Pantheon, Rome Day 3

Published on February 11, 2018May 7, 2024 by joannaalmasude

February 11, 2018:

The Pantheon from Greek Πάνθειον Pantheion meaning “[temple] of every god”) is a former Roman temple. It is now a church, in Rome, Italy, on the site of an earlier temple commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD). The present building was completed by the emperor Hadrian and probably dedicated about 126 AD. He retained Agrippa’s original inscription, which has caused confusion over its date of construction as the original Pantheon burned down, so it is not certain when the present one was built.

The building is circular with a portico of large granite Corinthian columns (eight in the first rank and two groups of four behind) under a pediment. A rectangular vestibule links the porch to the rotunda, which is under a coffered concrete dome, with a central opening (oculus) to the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon’s dome is still the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome. The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same, 142 feet (43 m).

It is one of the best-preserved of all Ancient Roman buildings, in large part because it has been in continuous use throughout its history, and since the 7th century, the Pantheon has been used as a church dedicated to “St. Mary and the Martyrs” informally known as “Santa Maria Rotonda”. The square in front of the Pantheon is called Piazza della Rotonda. The Pantheon is a state property, ruled by Italy’s Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism through the Polo Museale del Lazio; in 2013 it was visited by over 6 million people.

The Pantheon’s large circular domed cella, with a conventional temple portico front, was unique in Roman architecture. Nevertheless, it became a standard exemplar when classical styles were revived, and has been copied many times by later architects.

See photos here:

Day One in Rome, Italy

Published on February 10, 2018May 7, 2024 by joannaalmasude

Today was our first day in Rome and we walked from our tiny studio AirBnB to the Colosseum or Coliseum, also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre. It was a 7 mile round trip walk (just going straight there and back). With all the extra tours and a total of 7 hour trip, I estimate close to 10 miles for the day!

The Colosseum is an oval amphitheatre in the center of of Rome, Italy. Built of travertine marble, tuff (a light, porous rock formed by consolidation of volcanic ash), and brick-faced concrete. It is said to be the largest amphitheatre ever built.

Address: Piazza del Colosseo, 1, 00184 Roma RM

Construction started: 70 AD

Opened: 80 AD

Height: 48 m

More interesting info: The Colosseum was used for workshops, housing, a quarry, a fortress and even as a Christian shrine.

Piazzale Michelangelo

Published on February 6, 2018May 7, 2024 by joannaalmasude

This is a bronze copy of Michelangelo’s David! It is at a Piazzale Michelangelo – which is very high on a hill! It overlooks Florence – Awesome!!! We walked from our Apartment across the river then up a very steep hill to see the Piazzale Michelangelo. It was worth it, but I was afraid I wouldn’t make it due to my very bad knees.

It rained the whole way and by the time we got to the top we were freezing and stopped in a very nice restaurant to have drinks. We got warmed up and dry then walked back to our apartment.

Day Two in Florence: Accademia

Published on February 4, 2018May 7, 2024 by joannaalmasude

Accademia in Florence is also called the Museum of Michelangelo. Created by the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo in 1784 as a place of study for students of the nearby Academy of Fine Arts (Accademia di Belle Arti) which was the first academy of drawing in Europe. The Academy Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence contains one of the most important sculptures by Michelangelo – “David.”

Accademia, though not easy to find, was absolutely amazing! I highly recommend going, if you go to Florence, Italy! It was well worth the entrance fee of 9 euros. The way they display Michelangelo’s David was extremely well designed. When you enter the corridor that houses David at the end. On each side of the corridor are unfinished sculptures by Michelangelo. The wall color and scale of the hall and dome are perfect to display the color of the marble.

There was also another display of plaster copies of sculptures in another large corridor off to the left of David that was very interesting. Here are some photos from that area of the museum.

Accademia Address:

Galleria dell'Accademia - Via Ricasoli 58-60 - 50122 Firenze, Italy

Sketching David

Published on February 4, 2018May 7, 2024 by joannaalmasude

Day One in Florence – The Basilica di Santa Croce

Published on February 3, 2018May 7, 2024 by joannaalmasude

February 3, 2018: The trip from Venice to Florence yesterday was very easy. We left our excellent 5-star AirBnB (a review will be in another post) around 10:30 am and we arrived here in Florence (AKA “Firenze”). We took a taxi from the train to our new Florence 5-star AirBnB arriving at 4:40pm. We did a quick walk to the grocery story and found that food is a bit cheaper than in Venice. Makes perfect sense since Venice has to have everything transported in and carried to the stores on boats/by foot carts.

It was very difficult to decide what to do today; the list is way too long. Academia was first on my list, but with a bit of research I found that it is free on the first Sunday of the month, which is tomorrow!! So, we decided to visit Michelangelo and Galileo’s tombs, which are housed in The Basilica di Santa Croce (see my photo above). It was an excellent choice! Though it cost 9 euros each to get in we spent several hours looking through the main Santa Croce Basilica as well as touring through the Pazzi Chapel and even saw a leather making school(?).

To make a long day short… I took over 400 photos and to break it down for my future failing memory, I’m listing photos in sections below:

Photos from The Basilica di Santa Croce

The Tomb of Michelangelo’ Michelangelo It is currently being worked on, so it has a scaffolding in front of it. But I was still able to capture some photos.

The Tomb of Galileo Galileo Galilei

Other Tombs and Icons from Santa Crosa

Pazzi Chapel

Salute – Last Day in Venice! Saint Mary of Health… :-)

Published on February 1, 2018May 7, 2024 by joannaalmasude

Still not feeling very well, but we planned one last visit to a Basilica, specifically the Santa Maria della Salute! Good news – this Basilica is Free and you can take photos as long as you do not use a flash! Wonderful, Im giving them a 10 out of 10! I would like to know more about who decides the charges as well as whether photos can be taken in Italy. Hmmmm….

More about Santa Maria della Salute… in English “Saint Mary of Health, commonly known simply as the Salute, I think I needed to visit to hopefully gain some good health!

Here is the “backstory” from Wikipedia …. Beginning in the summer of 1630, a wave of the plague assaulted Venice, and until 1631 killed nearly a third of the population. In the city, 46,000 people died whilst in the lagoons the number was far higher, some 94,000.^[1] Repeated displays of the sacrament, as well as prayers and processions to churches dedicated to San Rocco and San Lorenzo Giustiniani had failed to stem the epidemic. Echoing the architectural response to a prior assault of the plague (1575–76), when Palladio was asked to design the Redentore church, the Venetian Senate on October 22, 1630, decreed that a new church would be built.^[1] It was not to be dedicated to a mere “plague” or patron saint, but to the Virgin Mary, who for many reasons was thought to be a protector of the Republic.^[2]

Santa Maria della Salute on the Grand Canal

It was also decided that the Senate would visit the church each year. On November 21 the Feast of the Presentation of the Virgin, known as the Festa della Madonna della Salute, the city’s officials parade from San Marco to the Salute for a service in gratitude for deliverance from the plague is celebrated. This involved crossing the Grand Canal on a specially constructed pontoon bridge and is still a major event in Venice.

As usual here are a few of my photos from this, last trip in Venice!!

A few more excellent photos from the internet:

A Slow Day in Venice … 1-30-2018

Published on January 30, 2018May 7, 2024 by joannaalmasude

Trying to keep going, though definitely sick is an interesting challenge. I’m sure most have experienced getting sick on a trip and you are counting all the money you spent on it and want to get the most out of a special travel opportunity. And for me, a ground hugger, and not much into travel it is really driving me crazy. Oh well…

Today we went on the boat to the train station, so we can explore that area more… we have only rushed by in the past. It’s nice to just show your phone ap pass and jump on a boat!

My main observations & musings for today are:

1. Wow these people eat a lot of sweets!!
2. Awesome Glass…
3. Awesome Puppets
4. ….. and Masks! I’ll go into the details of “made in Italy” in a later blog post.
5. Did I mention that traveling while sick is a drag? YES!

Only 2 days left in Venice!

Enjoy today’s Photos…

January 28th a day of festival!!

Published on January 28, 2018May 7, 2024 by joannaalmasude

Today was a day of fun & festival in the Rio di Cannergio area of Venice. We walked over in the morning and wow – the crowds have grown huge in the last couple of days! I took photos just to try to capture the sea of people walking around the city!

We met some “Americans” in a cute local pub (a block away from our apartment) two nights ago and they said they had come just for 2 days and to see Festa Veneziana on the water – First Part One and Two. We had not heard of it so I looked it up on the internet. If you want to see more check out this LINK. The first day was an opening last night… but since I woke up with a sore throat yesterday and felt really bad by the evening we didn’t attend the “Part One” evening show. Here is a bit of new about the show we missed: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/travel/article/venice-kicks-off-carnival-season-video

Starting to come down with a cold, I was concerned that I wouldn’t feel good enough to go out today for “Part Two”, but it’s amazing how much a few Ibuprofen can help! It actually helped my with my knees as well.

We found the event easily by walking toward the train station. The crowds have certainly grown huge! The canal was lined by groves of people all waiting for the event to start? There was a lot of talking over a loud speaker – I didn’t understand any of it. Then some boats arrived carrying, what we guessed was food! Lots of food! We stood by the bridge for a while, waiting for something to happen, but nothing much happened… on the water. So we walked down the sidewalk and ran into some lines – they were giving out food!

So, we found the end to one very long line and waited out turn! As it turned out, like my mother warned me, in Italy it is ok to “cut in front of the line.” Yes, I saw it in the grocery store once. A lady who just wanted to buy a single chocolate bar asked to jump in front – no one minded. However, on this occasion, waiting in line for free food & drinks? Well, my “USA” patience ran dry. We waited in line behind some very patient Italians … as what I eventually found to be very rude foreigners to be cutting in. When Amar and I finally got to the place to get food (after nearly an hour) a englishing speaking girly-girl tried to cut in front of me. She was maybe around 20 year old and I had spied her with a group of her friends 5 minutes earlier trying to cut in… I told her, ‘Sorry – there is no emergency here and we had been waiting in the line for over an hour. She needs to go in the back of the line.’ I said a few other choice things based on frustration and hunger. LOL! I really detest young women trying to use their “looks” to get things the easy way. Hmmm….

The food and drink was good and the boat parade was excellent! Here are a few photos from the day!

January 27th, Trip to Cimitario

Published on January 27, 2018May 7, 2024 by joannaalmasude

Today we sent to Isola di San Michele, AKA “Cimitario.” It is an island north of the main island we are staying on. Actually, we saw it on our first walk, our first day in Venice and had no idea what it was. A quick search on Google Maps answered the question. So, as soon as I found out what it was, I wanted to visit. One might say that I have a morbid interest in how cultures take care of their dead… not too unusual – I think. And I may have found some distant relatives as well!

To see Cimitatio you have to cross the water. As of yesterday, we had not taken a boat trip. We have been touring Venice for over a week – on foot. We priced tickets and visiting Cimitario would cost around 16 to 18 euros for both of us. That with the 14 for us to go to the train station the day we leave we opted for the 7 day pass each… 120 euros, but we can travel as much as we like city wide and to most of the little surrounding islands. You can see more about the travel cards and downloading the Venice travel Ap here.

OK, now for my “tips & tricks” concerning taking the public water buses in Venice…. get ready to jump on and jump off as soon as the boat pulls up to the dock. They do not wait! We were sitting in the lower part of boat 4.1 on the way to Cimitario; the boat was packed with people!! When we knew we were almost the Cimitario stop – we got up and started toward the upper part of the boat and the driver barely stopped – and then BOOM – we were headed for the next stop! What?! So, get ready ahead of time and perhaps yell? We ended up on another island called Murano. And waited for another waterbus to get to our goal.

I must admit that it was great getting out on the water for the first time! A whole new view of Venice! Here are the photos of Cimitario as well as my first water photos!