Travelling Simply

Travel recommendations, ideas and observations from two simple travellers

Tag: travelling simply (Page 3 of 3)

See the hidden treasures just outside of Rome

25/10/2018 / / 3 Comments

It was another bright, sunny day as we drove up to Hadrian’s Villa (Villa Adriana) just outside of Tivoli. We had spent a couple of weeks walking the tracks between the villages in the Cinque Terre, wandering the streets of Florence and Sienna, and roaming the Tuscan countryside. The drive, surrounded by endless fields of sunflowers through Umbria and into Lazio was beautiful, and Tivoli was our final stop before reaching Rome.

With parking restricted at the entrance, we parked in a neighbouring suburban street, found a little café for lunch in preparation for an afternoon wandering through the ruins of the UNESCO World Heritage site.

We were delighted to find there were no queues at the entrance. And, upon entering, only a few people inside the complex.

Hadrian’s Villa is a large complex of buildings, gardens, pools and fountains, dating back to 118AD. Emperor Hadrian built this rural retreat as his summer getaway from Rome and today, much of the site remains unexcavated. The unearthed ruins though, leave it to the imagination about how spectacular buildings and grounds of this original Villa were!

Entranced by the beauty of the Villa, we hadn’t noticed the dark clouds gather. Suddenly there’s a feeling of eeriness around us. Thunder starts to rumble and flashes of lightning rapidly crack across the sky. With more to see, we don’t let this deter us and carry on admiring willing the skies to clear – we still have much more to see.

The Gods take pity and it is not until we reach the Museum that it starts to pour with rain. The model recreation indoors gives us an insight into Emperor Hadrian’s appreciation of architectural styles and how beautiful the Villa originally was.

It was time to leave and with no sign of the heavy rain subsiding, the decision was made. He gallantly sprinted to find our car while I took cover.

And, so it was that we continued our short drive into Tivoli to find our little B&B in the small piazza just outside the amazing Villa D’Este. We will have a couple of hours to explore the famous gardens before dark.

With light rain still falling by the time we unpack and settle, we decide that a tour of the Villa apartments would be best before exploring the gardens. We are not disappointed, the apartments reveal stunning frescoes and stairways with glimpses over the gardens and beyond through the windows. This villa was the home of the very wealthy Cardinal Ippolito d’Este.

The grand finale is the amazing gardens, fountains and waterfalls – indescribable. The opulence of times past is difficult to understand these days, however, we are grateful that the Villa has been well preserved for us to enjoy and imagine times past.

Hadrian’s Villa is located outside of Tivoli and while we travelled by car, we understand there is a bus service from Tivoli which delivers you very close to the entrance (pop into the Tourist Office om Piazza Garibaldi for details).

Just over 20km from Rome, Tivoli can be explored on a day trip. However, we recommend that you stay at least one night in this small town to be able to explore the main attractions at a leisurely pace. Or, stay longer to use the town as a base as you explore the region of Lazio. Either way, do not miss the opportunity to go off the tourist track and pay a visit.

P.S. If you decide to stay in Tivoli, we can recommend staying at the lovely B&B Villa D’Este situated right next to the Villa D’Este. Our host, Fabio was very polite and accommodating providing us with a delicious homemade breakfast on the rooftop terrace. Make sure you request a room overlooking the piazza. They also provide complimentary parking in a car park close by. There are plenty of unique restaurants and cafes close by.

On the way to the cemetery…

26/08/2018 / / 1 Comment

One of the things we love about travelling simply is meeting the people of the countries we visit. Travelling independently provides numerous opportunities to converse with locals, hear about their lives, their story, learn something new about their country and practice speaking their language.

An added benefit is arranging your own travel itinerary. We like to detour from mainstream tourist attractions to find our own small attractions and make the visit more memorable.

  • tiber river

We had taken a morning walk along the Tiber River in Rome, through the Rose Garden to take a peep through the keyhole on the Aventine Hill and decided to continue on to the Protestant Cemetery which is only a few kilometres from the Colosseum. We had found our way there on a previous visit and were keen to go back to the graveyard.

Wandering down the Hill, dazzled by the magnificent view through the keyhole (it was a clear, sunny morning and the view was magnificent), we became disorientated and wondered if we were going the right way. We are old hands in Rome and had come out without our map!

It is early and the streets are deserted. We stand at the fork of the road pondering on whether we need to turn left or right when we spot a man leisurely strolling down the hill puffing on his pipe, a beautiful golden retriever in tow.

We approach. He looks at us amusingly as we try our hand at asking him in Italian if we are going the right way. He stuns us with his reply. Not only is it in perfect English, but it is his accent which raises our curiosity!

None of us are in a hurry. We stand on the street corner as he takes pleasure in telling the story of his life. It is not extraordinary, an Italian, now retired who studied, lived and work in our home town, has children who live in our country which he visits every year but loves the life in Italy. It turns out that we have more in common than we thought.

Half an hour later he walks down the hill with us, tells us we are heading in the right direction as we part ways. The cemetery is less than five minutes away.

We spend an hour meandering through the cemetery stopping at the gravestones to read and reflect on the lives of the non-Catholic who lived and died here. The cemetery was established in the early 1700’s so there is a lot of history here on the life of the expatriate community in Italy. We only walk through a small section to ensure we come back again on a future visit.

Our visit is not complete without visiting a special part of the cemetery set a little aside in a tranquil garden, the final resting places of the British poets Keats and Shelley.

A lovely morning spent away from the chaos of Rome making new memories with a stranger.

  • keats tombstone
    Tombstone of John Keats

Footnote: You’ll find the Protestant Cemetery next to the Pyramid of Caius Cestius. The entrance is tucked away on Via Caio Cestio. Entrance is free, however, donations for the upkeep of the cemetery are accepted through a donation box at the entrance.

The long road to Oia

14/03/2018 / / 1 Comment

“You’ll have to get off and maybe even help push this thing up the hill”, he said. Had I put on that much weight?

We had decided to end our driving holiday around Portugal and the Spanish, French and Italian Riviera’s in Greece with a bit of time out on the islands of Santorini and Mykonos. The kind lady at the travel agent in Athens where we booked our ferry tickets recommended that we go to Paros or Naxos next time. “They are so much better”, she advised. It was too late to change our minds, our accommodation was already booked and we were keen to see why everyone raved about these two islands.

While I unpacked and settled into our unit He headed off the pick up the free scooter which came with our stay. It was the peak of summer, the island was busy with holidaymakers and day visitors from the cruise ships anchored off the coastline. We had decided to stay a little outside the town of Fira which was the reason the resort offered free scooters with their accommodation.

Have gotten ourselves and the scooter up the slight rise and puttered the short distance into town, we decided that we were going to need something with more power than this if we were going to venture further than Fira town to explore the island. We upgrade the scooter for one of those quad bikes we’d seen the youngsters whizzing around in.

  • quad biking on santorini

Nothing will stop us now. Our quad bike takes us comfortably up the hill to the Pyrgos to admire sweeping views across to the side of the island. It’s windy up on the hill but calm and idyllic when we reach Kamari, renowned for its black sand beach. A lovely resort town, we stroll along the promenade next to the beach, lined with small resorts and restaurants – cosy in comparison to Fira.

We have been told that the town of Oia at the northern tip of the island is the place to go to see the “perfect” sunset. We’d like to see it during the day too, so we follow the road. The road to Oia is bumpy although quiet and we don’t see much traffic or people for that matter all the way. Stunning scenery accompanies us, small fields of crops lumped in between small villages and vineyards with their vines growing on the ground in baskets rather than up trellises. We have all day, so we are not bothered by the long ride. Still, it is a long ride and Oia better live up to expectations!

We arrive at Oia tired from the long ride to find the place inundated with tourists. We look at each other and grimace. However, it is later in the afternoon and pretty soon the tour buses depart taking their passengers back to the cruise ship leaving us to ramble through the pretty laneways and craft shops. The scenery is magnificent. We had thought Fira was amazing, Oia is truly stunning, and not just at sunset. Make sure you plan your day to visit later in the afternoon once the crowds have disappeared when the town is left to the locals and the few remaining tourists who dare to wander about in the heat of the day.

  • oia-santorini-greece

We follow the more direct and shorter route back to our hotel arriving with sore bottoms from the bumpy ride but so happy that we dared to take the long road to Oia.

We do cram into a bus with other holidaymakers the next evening to make sure we see the famous sunset at Oia. The best locations are jam-packed with people poised with their cameras. We decide to watch the sunset from a rooftop restaurant sipping a glass of Santorini wine. Perfect!

  • oia-santorini-greece

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