Verona - Romeo-ver in the Clover

Sunday 4 July 2003. What light through yonder window breaks? 'Tis a brick and 'twas Juliet wot chucked it! Yes, we are back on the coach for another day of fun and frolics. Today we head towards Verona, home of Roman remains, star-crossed lovers and more pickpockets than you can shake a stick at...

As we approached said city, all quivering with excitement, we stopped first at a shrine cum monastery cum sanctuary high on a hill but without a lonely goatherd, but a with wonderful panoramic view of the city.

During World War II a church in Verona had been destroyed but the statue of the Madonna had been found unscathed. This Sanctuary had been built to house it and to give thanks.

We reached the outskirts of Verona. Some of the guests haven't come as it was raining in Riva. In fact we had had thunder and lightning throughout the night but here it was brightening up as we crossed the River Adige into Verona.

The Castelvecchio or Old Castle was an important military construction, built between 1354 and 1376, probably on the site of an earlier Roman fortress. It stands on the Verona bank of the River Adige and has an adjoining bridge that crosses the river. The swallow-tail merlons run atop both the castle walls and the bridge which was intended to allow the ruling Scaligeri family to escape northwards to the Tyrol in the event of a successful invasion or coup.

But it was the Romans who were here before the Scaligeri family and the city has several impressive reminders of them. This is the Arco dei Gavi a rare privately funded archway that originally stood along the Via Postumia and was incorporated into Verona's city walls in the 12th century. In the later 1300s it was incorporated into the Scaligeri castle and had the pediment and attic level removed to allow for a walkway into the castle.

In 1550 it ceased to be a gateway into the city and was sold off with two shops opening within the arch. The surrounding walls were demolished leaving it free-standing. When Napolean's troops took over Verona in the early 1800s French engineers demolished the arch, having drawn diagrams of the features and decoration, then storing the blocks of stone under the arches of the Roman arena. In the 1920s reconstruction was suggested but it would not be started until 1931 when the original pieces were re-erected with the attic and pediment redesigned from the diagrams made by the French engineers.

The impressive Roman Arena was built in the year 30 CE. At the time the site would have been outside the city walls. It was designed to hold 30,000 spectators and drew audiences from many miles away. Today concerts and, famously, operas are held within it, the space taken by the stage meaning that it's modern audience capacity was reduced to 20,000-22,000 with subsequent health and safety precautions bringing it down to 15,000.

In 1117 a major earthquake destroyed the outer ring apart from a tiny portion seen here. The city has since crowded around and upto the arena and it is almost impossible to get a decent photograph of the existing portion of the outer wall.

I did my best! The streets facing the wall of the outer ring are narrow and it was impossible to stand far enough away unless you were only end-on to the remaining wall.

Our excursion included tickets to go inside and look round. First we had to remove a couple who had burrowed into our midst in the hope of getting in free. They tried to appear confused and act as though they had made a genuine mistake, but come on...! In the end, our guide stood by the turnstile and just yanked them out of the queue as we passed!

And out we came from the darkness of the vast tunnels under the seating areas and into the arena. Miss Franny baulked at climbing up the steep steps and is sitting with her back to us just to the right of the steps seen through the gap in the fence to the right of centre. I climbed up enough to get a shot of the stage but there were still a good number of rows of seating - the bare rock variety - behind me.

"Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?" Spoiler warning - look away now if of a nervous disposition... Neither Romeo nor Juliet ever existed. The house with the balcony at 23 Via Cappello dates from the 13th century and was owned then by the Capello family who were probably Shakespeare's inspiration for the Capulet family. But the clincher is probably the fact that the balcony which looks so right, was added to the house shortly after the City of Verona bought the house in 1905... Nice try though.

Under the balcony and against the edge of the garden is a bronze statue of Juliet, its chest burnished bright by many grasping hands. Apparently stroking the right breast brings good luck and long-lasting love, but many young men get confused over left and right...

It has also become a custom to leave love messages inscribed on bits of paper, old tickets and more yukkily on chewed and flattened chewing gum stuck to the wall of the house. What could be more romantic than indenting your beloved's name on a soggy bit of well-chewed spoggy...?

It was crowded and really hot in the tiny garden under the balcony. A few of us went to sit on a bench out of the sun under a short tunnel that was the entrance to the garden. All was well with Kell, Denise and ourselves until the large Italian seen sitting right next to me on the far right let out the most enormous fart... Kell's eyebrows hit the ceiling then the giggles started and at the point where someone said accusingly "Cor - Romeo!!!" the Italian got slowly up and walked away!

The guide collected us and took us to look at the family palace of the Scaligeri family whose courtyard was filled with their highly decorated tombs. As we were all standing outside the palace walls we could only see the tops of them. The guide was a teacher and was under the impression we would be dying to know the dates of birth, marriage and death of each tomb's occupant(s) - I was getting fed up and Terry had found an ice cream shop... We left the others to it!

We were still close to the arena and on one side found all the props and scenery stored for the next performance. I'd hazard a guess at Aida!

It had gotten far too hot to contemplate walking about much more and our time before the return to the coach was shrinking rapidly. We all decided to go for a drink in the bar where we had bought the ice creams a bit ago.

Terry ordered a litre of beer. "That's only small isn't it?" he asked, "I only want a small one..."

Lake Garda and Northern Italy, 2003 Index

Sagunto and the San Jose Caves

It is Friday 31 August, the last day of August and the last full day of our cruise. The ship pulls into Valencia, and we pile off onto a coach which is taking us for a morning's excursion to Roman and medieval Sagunto and the San Jose caves. "I hope he knows the way..." I say brightly, the only one daring enough (or stupid enough) to actually say it out loud.

We haven't noticed, but the excursion had been clearly labelled as a grade 3 excursion, meaning steep hills and more walking than other tours. Great stuff! Let's fly at it! However perhaps the tour guide wasn't as enthusiastic, because he stops every five paces to tell us something that we could have figured out for ourselves... Here he helpfully points out a drainpipe.

All the way from the drainpipe to halfway across the road: "These trees," he says solemnly, as we come to a row of trees planted in large pots, "have to have water brought to them." A little put out perhaps at the lack of oohs and ahhs, he moves off for another five paces...

Waiting for us at the top of what is quite a steep climb, is a Roman amphitheatre. With an easy grace (in the way he puffs and pants) he leads us up a flight of stairs to a locked gate... "Well they told me to come up here..." he grumbles as we all puff and pant all the way down, round the back of the building and then up the other side. Council workmen are hosing down the rubbish bins outside, the hosepipe coming from the ladies' toilets. One of the workmen goes in to undo it from the tap and take it out. There are a few grumbles from the ladies. Fran, who is in the queue, say "It's ok, he just wants to take his water pipe out!" Screams...

Astoundingly the amphitheatre had been rebuilt. "Ah, well, it is illegal of course," our guide tells us. "The architects have been told to dismantle all the restoration work by next January..." In a way it's a shame, but I can't agree with the way most of the Roman remains had been covered up. Sometimes I feel that a bit of restoration wouldn't go amiss to give the visitor an idea of what it may have been like in its heyday. But this should either be minimal or by way of constructing a model of how it used to look.

The accoustics are superb. I climb up the stepped seating and can still make out conversations people were having below. I'll get even with them later... We leave Sagunto and travel along some fairly rough and ready roads to visit the San Jose caves. These were formed by an underground river and the visit is by way of a boat ride, punted by a boatman.

We have a short wait before going into the caves and use it to get a drink and sit for a while. Our time comes and we make our way into the caves, getting into boats shaped so that the front and back were exactly the same. The boatmen nudge them up to the landing stage and simply swapped ends. There are 14 of us in the boat and it is a strangely silent first few minutes. Presumably the Spanish boatman doesn't speak English, and it means that the least little noise comes loud and clear.

"What was that?" a young girl gasps as a distant echoing booming is heard.
"Orcs!" I say kindly... The boat ride takes quite a while and then we all get off and troop down a fairly well-lit but narrow pathway on our own. There aren't any side turnings or alternative routes to ponder over and when we come to the other end the boat is waiting for us to embark again.

Photography isn't allowed, but then I suppose most people would have used flash and then ruined their dark vision and be bumping into other people or failing to see the bits where the ceiling came down low over the boat, requiring passengers to duck or... "Ouch!" comes a cry... Yes it's me, not taking notice of how close we are to the side of the cave...
"Where are the bats, Dad?" demands an eager boy several times.
"Never mind the bats, lad...it's the underground river monster you have to worry about..." I draw the sketch from a postcard once I am back on the Island Star.

Return to Mediterranean Explorer Cruise, 2007 Index

Ancient Roman Amphitheatres

A look at some of the Roman amphitheatres that we have had the privilege of seeing during the course of holidays over the years.

We start in Sagunto, Spain. It sits near the coastal port of Valencia. The shocking thing about this particular Roman amphitheatre was that the locals had rebuilt it. Not particularly to look exactly as the Roman original would have done...

"Ah, well, it is illegal of course," our guide told us. "The architects have been told to dismantle all the restoration work next January..." Well that was 2007 and I believe it still looks this way. Sometimes I feel that a bit of restoration wouldn't go amiss to give the vistor an idea of what it may have been like in its heyday. But restoration is the key - not a modern brick wall just stuck onto a few original stones.

Taormina in Sicily. Equally as spectacular for the view along the coast to Mount Etna, which was puffing smoke out at the time.

It is described as a Greek amphitheatre, but is built mainly in brick which suggests that the Romans built over an earlier Greek theatre. Here the back wall of the stage is original - and a very rare thing.

Verona, Italy. This arena held 30,000 spectators in Roman times, though the current set-up with the stage area has reduced this to 15,000 for current visitors who go to watch opera more than death and destruction. Oh... no wait a bit... The yellow finger points out Miss Franny who decided she wasn't climbing all the way up just to watch me take a picture...

Here we went into the arena where the rocky ceiling above us shows how sophisticated the construction was in the days when lions rather than the odd off-key note brought about the death and mayhem.

The Coliseum (or Colosseum) of Rome, built 70-80 AD and the largest Roman amphitheatre in the world. It could hold between 50,000 and 80,000 people and was the site of games, gladiatorial combat, executions and re-enactments of Roman battles (complete with actual slaughter...)

It is one of the most instantly recognised of any building on the planet and receives millions of visitors every year. Unfortunately the one-day tour we were on during a cruise didn't have time to go inside.

The Great Theatre of Ephesus in Turkey was first constructed in the Hellenistic Period, in the third century BC during the reign of Lysimachos. Once the Romans arrived it was enlarged and formed its current style as seen today. It seats 25,000. The Apostles St John and St Paul both preached here, sparking off the Riot of the Silversmiths, who made their living making and selling silver representations of their goddess Artemis. The ruins of her temple, one of the original Seven Wonders of the World, lie scattered across a field a short distance away.

The amphitheatre of Segesta, Sicily. The back wall of the stage is completely gone and the result is an amazing view for miles with the sea flowing into a bay on the horizon and the road from Trapani to Palermo, snaking in an elegant S-bend whilst elevated from the ground on pillars.

Miletus is not far from Ephesus in Turkey and was a major trading city in ancient times. This was where goods from Asia were bought and from where the great caravans set out south and west across the Holy Land and Greece then west to Italy and Western Europe. The theatre held a crowd of 15,000 spectators.

The four columns would have supported a canopy for the rich folks to keep dry and be sheltered from the sun and flying limbs from defeated gladiators.

Once again in Turkey, this is the amphitheatre at Side (pronounced "see-day"). We approached from round the back and then found we couldn't get in because they only accepted Turkish Lira and I was carrying Euros which were ok in most of the shops. They also didn't take credit cards. However as we walked on, we found the ruins of a Temple to Dionysus (the Greek equivalent to the Roman Bacchus - the drink-loving god) and once past that we turned to see a perfect view of both the temple remains and amphitheatre. Again it held 15,000 spectators.

Curiosities: Buildings and Infrastructure Index

Wandering Around Trieste

Tuesday 25 September 2018. I'd been excited about visiting Trieste. In the event it was more city than pretty seaside town, but it entertained us for the morning. I had been imagining something like Portofino - somewhere else on my bucket list!

This was a step off the ship straight into the city sort of place. We dispensed with the notion of a guided tour - I can look up dates when we get back - and turned along the seafront.

The main piazza had some spectacular architecture, but for now we will continue along the seafront.

We do so until we reach a canal heading into the city and then we cross the busy road using the pedestrian traffic light crossing. I've found in some places Italians get very excited at the thought of a moving target, but they were very civilised and pleasant here, even waving to us from the driving seat.

More beautiful architecture. This is the museum.

A glass-sided footbridge leads to shopping areas.

At the far end of the canal it is replaced by a square pond with fountains. A market is set up here and around us are churches of many faiths, including Catholic, Serbian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox and a Jewish Synagogue.

You can only wonder at the marvellous ambitions of Italian architects. This is, after all, a shop.

Contrast this with the absolutely dire brick monstrosities being built in the UK these days. It makes you want to weep.

We are now wandering with only a bare nod towards any planned destination. The map shows a castle and a Roman amphitheatre and we are heading in that general direction. We reach a junction and a tiny but busy bus station.

We came to a massive (and I mean massive) hill. The castle is on top. The amphitheatre is at the bottom. So we visited that!

It dates from the 1st Century CE and was built by Quintus Petronius Modestus during the rule of Emperor Trajan (his step-son was Hadrian). At the time it was built it faced directly onto the sea.

Around the side. You can imagine the sign: Gladiators and condemned Christians only...

We work our way through shopping streets to Piazza Unità d'Italia, the large square with the civic buildings that we saw shortly after leaving the ship.

Archways and vintage lighting - I'm a sucker for them!

Trieste's Stock Exchange. It was founded in 1755 by Empress Maria Theresa as the Trieste Commodity Exchange. It is therefore one of the oldest stock exchanges in the world.

Oh, excuse me... I've seen some more archways and lighting...

And speaking of lighting, as we make our way back towards the ship the sun is now backlighting the large globes of the street lighting. It's the little simple things that amuse me...

That night in Horizons bar, this simple little thing was trying to amuse an audience, singing Blue Bayou by Roy Orbison and Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa by Gene Pitney.

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