We had been playing Blog Tag with Rob and Nina Blackwell for months as we made our way across the US, shipped to Belgium, and proceeded to drive through Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, Portugal and Italy. Meanwhile, Rob & Nina had started in Vladivostok, Russia and had come over many of the roads we would […]
Having spent a couple of days exploring the excavated ruins uncovered after the Vesuvio volcano wreaked its wrath on Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 AD, we felt obliged to see what this monster looked like up close. We made the fortunate choice to NOT drive The Turtle V to the trailhead on the mountain. Hopping […]
While nearly everyone has heard of the horrible tragedy of Pompeii, (If you haven’t, read our last blog.), several people had told us that the town of Herculaneum on the coast was equally astounding. Comparatively small with a population of approximately 4000, Herculaneum covered an area of about 50 acres of which only 11 have […]
Heading south from Rome we were basically looking for a nice place to spend Gary’s birthday. The ancient city of Pompeii had always been on our list of areas to visit. Monika had been there with her parents many years ago and had fond memories. Pompeii rises on a plateau of Vesuvius’ lava overlooking the […]
There are a few Cities in the World that truly stand out; San Francisco, Istanbul, Beijing, London, St. Petersburg. Rome, living, breathing and constantly changing, saturated with history, much of it dating BC, is surely among them, but after the Coliseum, the Forum and the Vatican, there is the City itself. It was sound advice […]
Aside from the Colosseum, the Forum is where all of Ancient Rome happened: Temples, market, craftsmen, debates, justice courts and even murders. Walking through the ruins that had been built, torn down, destroyed by earthquakes, rebuilt, vandalized, robbed, covered with centuries of rubble and finally, what was left, excavated and to the extent possible, restored, […]
Like the Vatican, there is only one. There are many sports arenas and coliseums in Italy, but there is only one “Colosseum”. Since the Middle Ages it has been a symbol of Rome, the Eternal City. It had been written, “While the Colosseum stands, Rome will stand but when the Colosseum falls, Rome shall fall, […]
As the saying goes,” Rome—a lifetime”. We didn’t have a lifetime so what to see in a few days? Of course the Colosseum, The Forum, maybe a few museums and the City itself. But above all, we wanted to see the Vatican. Thanks to various tips from other travelers we easily found a comfortable guarded […]
An Italian fellow camper in Pisa suggested we’d visit Bomarzo, the Sacred Grove, on our way to Rome. Colloquially called the Park of the Monsters, it is located in the Province of Viterbo in northern Lazio, Italy. Quite extraordinary, the Parco dei Monstri was built in 1552! That’s 562 years ago. This alone is quite […]
New Year’s Eve! Remember we are still catching up. Heading south towards Rome on December 31, we spotted a sign for a supermarket and turned in. Then we saw a sign for parking and campers. Such luck. There were several other RVs from Italy, so we pulled in and quickly made friends with our neighbors. […]
