I don't really have a great deal to say about these places other than how beautiful they are. Of all the sites we visited in the two days, Paestum was definitely my favourite, the temples in the city are just so beautifully preserved and amazing!! It is amazing to think that the temples we saw were about 2500 years old and still standing!! As it is quite late here and I'm sleepy, here are some photos of these wonderful sites (I will write more later!!!)
Monday, 4 February 2013
Days 11 and 12: Paestum, Velia, Baia and Bacoli
Days 11 and 12 were very intense days of visiting archaeological sites, and to be honest, after a whole week of it, we were all a bit ruins-ed out!! A great quote going around is 'another day, another Ostia!!'
I don't really have a great deal to say about these places other than how beautiful they are. Of all the sites we visited in the two days, Paestum was definitely my favourite, the temples in the city are just so beautifully preserved and amazing!! It is amazing to think that the temples we saw were about 2500 years old and still standing!! As it is quite late here and I'm sleepy, here are some photos of these wonderful sites (I will write more later!!!)
I don't really have a great deal to say about these places other than how beautiful they are. Of all the sites we visited in the two days, Paestum was definitely my favourite, the temples in the city are just so beautifully preserved and amazing!! It is amazing to think that the temples we saw were about 2500 years old and still standing!! As it is quite late here and I'm sleepy, here are some photos of these wonderful sites (I will write more later!!!)
Day 10: Naples Museum, trains and shopping!
Day 10 was definitely a fantastic day, full of adventure, new experiences and really, really cool artefacts. The day started with a trip into Naples by train, which is always an interesting experience!! We arrived at the National Archaeological Museum first thing and went straight into the huge museum and definitely my favourite museum experience so far!!
The museum itself is built inside a palace from Naples' heyday, and full of artefacts that once belonged to the King that had come from places including Rome, Pompeii and Greece. Our first part of the day was browsing through the beautiful wall paintings that were taken from villas and houses at Pompeii and Herculaneum (this makes my inner archaeologist cry a bit, but life goes on). The sheer number of the frescos is just astounding, the colours are still so vibrant and the pictures still crisp and beautiful. Something I really loved seeing was the Alexander Mosaic on the wall. We had seen a replica of it when at Pompeii but it was evident that the mosaic was definitely better off in a museum and away from the open elements. That said, it was amazing to finally see something so famous in real life!!
After our look at the wall paintings, we headed down to the Farnese Collection, the personal collection of a wealthy Neapolitan family. The sheer amount of artefacts that these people had in their possession is ridiculous, especially considering only a fraction are on display. There was a hall of busts that was reminiscent of the Vatican Museum, and held the familiar faces of many great and not so great emperors and figures, including........ Another Domitian!!! We also saw our first Caesar. We all were feeling a little silly so we took self shots with our favourite emperors and posed badly to have a laugh. It is amazing how laid back staff are at these museums, especially given that as a whole our group was pretty noisy!!
After browsing through some other not so exciting things, we were free to run around Naples for the afternoon and then make our own way back to the hotel. I can definitely say that it was an experience and a half considering we got a little lost on the way back home, what with catching the wrong train, walking the wrong way and then ending up at the station we were not intending to.
Luckily for us we had some very helpful and nice people give us a hand in catching the correct trains, my friend Michael asked a man for directions and it turned out he was off to the same place as us, so he got on and off trains with us until we were on the right one. At this point we were a little stressed because we were late for a lecture that was meant to be happening that night, so when we arrived at the Ercolano station, which is quite a walk from our hotel, we flagged down a very nice taxi driver and were back at Villa Signorini in no time, and for the huge price of 2€ each! Was the cheapest taxi ride I have ever had! Despite the stress about missing the lecture, it turned out that only a handful of people were back, we discovered this as the taxi pulled into the driveway at the same time as a large group of our people were walking up the driveway.
It turns out that all the trains were broken that afternoon so we had been stressed over nothing!!
Our lecture was postponed which was good, because it was an excellent presentation from Jo Berry of the Herculaneum Conservation Project.
Day 10 was definitely one of my favourites, it was real fun seeing an amazing museum and shopping in a city as lovely as Naples. That said, I still prefer Rome to Naples, but it is very difficult to compare them to each other.
Attached are some photos of the day:
Also mum, there is a chicken mosaic from Pompeii, thought you would appreciate this haha
The museum itself is built inside a palace from Naples' heyday, and full of artefacts that once belonged to the King that had come from places including Rome, Pompeii and Greece. Our first part of the day was browsing through the beautiful wall paintings that were taken from villas and houses at Pompeii and Herculaneum (this makes my inner archaeologist cry a bit, but life goes on). The sheer number of the frescos is just astounding, the colours are still so vibrant and the pictures still crisp and beautiful. Something I really loved seeing was the Alexander Mosaic on the wall. We had seen a replica of it when at Pompeii but it was evident that the mosaic was definitely better off in a museum and away from the open elements. That said, it was amazing to finally see something so famous in real life!!
After our look at the wall paintings, we headed down to the Farnese Collection, the personal collection of a wealthy Neapolitan family. The sheer amount of artefacts that these people had in their possession is ridiculous, especially considering only a fraction are on display. There was a hall of busts that was reminiscent of the Vatican Museum, and held the familiar faces of many great and not so great emperors and figures, including........ Another Domitian!!! We also saw our first Caesar. We all were feeling a little silly so we took self shots with our favourite emperors and posed badly to have a laugh. It is amazing how laid back staff are at these museums, especially given that as a whole our group was pretty noisy!!
After browsing through some other not so exciting things, we were free to run around Naples for the afternoon and then make our own way back to the hotel. I can definitely say that it was an experience and a half considering we got a little lost on the way back home, what with catching the wrong train, walking the wrong way and then ending up at the station we were not intending to.
Luckily for us we had some very helpful and nice people give us a hand in catching the correct trains, my friend Michael asked a man for directions and it turned out he was off to the same place as us, so he got on and off trains with us until we were on the right one. At this point we were a little stressed because we were late for a lecture that was meant to be happening that night, so when we arrived at the Ercolano station, which is quite a walk from our hotel, we flagged down a very nice taxi driver and were back at Villa Signorini in no time, and for the huge price of 2€ each! Was the cheapest taxi ride I have ever had! Despite the stress about missing the lecture, it turned out that only a handful of people were back, we discovered this as the taxi pulled into the driveway at the same time as a large group of our people were walking up the driveway.
It turns out that all the trains were broken that afternoon so we had been stressed over nothing!!
Our lecture was postponed which was good, because it was an excellent presentation from Jo Berry of the Herculaneum Conservation Project.
Day 10 was definitely one of my favourites, it was real fun seeing an amazing museum and shopping in a city as lovely as Naples. That said, I still prefer Rome to Naples, but it is very difficult to compare them to each other.
Attached are some photos of the day:
Also mum, there is a chicken mosaic from Pompeii, thought you would appreciate this haha
Days 8 and 9: Herculaneum, Oplontis and Pompeii!!
After much anticipation from all involved on the tour, we were finally about to see volcanic ruins! I guess none of us really knew what to expect from the two little known towns of Herculaneum and Oplontis. We were in for an absolutely amazing experience.
We walked from our hotel to Herculaneum excavation site, where we were fed sweets and made to drink coffee. After an introduction to the site and the main archaeologists involved in the project, we investigated a makeshift museum, full of naval finds, with an almost perfectly preserved ship, fishing gear, anchor and even a leather bag. It was here we learnt of how harsh Vesuvius was to the small community, with about 350 skeletons found around the city so far (only a third of the town has been excavated as the ash that fell on Herculaneum is much harder than that in sites such as Pompeii). The people trying to escape would have had no chance, with the heat waves coming from the volcano at a heat of at least 450*c, this would have killed them immediately with muscles spasming and organs basically liquefying and flesh being completely stripped from the bodies. Due to the ash burying the bodies, archaeologists have been able to see the positions that the civilians died in, all horribly contorted and twisted. The only saving grace about such an awful death is that it would have been extraordinarily quick, so at least they weren't in pain for long. We had the opportunity to see these skeletons that were found in boat sheds, presumably attempting to escape. Many had possessions with them such as jewellery, swords and even a bag full of coins. The saddest instance was a woman, 8 months pregnant, her child's skeleton is visible inside hers. Despite all the sadness, the ruins we saw were astounding, because of the sorts of ash that fell on Herculaneum, many biological things have survived such as wood and leather.
As well as wood and leather, the frescos of many houses have also survived. These paintings were amazing, and we saw the best examples of them in the Villa of Popeia, Nero's wife in Oplontis. The villa is huge and has absolutely stunning frescoes, mosaics and rooms. Some photos of the boat shed from Herculaneum and the frescos from Oplontis are at the end of the blog. This was definitely an amazing day, and it will be one that will be very hard to top!
Day 9 we went to Pompeii. Before I write anymore I really need to point out the disappointment I experienced in Pompeii. It is much more famous than Herculaneum, but really, it is in such disgusting disrepair that it actually made me feel like crying, the Herculaneum Conservation Project is why the sister site to Pompeii is just so much better. It is such a shame to see the disrepair of the buildings that, with the proper care should not be crumbling down around itself.
Despite this disappointment and sadness, the site still holds its beauty and it is certainly understandable why the site is so famous, but again, I feel it is just a tourist trap rather than a site of historical and archaeological significance. That said, the necropoli in Pompeii are amazing, with varying sizes and classes of mausoleums visible. I really love funerary monuments as they offer such a great insight to the people of the towns and how they wanted to be remembered. My personal favourite was a tomb that a man made for himself and his wife, she outlived him and mustn't have liked his mausoleum because she built herself a bigger and nicer one!! Despite this she still dedicated it to him as well.
The absolute highlight of our visit to Pompeii was definitely out stop at the Villa of Mysteries, just outside the city gates. The mysterious fresco in this villa was the first thing I learnt of Pompeii at uni and I remember the lecture quite fondly, as I had no understanding of the Pompeiian wall painting styles or of its most famous fresco. The mysterious scene on the wall was absolutely breathtaking in real life.
Overall, the experience I had of Herculaneum and Pompeii was amazing and one I will never forget, I just hope that archaeologists can continue to conserve the two sites.
We walked from our hotel to Herculaneum excavation site, where we were fed sweets and made to drink coffee. After an introduction to the site and the main archaeologists involved in the project, we investigated a makeshift museum, full of naval finds, with an almost perfectly preserved ship, fishing gear, anchor and even a leather bag. It was here we learnt of how harsh Vesuvius was to the small community, with about 350 skeletons found around the city so far (only a third of the town has been excavated as the ash that fell on Herculaneum is much harder than that in sites such as Pompeii). The people trying to escape would have had no chance, with the heat waves coming from the volcano at a heat of at least 450*c, this would have killed them immediately with muscles spasming and organs basically liquefying and flesh being completely stripped from the bodies. Due to the ash burying the bodies, archaeologists have been able to see the positions that the civilians died in, all horribly contorted and twisted. The only saving grace about such an awful death is that it would have been extraordinarily quick, so at least they weren't in pain for long. We had the opportunity to see these skeletons that were found in boat sheds, presumably attempting to escape. Many had possessions with them such as jewellery, swords and even a bag full of coins. The saddest instance was a woman, 8 months pregnant, her child's skeleton is visible inside hers. Despite all the sadness, the ruins we saw were astounding, because of the sorts of ash that fell on Herculaneum, many biological things have survived such as wood and leather.
As well as wood and leather, the frescos of many houses have also survived. These paintings were amazing, and we saw the best examples of them in the Villa of Popeia, Nero's wife in Oplontis. The villa is huge and has absolutely stunning frescoes, mosaics and rooms. Some photos of the boat shed from Herculaneum and the frescos from Oplontis are at the end of the blog. This was definitely an amazing day, and it will be one that will be very hard to top!
Day 9 we went to Pompeii. Before I write anymore I really need to point out the disappointment I experienced in Pompeii. It is much more famous than Herculaneum, but really, it is in such disgusting disrepair that it actually made me feel like crying, the Herculaneum Conservation Project is why the sister site to Pompeii is just so much better. It is such a shame to see the disrepair of the buildings that, with the proper care should not be crumbling down around itself.
Despite this disappointment and sadness, the site still holds its beauty and it is certainly understandable why the site is so famous, but again, I feel it is just a tourist trap rather than a site of historical and archaeological significance. That said, the necropoli in Pompeii are amazing, with varying sizes and classes of mausoleums visible. I really love funerary monuments as they offer such a great insight to the people of the towns and how they wanted to be remembered. My personal favourite was a tomb that a man made for himself and his wife, she outlived him and mustn't have liked his mausoleum because she built herself a bigger and nicer one!! Despite this she still dedicated it to him as well.
The absolute highlight of our visit to Pompeii was definitely out stop at the Villa of Mysteries, just outside the city gates. The mysterious fresco in this villa was the first thing I learnt of Pompeii at uni and I remember the lecture quite fondly, as I had no understanding of the Pompeiian wall painting styles or of its most famous fresco. The mysterious scene on the wall was absolutely breathtaking in real life.
Overall, the experience I had of Herculaneum and Pompeii was amazing and one I will never forget, I just hope that archaeologists can continue to conserve the two sites.
Day 6 and 7: Pantheon, Theatre of Marcellus and trip to Naples.
Days 6 and 7 were not as crazily busy as the previous days we experienced in Rome, but they were definitely still exciting!!
The first event of Day 6 was a visit to Hadrian's Pantheon, an absolutely stunning piece of ancient architecture. It is in the great condition it is in as a result of it becoming a Catholic Church and hence, escaping the destruction that many other buildings faced. It is quite ironic to think this considering it was the religious centre for Rome, celebrating paganism. Despite the political and religious changes that the Pantheon went through, the architecture of it is absolutely astounding- the columns are massive and made of stone that would have had to be imported from Egypt. The most amazing part is that unlike many other ancient pillars, these are not made up of segments, but instead are monoliths! The roof inside is also amazing, it is so big that you can fit the roof into the room again underneath it like a sphere, but the design of the room is so that you can see the entire room with your peripheral vision, making it seem less dwarfing than the domes at St Peter's. In its new form as a Church, the Pantheon houses the bodies of many Italian kings and queens and a very famous name of art- Raphael!!! It is amazing that his sarcophagus is on display still! I have attached a couple of photos of the pantheon and Raphael's grave.
After our pantheon adventures, we walked through the Jewish Ghetto to the Theatre of Marcellus. The theatre is noted as the architectural inspiration for the Colosseum, which I'm sure you will see from the photo attached. After we looked at the theatre in awe for a while we were free to roam Rome until our dinner at BSR. The highlight of that afternoon was our visit to Burger King and my friend Korina getting stuck in the toilet, the locals must have thought we were crazy, we were freaking out that she couldn't get out of her cubicle!!
Day 7 was our trip to Naples and our new accommodation in the little town of Erculano. The 3 hour bus trip was much appreciated after a very busy week of walking everywhere!! (My feet are still aching from that first week of walking!!) Naples is definitely a huge change from Rome, it's much dirtier and has a confusing layout of streets, not to mention fewer ancient monuments in the town itself!! We arrived at our beautiful hotel (Villa Signorini) in Ercolano, unpacked and then we were off to the train station for a trip into Naples for the afternoon! We wandered around for a while, which annoyed all of us immensely as it was 3pm and we still hadn't had lunch! One of our lecturers, Luca (a great lover of Naples) found us a very good pizzeria. We're pretty sure it's run by a mob, but the food was amazing and so cheap! A magharita pizza was the whole of 4€!!
After investigating a few churches around the city we headed back to the hotel where we were greeted by our hosts from the Herculaneum Conservation Project/Centre. We had a prep talk about the upcoming days which looked absolutely fantastic and exciting! After a large meal we were off to bed to prepare for a jam packed few days!!
The first event of Day 6 was a visit to Hadrian's Pantheon, an absolutely stunning piece of ancient architecture. It is in the great condition it is in as a result of it becoming a Catholic Church and hence, escaping the destruction that many other buildings faced. It is quite ironic to think this considering it was the religious centre for Rome, celebrating paganism. Despite the political and religious changes that the Pantheon went through, the architecture of it is absolutely astounding- the columns are massive and made of stone that would have had to be imported from Egypt. The most amazing part is that unlike many other ancient pillars, these are not made up of segments, but instead are monoliths! The roof inside is also amazing, it is so big that you can fit the roof into the room again underneath it like a sphere, but the design of the room is so that you can see the entire room with your peripheral vision, making it seem less dwarfing than the domes at St Peter's. In its new form as a Church, the Pantheon houses the bodies of many Italian kings and queens and a very famous name of art- Raphael!!! It is amazing that his sarcophagus is on display still! I have attached a couple of photos of the pantheon and Raphael's grave.
After our pantheon adventures, we walked through the Jewish Ghetto to the Theatre of Marcellus. The theatre is noted as the architectural inspiration for the Colosseum, which I'm sure you will see from the photo attached. After we looked at the theatre in awe for a while we were free to roam Rome until our dinner at BSR. The highlight of that afternoon was our visit to Burger King and my friend Korina getting stuck in the toilet, the locals must have thought we were crazy, we were freaking out that she couldn't get out of her cubicle!!
Day 7 was our trip to Naples and our new accommodation in the little town of Erculano. The 3 hour bus trip was much appreciated after a very busy week of walking everywhere!! (My feet are still aching from that first week of walking!!) Naples is definitely a huge change from Rome, it's much dirtier and has a confusing layout of streets, not to mention fewer ancient monuments in the town itself!! We arrived at our beautiful hotel (Villa Signorini) in Ercolano, unpacked and then we were off to the train station for a trip into Naples for the afternoon! We wandered around for a while, which annoyed all of us immensely as it was 3pm and we still hadn't had lunch! One of our lecturers, Luca (a great lover of Naples) found us a very good pizzeria. We're pretty sure it's run by a mob, but the food was amazing and so cheap! A magharita pizza was the whole of 4€!!
After investigating a few churches around the city we headed back to the hotel where we were greeted by our hosts from the Herculaneum Conservation Project/Centre. We had a prep talk about the upcoming days which looked absolutely fantastic and exciting! After a large meal we were off to bed to prepare for a jam packed few days!!
Sunday, 27 January 2013
Day 5; Vatican and Capitoline Museums, Trevi Fountain and shopping in Rome.
Because I'm half asleep, I have just stuck some pictures in the blog, I will provide more writing at a later time. The highlights were definitely finding another Domitian bust and the amazing work of Michael-Angelo in the Sistine Chapel.
Updated!!! Day 5 was a pretty full on day with an early morning visit and queue for the Vatican Museum. The museum was definitely worth the wait though, it was amazing. Finally seeing the Sistine Chapel for myself and all of Michaelangelo and Raphael's work firsthand was unbelievable!!
The Vatican Museum also had an unbelievable number of busts, almost too many to be fair!! It was very hard finding a recognisable face in there among the jumble of portraits of ordinary citizens but I did manage to find one of Tiberius and Titus. After our visit through the hall of busts, we saw the Sistine Chapel and the works of Raphael, absolutely beautiful and dwarfing really. My friend actually cried when she saw the Sistine Chapel.
After our Vatican Museum visit we were free to do as we wished, so I joined a group including Tom, one of our wonderful lecturers to the Capitoline Museum. The Capitoline was also out of this world. The museum was hosting an exhibition on Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius and their partners. It was great to see so many cool artefacts!
After this adventure a group of us started the trek home through Rome, with many stops along the way, including the Trevi Fountain!!! It was quite funny, I threw my coin in the wrong way and Adalia almost fell in!! Besides our comedic mishaps, it was an enjoyable experience. After that visit we went into a few shops in Rome and finally made it back to the British School, which was a good thing! It was definitely a very tiring day!!
Updated!!! Day 5 was a pretty full on day with an early morning visit and queue for the Vatican Museum. The museum was definitely worth the wait though, it was amazing. Finally seeing the Sistine Chapel for myself and all of Michaelangelo and Raphael's work firsthand was unbelievable!!
The Vatican Museum also had an unbelievable number of busts, almost too many to be fair!! It was very hard finding a recognisable face in there among the jumble of portraits of ordinary citizens but I did manage to find one of Tiberius and Titus. After our visit through the hall of busts, we saw the Sistine Chapel and the works of Raphael, absolutely beautiful and dwarfing really. My friend actually cried when she saw the Sistine Chapel.
After our Vatican Museum visit we were free to do as we wished, so I joined a group including Tom, one of our wonderful lecturers to the Capitoline Museum. The Capitoline was also out of this world. The museum was hosting an exhibition on Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius and their partners. It was great to see so many cool artefacts!
After this adventure a group of us started the trek home through Rome, with many stops along the way, including the Trevi Fountain!!! It was quite funny, I threw my coin in the wrong way and Adalia almost fell in!! Besides our comedic mishaps, it was an enjoyable experience. After that visit we went into a few shops in Rome and finally made it back to the British School, which was a good thing! It was definitely a very tiring day!!
Day 4; Hadrian's Villa (aka, the day of being very sick)
Day 4 was not really a super exciting day considering how unwell I was. We left the BSR at 8am for an hourish drive to Tivoli, which was absolutely freezing. As a result another sick friend and I sought shelter in the restaurant near the entrance of Hadrian's Villa.
I had my first big bowl of pasta in Italy and strongly appreciated the delicious warmth it gave. We sat in the restaurant for a good three hours during which we met a couple from Melbourne who had seen us at a couple of other sights. Other than that, the day was not eventful. A group of us went out for dinner and enjoyed a chilled out night full of gelato and pizza.
Attached are a few pictures of Hadrian's Villa.
I had my first big bowl of pasta in Italy and strongly appreciated the delicious warmth it gave. We sat in the restaurant for a good three hours during which we met a couple from Melbourne who had seen us at a couple of other sights. Other than that, the day was not eventful. A group of us went out for dinner and enjoyed a chilled out night full of gelato and pizza.
Attached are a few pictures of Hadrian's Villa.
Day 3: Colosseo, Trajan's Column and Markets and the Forum of Augustus
I know that my day 3 and 4 are late, but better later than never... As the title of this post indicates, day 3 was an extremely busy, but enjoyable day. It was a very early start with a 45 minute walk to the Colosseum which was a real struggle in the freezing cold of Rome's early morning!!
It's very cliche, but nothing could prepare me for just how huge and amazing the Colosseum actually is in real life... It was visible from a very long way away, with the sun shining on it as we approached it, definitely a magical moment... We had a very brief tour of the amphitheatre and I had the chance to do my second (and final!) speech of the trip. The best part was the fact that I again had a rock to stand on and speak from! The experience we had in the Colosseum is one that I can hardly explain for how amazing it was, we went down onto the field, seeing the labyrinth on the grounds. The best part was definitely ascending to the highest remaining level and having the amazing view over Rome, with landmarks such as the Arch of Constantine and the Arch of Titus, forum and Trajan's column in this distance. It was astounding seeing the views of Ancient Rome, basically at my feet. It's safe to say that I definitely had a moment of zen standing on the Colosseum. It really made me realise that Romans were real, and I reflected on the horrible, but extremely important events of history that happened in that arena.
After our brief tour and my moment of zen, we were off walking again, this time to Trajan's column and markets for a museum visit. After listening to a couple of presentations and surveying the mighty and very impressive column (which is much bigger than you anticipate), we visited a museum that was specifically for the the markets of Trajan and the various imperial fora in the area (Forum of Augustus, Trajan, Nerva etc.). The museum's contents were not particularly enthralling as it is a mix of modern art combined with ancient artefacts. However, the museum itself was amazing as it was actually a building from Trajan's markets. That was definitely another special moment. After our visit to the market and column we were off walking, yet again!! This time we walked to the Forum of Rome.
Again, there was something crazily surreal about entering the forum, especially the senate house. The fact that such an important building for history still stands and is in very good condition was just so special. Standing inside was definitely a moment to reflect on what I am studying and why. It all came to life upon realising that all the Romans I have learnt about once stood exactly where I was standing, a very surreal moment. The rest of the forum was amazing as well, the highlight was walking to the very top of the Palatine Hill and seeing the sights of Rome. There are just so many things I wish I could detail, the whole day was magical, that side of Rome has so many sights that it is actually impossible to know what to take in and what to ignore, or at least, save for later.
The final exciting part of the day was seeing the Arch of Titus up so close. As it was a work of Domitian I am of course slightly biased towards it, but I believe that it is a truly beautiful monument for the memory of someone well loved by his people and evidently by his remaining family.
Part 4 and 5 will be uploaded very soon. Attached are some pictures of this exciting day!!
It's very cliche, but nothing could prepare me for just how huge and amazing the Colosseum actually is in real life... It was visible from a very long way away, with the sun shining on it as we approached it, definitely a magical moment... We had a very brief tour of the amphitheatre and I had the chance to do my second (and final!) speech of the trip. The best part was the fact that I again had a rock to stand on and speak from! The experience we had in the Colosseum is one that I can hardly explain for how amazing it was, we went down onto the field, seeing the labyrinth on the grounds. The best part was definitely ascending to the highest remaining level and having the amazing view over Rome, with landmarks such as the Arch of Constantine and the Arch of Titus, forum and Trajan's column in this distance. It was astounding seeing the views of Ancient Rome, basically at my feet. It's safe to say that I definitely had a moment of zen standing on the Colosseum. It really made me realise that Romans were real, and I reflected on the horrible, but extremely important events of history that happened in that arena.
After our brief tour and my moment of zen, we were off walking again, this time to Trajan's column and markets for a museum visit. After listening to a couple of presentations and surveying the mighty and very impressive column (which is much bigger than you anticipate), we visited a museum that was specifically for the the markets of Trajan and the various imperial fora in the area (Forum of Augustus, Trajan, Nerva etc.). The museum's contents were not particularly enthralling as it is a mix of modern art combined with ancient artefacts. However, the museum itself was amazing as it was actually a building from Trajan's markets. That was definitely another special moment. After our visit to the market and column we were off walking, yet again!! This time we walked to the Forum of Rome.
Again, there was something crazily surreal about entering the forum, especially the senate house. The fact that such an important building for history still stands and is in very good condition was just so special. Standing inside was definitely a moment to reflect on what I am studying and why. It all came to life upon realising that all the Romans I have learnt about once stood exactly where I was standing, a very surreal moment. The rest of the forum was amazing as well, the highlight was walking to the very top of the Palatine Hill and seeing the sights of Rome. There are just so many things I wish I could detail, the whole day was magical, that side of Rome has so many sights that it is actually impossible to know what to take in and what to ignore, or at least, save for later.
The final exciting part of the day was seeing the Arch of Titus up so close. As it was a work of Domitian I am of course slightly biased towards it, but I believe that it is a truly beautiful monument for the memory of someone well loved by his people and evidently by his remaining family.
Part 4 and 5 will be uploaded very soon. Attached are some pictures of this exciting day!!
Thursday, 24 January 2013
Day 2: Museums, pyramids and Ostia!!
Day 2 of our adventure was definitely an action packed day, we experience the public transport of Italy, crazy driving and good food.
Our morning started off with a visit to the amazing Museo Monte Martini, a museum filled with the latest acquisitions placed in a very different setting: an old power plant. When I first heard of this set up I was skeptical of how it would work and look. I was pleasantly surprised!!! The effects were amazing and the artefacts were spectacular. Everything from sarcophagi, friezes and busts were within. The most exciting part of this visit was finding my first real busts of famous Romans, most importantly, Augustus and Domitian!!!! As most know, Domitian is my all time favourite Roman, and words cannot describe how excited I was to actually see one of his busts, I would have loved to have taken it home!!! A photo of Domitian and I is below :). Another great artefact that I adore is the Barberini Togatus, it was amazing to see an artefact that is so iconic and in every text in real life!!!
After our adventure in the museum, we caught the train to the Pyramid of Cestius where I had my first presentation and we had the opportunity to look inside the awesome structure. It may sound morbid, but my love of funerary monuments is very large, and this pyramid is just an awesome example of commemorating someone's life. Entering the pyramid was strange, the tunnel to get in (made by grave robbers) was awfully narrow and low, like something out of a film! After the walk through the tunnel, we arrived into the chamber, which was unexpectedly tiny. Personally, I was expecting an Egyptian styled inside, with many rooms and corridors (especially considering the vastness of monument). After getting over the shock of the size, the room was quite beautiful, with friezes still existing and graffiti from centuries ago on the walls. Considering most people do not have the chance to go inside, it was a very worthwhile experience. After our visit to the pyramid, it was time to make way for Ostia, the ancient port city of Rome. Personally, this was a part of the trip I was not looking forward to, but the hours we spent in the town of ruins completely changed that.
The city of Ostia is so well preserved, the lower level of most buildings is still intact and in good enough condition to walk through, on and around. It was astounding to think that we were walking around what was once such a great, busy city. I don't have a great deal to day about Ostia other than it was a surreal and awesome experience to see all the buildings, mosaics and artefacts almost in situ. The day was tiring but very worth the amazing experience!! Ostia was also where I had my first Italian gelato, a vanilla (I think) gelato for the first and a strawberry sorbet as the second, definitely very exciting!!
Anyway, more will hopefully follow tomorrow after another jam packed day!!
Our morning started off with a visit to the amazing Museo Monte Martini, a museum filled with the latest acquisitions placed in a very different setting: an old power plant. When I first heard of this set up I was skeptical of how it would work and look. I was pleasantly surprised!!! The effects were amazing and the artefacts were spectacular. Everything from sarcophagi, friezes and busts were within. The most exciting part of this visit was finding my first real busts of famous Romans, most importantly, Augustus and Domitian!!!! As most know, Domitian is my all time favourite Roman, and words cannot describe how excited I was to actually see one of his busts, I would have loved to have taken it home!!! A photo of Domitian and I is below :). Another great artefact that I adore is the Barberini Togatus, it was amazing to see an artefact that is so iconic and in every text in real life!!!
After our adventure in the museum, we caught the train to the Pyramid of Cestius where I had my first presentation and we had the opportunity to look inside the awesome structure. It may sound morbid, but my love of funerary monuments is very large, and this pyramid is just an awesome example of commemorating someone's life. Entering the pyramid was strange, the tunnel to get in (made by grave robbers) was awfully narrow and low, like something out of a film! After the walk through the tunnel, we arrived into the chamber, which was unexpectedly tiny. Personally, I was expecting an Egyptian styled inside, with many rooms and corridors (especially considering the vastness of monument). After getting over the shock of the size, the room was quite beautiful, with friezes still existing and graffiti from centuries ago on the walls. Considering most people do not have the chance to go inside, it was a very worthwhile experience. After our visit to the pyramid, it was time to make way for Ostia, the ancient port city of Rome. Personally, this was a part of the trip I was not looking forward to, but the hours we spent in the town of ruins completely changed that.
The city of Ostia is so well preserved, the lower level of most buildings is still intact and in good enough condition to walk through, on and around. It was astounding to think that we were walking around what was once such a great, busy city. I don't have a great deal to day about Ostia other than it was a surreal and awesome experience to see all the buildings, mosaics and artefacts almost in situ. The day was tiring but very worth the amazing experience!! Ostia was also where I had my first Italian gelato, a vanilla (I think) gelato for the first and a strawberry sorbet as the second, definitely very exciting!!
Anyway, more will hopefully follow tomorrow after another jam packed day!!
Wednesday, 23 January 2013
First post from Roma!!!!
We're finally here!!! It only took thirty long, sleepless hours to get here!!
The past few days have been very painful when on a plane and very busy when here in Rome!!!
We ended up being a few hours late to Rome thanks to fog at Dubai, was really not fun after a 17 hour flight there and no sleep!!! The airport in Dubai was really quite amazing, I have never been somewhere quite as huge!!! We actually had to catch a train from one end of the airport to where our gate was located... That is how large it is!! The highlight of the stop over was the free wifi and the cheese covered chips for breakfast... Healthy, I know!!!
After finally getting to Rome yesterday afternoon I had my first experience through customs as an EU citizen. Needless to say, it was extremely underwhelming, with the customs man not even looking at the picture page of my passport! They were so very relaxed!
When we finally arrived at the British School we had the chance to relax, just for a little while before dinner, which was the highlight of the day, having the opportunity to lie horizontally was the highlight of the day! Sadly, our little rest wasn't enough to stay awake during the director's speech, I fell asleep three or four times while trying to listen to him, the lecture was actually very interesting!!
After a good night's sleep, it was time for our first day in Rome, and it will be hard to top it!!!
We went to the Vatican and had the opportunity to go down into the necropolis to see all the tombs, exactly how they were 2000 years or so ago. As you'd know, St. Peter is buried there too since it is his basilica and all.. We didn't get to go into his tomb, but we did have that chance to do so for about three of them. It was such an amazing opportunity, being able to walk into a room, with sarcophagi that have never been opened and being able to touch it all and see everything as it was before/at the time of Constantine! Sadly we couldn't take photos, which is a real shame considering how beautiful some of the wall paintings and mosaics were. My personal favourite was a peacock mosaic in a family tomb of a rich Roman family.
After viewing the family tombs, we caught a glimpse of St. Peter's tomb in the distance and then when we got closer, we saw the boxes in which his bones are supposed to be, it was quite a surreal experience knowing that they belonged to someone from the Bible and that he was killed very near by.
After viewing the bones we went into St. Peter's and it was just absolutely jaw-dropping to go from such humble little tombs family tombs (which were still incredibly impressive)to this amazingly huge space!!! There are no words to describe how I felt besides flabbergasted and astounded and overwhelmed, I actually teared up when we stepped up into it. After we wandered for a while we went up to the Vatican archives and saw some incredibly old codexes, books and a frieze depicting scenes from the life of St. Peter. The most exciting part of the archives was seeing original letters from Michelangelo and Bernini! That was again, a surreal moment, it made the two very prolific artists seem so human and close! After our Vatican adventure we had lunch and walked to the Ara Pacis for the rest of the afternoon. While it isn't my favourite monument, it was still enjoyable. Anyway, that was the end of our first, exciting day! Tomorrow will be full of fun times and more amazing things to see!
Hope you enjoy the random assortment of pictures :)
The past few days have been very painful when on a plane and very busy when here in Rome!!!
We ended up being a few hours late to Rome thanks to fog at Dubai, was really not fun after a 17 hour flight there and no sleep!!! The airport in Dubai was really quite amazing, I have never been somewhere quite as huge!!! We actually had to catch a train from one end of the airport to where our gate was located... That is how large it is!! The highlight of the stop over was the free wifi and the cheese covered chips for breakfast... Healthy, I know!!!
After finally getting to Rome yesterday afternoon I had my first experience through customs as an EU citizen. Needless to say, it was extremely underwhelming, with the customs man not even looking at the picture page of my passport! They were so very relaxed!
When we finally arrived at the British School we had the chance to relax, just for a little while before dinner, which was the highlight of the day, having the opportunity to lie horizontally was the highlight of the day! Sadly, our little rest wasn't enough to stay awake during the director's speech, I fell asleep three or four times while trying to listen to him, the lecture was actually very interesting!!
After a good night's sleep, it was time for our first day in Rome, and it will be hard to top it!!!
We went to the Vatican and had the opportunity to go down into the necropolis to see all the tombs, exactly how they were 2000 years or so ago. As you'd know, St. Peter is buried there too since it is his basilica and all.. We didn't get to go into his tomb, but we did have that chance to do so for about three of them. It was such an amazing opportunity, being able to walk into a room, with sarcophagi that have never been opened and being able to touch it all and see everything as it was before/at the time of Constantine! Sadly we couldn't take photos, which is a real shame considering how beautiful some of the wall paintings and mosaics were. My personal favourite was a peacock mosaic in a family tomb of a rich Roman family.
After viewing the family tombs, we caught a glimpse of St. Peter's tomb in the distance and then when we got closer, we saw the boxes in which his bones are supposed to be, it was quite a surreal experience knowing that they belonged to someone from the Bible and that he was killed very near by.
After viewing the bones we went into St. Peter's and it was just absolutely jaw-dropping to go from such humble little tombs family tombs (which were still incredibly impressive)to this amazingly huge space!!! There are no words to describe how I felt besides flabbergasted and astounded and overwhelmed, I actually teared up when we stepped up into it. After we wandered for a while we went up to the Vatican archives and saw some incredibly old codexes, books and a frieze depicting scenes from the life of St. Peter. The most exciting part of the archives was seeing original letters from Michelangelo and Bernini! That was again, a surreal moment, it made the two very prolific artists seem so human and close! After our Vatican adventure we had lunch and walked to the Ara Pacis for the rest of the afternoon. While it isn't my favourite monument, it was still enjoyable. Anyway, that was the end of our first, exciting day! Tomorrow will be full of fun times and more amazing things to see!
Hope you enjoy the random assortment of pictures :)
Friday, 18 January 2013
The Waiting Game
Only three more sleeps until departure day is here! I have never really considered how stressful packing is! Let alone trying to figure if you have enough warm clothes for a European winter! As it's getting closer and closer I'm getting those jitters of denial about this trip- I know I'll be well and truly fine when I get on that plane!
Something that has me extremely excited is that my presentation on the funerary monuments of Eurysaces the Baker and Caius Cestius' pyramid is that I get to deliver the talk INSIDE the Cestius' pyramid! This is the ultimate level of excitement!
Anyway, best be getting back to packing!
Something that has me extremely excited is that my presentation on the funerary monuments of Eurysaces the Baker and Caius Cestius' pyramid is that I get to deliver the talk INSIDE the Cestius' pyramid! This is the ultimate level of excitement!
Anyway, best be getting back to packing!
Thursday, 10 January 2013
Blogging from my iPad!
My attempt to figure out the blogger app on my iPad before I leave for Italy! So here are some random bird pictures. Just so I can see if it works!
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