of a famous bridge in florence (there's a great story about a rich guy, some butchers and some goldsmiths)

a short day

we enjoyed sleeping in for the new year, and then ventured out, sin mama, to the piazza de popolo (not the pope, incidentally, but the people). We got pizza for brunch which included a deliciouis rosemary and potato slice pizza, and also a french fry and hot dog pizza! we spent some time in termini station figuring out our train schedules for our impending day trips, and then headed home.

mom and caroline headed straight home, while bob, paul, dad and i headed out in search of the famous tartufa - a gelato treat in a chocolate shell. after much searching in piazza navona, we found it! on our way back, paul and robert stopped for an epic photo shoot of castell st. angelo, which is commemorated, in the above photo, which i judge to be the best result of their hard work at capturing it perfectly.

ancient ruins galore

We started the day at the Palatine Hill with the Roman forum – lots of statues and history, but you had to use your imagination to picture what once was. We found some orange trees in a garden, and tried very hard to grab one. Caroline climbed up a bench just high enough to grab one. We were ecstatic until we tasted it – and then some persons spat it out immediately. It was the most sour orange I had ever eaten (yet), comparable only to the ultimate sour candy, warheads.

After a few more churches, we headed back to the apartment for a nap before our night out. Of note, is the Church of Gesu (the Jesuits), where a magnificent mural is painted on the ceiling. The painting blends and merges with sculptures on the ceiling, until it’s difficult to tell what is 3D and what is flat. Amazing.

That night, we went out for new years. It was so spectacular that I couldn’t help but post about it that night, so I’ll refer you to the previous post.

pictures: roman ruins, iconic romulus and remus statue near st. peter's in chains, the temple of venus (i think)- look for caroline (she's the little yellow blur), me reaching for an orange, the family at the forum

day 3

We started with a visit to St. Peter’s Cathedral. Massive amounts of marbel and mosaics stretching 20 ft high all over. My favorite was the altar of peace – a gilded bronze statue with a glowing dove. We speculate that the dove was made of super-thin marble that allowed light to shine through – almost like glass. We also ascended the Cathedral up some very winding steps for a dizzing view of the city.

Later, we headed off the to Colosseum. Interesting fact: at one point, they would flood the colosseum and have naval battles in it for amusement. Imagine watching gladiators fight one minute, have lunch and then watch ships battle in the same arena. fantastic. also, the mythical griffin does exist, and it used to steal spectator’s food. apparently real griffins are more like vultures though.

On our way home, we stopped by the Trevi Fountain - famous for being in lots of movies, although I think I'll always remember it from the Richard Scarry book.

pics: trevi fountain, colosseum, vatican guards (don't they look like shakespearean?), st. peter's (find a person for scale), the altar of peace

the vatican!

29 of december 2010

On our first full day in Rome, we slept in late to try to get over some of our jet lag and sleep deprivation.

Today was Vatican day – we headed straight there to wait in line for an hour to get into the Vatican museums. You would not believe how much art the Pope hoards. Apparently, when Rome was conquered once, the conqueror ransacked the Vatican for art, but it’s hard to believe when you see the collections there. We barely scratched the surface and we were there for hours. We watched religious art develop from flat icons to expressive, rounded and shaded people. Many of the ceilings were painted so wonderfully that they looked carved, a feeling similar to that of being in the petrified forest in the southwest u.s.

I loved wandering around in the museum and viewing the masterpieces, but I also enjoyed the diversity of visitors to the Vatican. I reflected to myself as to why I was in Rome , and Europe in general– I’m no architect, no artist, no historian, etc. What was to be the center focus of my extensive trip? The answer began to come to me as I listened to all the visitors and soaked in their languages. The core of my trip is my study abroad, and thats where my heart is - not just with these beautiful old buildings, the masterpieces on the walls, and the history seeping through every alley - but in the language and the cultural diversity of the people I meet. And thats the value of living, not just visiting, abroad - is being truly immersed.

pictures - me and my mom at the vatican, the vatican gardens. i'm not putting any pictures of art up because they're a pale shadow of a ghost of the art itself, and you should just go see it yourself :)

first day in rome!

we finally flew out of philly around 9ish., two and a half hours after our departure time (which was itself, 24 hours late). the plane trip was fairly uneventful, and we arrived safely at the roma airport. we breezed through customs, they didn’t even bother to stamp our passports; changed money, and met our van driver. as we drove to the apartment, it was incredibly strange to believe I was really in Italy. Looking out the window, it all seemed so close and familiar, and not at all like I was on a whole new continent. I know I was tired from the overnight flight, but I was so giddy it was hard to notice.

My dad rented an apartment for the week that we were in Rome, and after a quick cup of tea, we bounced back out for the “tour of Rome in a night”. We started close to the apartment, at the Vatican, where we grabbed pizza. We looked out over St. Peter’s Square then swooped across the river towards Piazza Navona. In a manner that came to define our visit, we stopped in a couple churches – all very old and very beautiful. Piazza Navona was filled with a Christmas market, one of the more curious items being dolls of witches on broomsticks. We couldn’t figure out how that was Christmasy, until we found out about la Befana, the witch who swoops down on the eve of the Epiphany to bring all the good children their gifts.

We tried to pass the forum, but got lost and finally ended up eating in Trastevere, in a cute little restaurant where the waiters basically only spoke Italian. It was super intimidating, because I had no idea what were cultural traditions (antipasto and liquer after dinner) and what was us being ripped off as non-Italian tourists, and it was really hard to understand everything through the italian. It all worked out though, and it was a good dinner.

Walking around the city solidified the strange feeling I’d felt on the van ride – that cities are so similar. Rome is an ancient city, full of century old buildings and millennia old ruins, but sometimes it felt like I was wandering around good ol’ NYC again. Full of walking, good food, art and culture.

images: bridge over the tiber, fountain at piazza navona, the pantheon

valencia!

hola amigos!

at this point, you're probably confused as to why i'm such a terrible blogger. three weeks of awesome travel, and i think you got maybe two posts. the answer is that i've been waiting for a real computer, real internet, and the pictures from everyone else (which i couldn't quite slide to my phone). i arrived in valencia on sunday so over the next week or two, i'll start uploading the day by day version of all my travels. just... be patient.

rome churches

today was our last day in rome. i'm sad to go, because it really is wonderful, and we only grazed the surface. Im holding off on more detailed summaries until i can post pictures, so expect those in late january, but for now i'll ramble about the churches.
they're basically amazing. church after church of marble columns, graceful arches, elaborate bronze gates, towering baldaccinos, mosaics, frescoes, relics, gilded coffered ceilings, statues, patterned floors, etc. Walking into a church with A white wall is strange. One of my favorites was the church of gesu, the first jesuit church. The ceiling has an elaborate painting of heaven, and the painting overflows its golden frame and merges with sculpted angels until 2D and 3D can't be told apart. Some "sculpted" walls are really paintings, but even at 2 feet away, you have to really work to convince yourself.
Moral of the story: when (not if) you go to rome, wander into loads of churches. you'll probably always be amazed.

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