Monday is another beautiful day in Tuscany. We visit Montepulciano this morning. It is a hill town close to our farm stay. It was a delight to walk around town and see the different architecture and enjoy the views.
A delight on our walk was a visit with Cesare Mazzeti. A funny man who enjoys interacting with tourists. He designed and manufactured the viper top of the Duomo in Siena.
We are now in Tuscany at our lovely Agriturismo, La Bruciata. We have been here for three days now.
We picked up our car in Siena and met Tim’s sister, Judy and her husband, Eric at the train station and drive the one hour to our farm stay.
Sunday we drive around the area and visited two small hill towns, Monticchiello and Chianciano Terme. Both had medieval charm with piazzas and walls and views.
We spent the last two nights in Siena. What a beautiful medieval city! There are tall old buildings, narrow curving roads to get lost in, an amazing main piazza and a wonderfully unique cathedral. Not to mention the gelato!
Saint Catherine of Siena is real important here. San Domenico has some relics of her on display along with beautiful artwork.
Just beneath our hotel is the house of Saint Catherine. It has a well decorated chapel and frescos.
The main piazza is Piazza del Campo. It is a gathering place for the residents and the tourists. It is the site two times a year for the famous Palio horse race
The Duomo or cathedral is like no other. The architecture, the floor mosaics, statue and painting are all so amazing.
We were able to go into the baptistery, the crypt and the museum that held the original statues from the exterior and the stained glass window.
We were able to climb to the second to the top level for a view of Siena. Many go to the top, but my fear of heights held me back.
Another day in Rome and this time on E-bikes to go south to the Ancient Appian Way. We bike for about 17 miles.
We have stops along the way to visit interesting historical sites. One is a part of the ancient Roman walls. We were able to climb to the top for some great views.
We travel along the Ancient Appian Way with a good part of it still intact. It was very hard to bike, though. This is a road built by the Romans in 312 BC.
Because the Roman’s could not bury inside the walls, many catacombs line the road. We visited the Catacombs of San Sebastián. It is a huge labyrinth of tomb sites. No photos were allowed.
A highlight on the ride was our tour around the park that has remains of the old Roman aqueduct.
It was a long tiring but enjoyable day. On our walk to and from our tour meeting place we just had to walk around the Colosseum.
We take a tour today to the Amalfi Coast! Our guide, Mauro, met us and fourteen others at the train station. We begin with a One and a half hour train ride to Salerno, then catch the ferry to Amalfi.
Amalfi is a beautiful small town built up the hill from the coast line. It was a major shipping and trading port in the 10th and 11th century. Now growing lemons and tourism are the main source of income.
The highlight of our time their was a visit to a lemon farm and tasting the limoncello. We climbed many stairs to get there! The view and setting were amazing!
We leave Amalfi taking the ferry to Positano. Positano is the iconic city on the Amalfi coast. It was packed with tourists! it was an enjoyable time wandering the streets (you are either walking up or down!
It was an enjoyable day.
We took a walk to the historic area of Rome. Our lodging is not far from the Roman Forum. We walked by the Ruins of the Imperial Forum and to view the beautiful Victor Emmanuel Monument.
We made our way to Campo dei Fiori and their flower and vegetable market. Lovely!
We made our way to several other interesting piazzas and then to Piazza Navona. We enjoyed viewing The three amazing fountains in the piazza. Tim enjoyed the dulcimer player.
We made our way to the Trevi Fountain again. So many people!!
We made our way back to the Capitoline Hill to view the piazza and get a nice view of the Roman Forum.
After a rest at our place we ate at Alle Carrette. We had tomato and arugula salad, fried artichokes and a pizza with zucchini, peppers and eggplant.
First stop this morning is Santa Maria Maggiori. Beautiful church and Sunday morning mass. Gorgeous music as we enjoyed viewing the art.
National Museum of Rome has some of the best Roman statues and frescos and mosaics from Roman villas.
The baths of Diocletian from 300AD were next. During the Renaissance part of the baths were rebuilt into a church.
We walked back via a street that was lined with Baroque churches and sculptures. Tim took some lovely photos. We ended up at the Trevi Fountain with every other tourist in Rome.
Tim and I have been eating a plant based diet for two months in order to lower our cholesterol especially our LDL. So our challenge is to find Vegan options in Italy! Our first meal was actually last evening at a Restaurant called Wanted. We asked if he had any vegan options and the waiter said no. But we found Pizza Marinara on the menu (only tomato sauce) and had him top it off with arugula. It was quite yummy!
We had breakfast this morning at our lodging. Our selections were narrow but Okay. Muesli with soy milk, watermelon and pineapple and bread with jam.
For lunch we headed to Rifugio Romano near the train station. Half of their menu is vegan. Yeah!! Tim had pasta with green beans, pesto and cashew potato sauce. I had an eggplant stuffed with tomatoes, tempeh, beans and the cashew potato sauce. Both were quite yummy. Because we had to wait so long for our food, we were treated to a bit of limoncello.
We weren’t very hungry in the evening, so shared a vegetarian sandwich(without the mozzarella 🙁). Then we were on a hunt for non dairy gelato! We found Gelateria dell’Angeletto. Half of the choices were vegan and were marked by the blue handle on the scoop! Very clever.
We didn’t miss the meat or dairy today! Well maybe the mozzarella. 😄
Credit goes to thenomadicvegan.com for her Eating vegan in Rome post.
#Rome, #Vegan, #eatingveganinrome
We arrived in Rome last evening after long flights. We flew through Munich and Germany and Italy still require masks on all public transport. Our ears were quite sore by the time we arrived.
The Rome airport is outside the city in Fiumicino. We took the Leonardo express train from the airport to Roma Termini train station. Then we had a 20 minute walk to our lodging over cobblestone streets.
Our lodging is owned and run by Dominican nuns. Very clean and basic on a fairly quiet street in the Monti district, not far from the Coliseum. It has been a long two days and we sleep.
June 18, 2022
Here we are in Poulsbo, Washington, also known as “Little Norway”. This little town on Liberty Bay is just east of Seattle on the Kitsap peninsula. It was settled by Norwegian immigrants in the 1800’s. It is now mainly a tourist town and port.
This is Saturday and the Sons of Norway are celebrating Midsummer or the Summer Solstice. This was once a pagan ritual, but with the coming of Christianity to Scandinavia, they now celebrate the birth of John the Baptist.
At noon, many volunteers are decorating the Midsummer Pole with leaved branches. Once the leaves are all tied on, many flowers are added to the pole.
While this is happening, the local Sons of Norway folk dancers entertain us with dances from Scandinavian countries. The classes performing range from kindergarten to teens.
Then comes the rising of the 30 foot pole, which is quite the process.
At 7 pm there is the lighting of the bonfire. We all are waiting for the Sons of Norway volunteers, dressed as Vikings parade down the main street and then gather around and light the bonfire. It was quite fun to watch.
Tim & Kathy Simonsen