Sept. 12-21, 2023 - Set 2 of 3
Sept. 11-14 Milan
Sept. 12: Of the group of 17 that hiked the Tour Mont Blanc circuit, 8 of us carried on to Italy afterwards for a time of unwinding and recuperating from the 9-day trek. History came alive for us as we visited the midievel castles, cathedrals and forts. The renaissance brought with it an explosion of art work in the 15th & 16th centuries, namely by the famous Italian masters, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael. Florence replaced Rome in becoming the leading centre of art. The architecture, paintings, frescoes and sculptures were awe inspiring. Months would not have been sufficient to view and study it all.
Note: Most of the cathedral photos are in slideshows within the blog. Just click on the right centre of the photo to proceed to the next one.
This part of our European trip did not start out on the right footing -- literally. The night before Case ventured outside of our apartment in the inner city to bum a smoke off of someone and find an interesting character to talk to.When a young man came up to him and put his arm round his shoulders in greeting, Case was too trusting. In a heartbeat the guy had snitched his precious cell phone out of his pocket and was gone!
As morning greeted us, Denise realized that she'd misscalculated the walking distance to the meet-up point for the tour. Case was earnestly asking me to text our secretary to tell her about his stolen phone and Denise & Allana ahead of me, rushing to catch the bus. Texting while going down stairs was not a good thing to do. I fell and sprained my ankle. Thankfully I didn't miss any tours, with my heavily limping gait.
Sept. 12 - We stayed at the Lombardia apartment for 3 nights in the heart of Milan. We did two tours this day: Divinci's Last Supper + Duomo di Milano Cathedral
Tour #1: We first went to the Santa Maria delle Grazie.
The frog pond.
The octagonal baptisteries were built beside the cathedrals. Baptisms were performed only three times a year with a large amount of people. It required total submersion in warm water. Behind this church was the refectory.
Leonardo Da Vinci painted the Lord's Supper on the north wall of the refectory from 1494-1498. It is one of the most revered and well-known pieces of art in the world. During WW2 a bomb landed 8' away from this mural, demolishing the building. Miraculously, this wall was left standing! Unlike other paintings of the last supper, in this one Judas the traitor is seated on the same side of the table as the other disciples. Da Vinci really captures the expressions of the disciples as Jesus tells them one of them will betray him.
Sforzesco Castle was built in the 1500s, onto the remnants of a 14th-century fortification (left pic). The ruling family never left the castle for fear of assasination.
Tour #2: The Milan Cathedral took over 600 years to build. It was completed in 1990, has 3400 statues, 52 pillars for each week of the year and is completely made of marble, all from one location.
It is the largest cathedral in Italy.
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As instructed by our guide, we walked to this street for lunch. It was like watching a fashion show, the stylishly dressed people walking to and fro.
The highlighted creepy looking statue by Da Vinci clearly shows the anatomy of the human body.
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Sept. 13 - Tour #3: Bernina Scenic Train & Lake Como
Of the six tours we did, this one was my least favorite. The 13-hour day was spent mostly driving, 5 hours by bus back & forth to the Swiss Alps from where we'd just come a few days prior, having done the Tour Mont Blanc trek. Then we had a 45-minute boat ride on Como Lake after having lunch in this quaint town of St. Moritz.
We drove past George Clooney's and the Heinz families estates.
And off we went on a relaxing train ride but not with the best of views, thanks to the weather.
The Bernina Express links northern and southern Europe, being the highest railway line through the Alps.
Sept. 14
At first when Irene booked a villa in Lavento (close to Cinque Terra) for four nights I thought, "What are we going to do there for 3 full days, especially with hiking knocked out of my agenda?" But our days were easily filled, exploring the five villages by boat, train and on foot.We ended up not spending any time on the beach.
After a 3-hour train ride to Levanto, we spent the rest of the day strolling through the village.
3-pic slider: St. Andrew's Church from the 13th century.
There were so many nooks & crannies in the narrow allies between the homes. Built on steep slopes and in gullies between cliffs, every square foot was put to good use.
Notice the door-knob is in the middle of the door.
Sept. 15: Boat Tour #4
We had to wait at this dock for the ferry. I saw the bigger boy getting mad at what was probably his younger brother who was snickering. Then he started crying, frustrated with the fishing rod that he had broken. The line had snapped and he lost the hook and bait. I asked Case to help him. Communicating by hand motions, Case managed to fix the rod. Then he went on to show him how to fish. The boy was too slow to snag the fish. By now a small crowd had formed to watch. When he finally snagged a little one, we were all clapping and cheering. Instead of tears, the boy was now smiling.
1) Chilean-jasmine 2) European Leadwort
Arrived in Monterosso and headed for the harbour.
Because of my injured ankle, the hike we'd planned from town to town was no longer an option. But this 4-hour boat tour was a lovely alternative. It was super relaxing on the water in the sun with no wind. Perfect conditions. And viewing the "cinque terras" from the water was the best way to see them.
Monterosso is the first and most northern of the five villages.
We had about an hour to kill so we wandered around the village.
.3-pic slider: Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista
A mausoleum; Oratorio Mortis et Orationis - Confraternita dei Neri
Vernazza
S. Margherita di Antiochia church
Manarola
Riomaggoire
The water was lovely and the fresh seafood was delicious!
The captian asked us if we liked the clams. We promptly answered, yes. He said , "Good. I caught them two hours ago."
The Giant is at the north end of the beach in Monterosso.
This was the most impressive show of fireworks we'd ever seen! A half an hour of non-stop fireworks, shooting from four different mounts not too far off shore. I watched from my bedroom window (my ankle was getting painful) while the others were watching from the beach. Its not every day you can see a view like that from your bedroom window!
Sept. 16: We took the ferry to Portovenere, the 5th town on the south end of the coast.
The Castle of Porto Venere was a military fortress which was defended by a garrison of archers and musketeers. In 1797 Napoleon began to use the fortress as a political prison.
An agave plant.
St. Peters Church on the rocky bluff at the entrance to the bay - 1256AD.
Heading back.
Passing Riomaggoire again.
Back in Monterosso, we had 2 hours to kill before the next ferry came for us.
Sept. 17 - We took the train to 3 villages and explored by foot.
Vernazza
Manarola
S Lorenzo church
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Riomaggoire
2-pic slider: S Giovanni Battista
2) Rose's Claret-cupped Cactus
Corniglia was the smallest village and the only village that is not accessible by water.
S Pietro
Cold drinks in the heat of the day.
The gang: Denise, Brigitte, Irene, Anne, Simon, Case & I.
Sept. 18 - Took a 3-hour train ride to Florence and stayed in the Berna Hotel for three nights, close to the train station. Brigitte & Anne were staying just down the street in a convent. Case & I wandered around the city for the remainder of the day.
Basilica Santa Maria Novella
The cloister of the dead was rebuilt after the 1333 flood, from 1337-1350.
This vast hall was originally the Chapter House of the convent of Santa Maria Novella.
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1) Frescoes scenes from the life of the virgin Mary 2) Frescoes scenes from the life of John the baptist
1485-1490. These walls were about 25' tall.
Basilica S Lorenzo & Medici Chapel.
3-pic slider: The sepulchre with the mortal remains of Lorenzo the Magnificent (died in 1492) and of his brother, Guiliano who was killed during the Pazzi conspiracy in 1478. These sculptures surrounding it are the work of Michelangilo in 1521.
Pic 1: The brother of Pope Leo X is portrayed as a captain. Night and Day recline at his feet.
Pic 2: St. Cosmas, the Madonna, St. Damian
Pic 3: Prince Lorenzo with Dusk and Dawn at his feet.
Sept. 19 - Tour #5: The Best of Tuscany Tour was a 12-hour day, packed full of sights to see and places to explore.
First we drove by bus to Siena. Florence is 200 years younger than Sienna. The Medici family ruled Florence for over 400 years, beginning in the first half of the 15th century. Florence conquered Sienna in 1552. In 1348 Florence lost a third of its population to the black plague and Milan lost 35% to the Italian plague from 1629 to 1631.
Someone in our group said it looked like they didn't have breakfast. These life-size busts are like a portrait sculpture.
Piazza del Campo is in the heart of the city. Twice a year the entire city comes to wittness the Palio horserace, and the piazza turns into a race-track. Pic 1 shows the town hall.
The winner gets a banner but also the joy of having won. Seventeen districts with their own flags and banners, come out to compete against one another.
Basilica di S. Croce. This Duomo of Siena was one of Italy's first.
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This marble floor took 200 years to complete, having started in the 14th century. The 56 different panels designed by 40 Italian artists were created with the world's most precious marble.
Lunch was at a vineyard in the hills of Chainti. When we were told by our guide that we'd get samples of four different wines, we didn't expect full bottles to be sitting on our tables.
Our next stop was in medieval San Gimignano.
Elsa Valley
3-pic slider: Views from the top of the Tore Grossa. This involves a 53m climb on 150 stone steps.
Our last stop was at the leaning Tower of Pisa.
The Chapel of San Ranieri was built between 1563-1621. The Tower of Pisa it to the right.
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We got to climb the leaning Tower of Pisa. Its 58.36m high, of which 55m are above ground and weighs over 14,000 tons!
View from the bell tower.
Oops. When they said the bus will leave without you if you're not at the meet-up spot on time, they meant exactly that. I thought it was 7:45pm but it was 7:15pm. Now what? It was getting dark and our guide had my camera case (I wasn't allowed to take it along on the narrow stairs in the Tower of Pisa), and my cell was in it. That left us with no phone because Case's was stolen in Milan. And we couldn't remember how to get to the parking lot which was a 15-minute walk away. Many thanks to our "good Samaritan" who directed us to the parking lot. When we did not see the bus, he not only drove us to the train station (almost half an hour drive), but saw us to the correct train before he left us.
Sept. 20 - Tour #6: The Accademia Gallery
By this time we'd seen so many cathedrals, baptisteries and monuments, that the images were starting to blend together in my mind and I was starting to feel rather done. But I'm glad we did this last tour. I got VIP tickets so we were first in the cathedral and first in the dome.
These are called the "Imprisoned sculptures". Michelangelo purposely left them unfinished as a method of teaching his students.
12' tall and 5 tons of marble carved into the most famous sculpture on earth, by Michelangilo (1501-1504).
4-pic slider: David who killed Goliath with his sling, became a symbol of liberty and of civic pride for the people of Florence. Ruled by the Medici family and surrounded by hostile enemies, the city identified itself with the young hero, who with the help of God, had defeated a much more powerful enemy. Michelangelo sculpted an uncirsumsized adult, not a circumsized teenager as described in the Bible.
These sculptures were done my Michelangelo's students. The little holes in them were used to measure the proportions. They also used casts made by pouring melted metal into a mold. Michelangelo himself never used casts.
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The basic theme in most of the paintings in the cathedrals were of the life of Christ and the mother Mary. Often frescoes would have images of demons at the bottom and the crucified Christ with Mary higher up, offering a way of salvation.
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4-pic slider: Pics 1&2: A replica of the golden door called "Gates of Paradise", illustrating stories of the Bible, done my Lorenzo Gheberti (1425-1452)
3-pic slider of Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral
7-pic slider: The Last Judgement frescoes inside the Brunelleshi dome. It is the largest brick dome in the world, construction being from 1296-1436. This was the first octagonal dome in histroy to have been created without the use of a supportive beam network, hence the double dome.
Walking between the two domes, barely 8' apart.
Giotto Bell Tower
4-pic slider: Views of Florence from the northern terrace of the cathdral rooftop.
We ended this holiday by going out for dinner with all of us before parting ways: Denise D, Simon & Irene H, Brigitte G, Anne O'L, Lisa & Pat S + Allana W
After that we flew back to Holland for a second weekend there with family and friends. This is in my final blog, set 3: the Netherlands.
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