Venice in the Winter
Picture perfect ... even me!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Urbino
A(nother) beautiful walled hilltop town in Marche with a jumbled mix of Rennaisance and medieval buldings and churches.
The Palazzo Ducale - Urbino's main claim to fame is absolutely huge and towers over the countryside ... like a Palace.. which, of course, it is.
The view out over the countryside from the hilltop that is Urbino.
Me at the water fountain... which unusually doubles as a Goldfish Pond!!
All the rooftops are red and very quaint.. you can see a neighbouring mountain in the background.
Ross in one of the narrow streets.. framed in the ornate brickwork around the door.
The spire of the large church in the central Piazza.
Inside the Cathedral... although it was beautiful it wasnt up there with the ones in Bologna.
Raphael lived here for the first 16 years of his life and this monument is in his honour.
The front of the large Church.
The Palazzo Ducale - Urbino's main claim to fame is absolutely huge and towers over the countryside ... like a Palace.. which, of course, it is.
The view out over the countryside from the hilltop that is Urbino.
Me at the water fountain... which unusually doubles as a Goldfish Pond!!
All the rooftops are red and very quaint.. you can see a neighbouring mountain in the background.
Ross in one of the narrow streets.. framed in the ornate brickwork around the door.
The spire of the large church in the central Piazza.
Inside the Cathedral... although it was beautiful it wasnt up there with the ones in Bologna.
Raphael lived here for the first 16 years of his life and this monument is in his honour.
The front of the large Church.
Bologna
Bologna, inthe Emilia-Romagna region of Italy is renowned for its food, espically Bolognasei or Ragu as they call in. Piadina is another speciality.. and my favourite.
A jazz band in the middle of Bologna.. very cool...
Piazza del Nettuno (Neptune if you hadn't guessed the English Translation).
Part of the fountain of Neptune is this lactating nereid and I have no idea of its significance!
The fountain of Neptune is a large bronze statue and is quite breathtaking to say the least. It was designed in 1567 and has been the centre of one of the two main Piazzas ever since. Neptune is controlling and directing water... which, once again, has some important significance whis is lost to me
The other main Piazza is Piazza Maggiore and this huge church, San Petronia, is on the northern side. A few years back the Muslims threatened to bomb the church as in the 2nd fresco on the left is a picture of Mohammed in Hell. It is quite something and the fifth largest church in the world. It would have been the biggest except the Pope said it wasnt on.. as St Pauls Basilica (the house of the Pope) had to be the biggest!
Bologna is famous for its arcades. I must say (sorry to those of you who think they're wonderful) I wasnt that impressed.. yes they make Bologna unique as an Italian city but they are, after all, only arcades. Some of them have amazing artwork which are pretty impressive but a lot are just plain covers on the outside of shops. No offence meant to Italians...
And this is one of the roofs in an arcade.. pretty impressive.
And having wine tastings in the arcades is also my kinda arcade!
Statues over the doorway in the big Church in the beautiful Piazza.
And a jazz band playing in the middle of the city.. quiet cool.
The Lonely Planet talks about a wonky tower. Bologna has about 14 towers and this one, the wonky one (and its more wonky than the one in Pisa) was never completed as it started to subside.. as you can see. However it was difficult to show how wonky it was in photos...
This photo does capture the wonkiness (now is that a real word??) ...
One of the tower and the dome of the Church.
A jazz band in the middle of Bologna.. very cool...
Piazza del Nettuno (Neptune if you hadn't guessed the English Translation).
Part of the fountain of Neptune is this lactating nereid and I have no idea of its significance!
The fountain of Neptune is a large bronze statue and is quite breathtaking to say the least. It was designed in 1567 and has been the centre of one of the two main Piazzas ever since. Neptune is controlling and directing water... which, once again, has some important significance whis is lost to me
The other main Piazza is Piazza Maggiore and this huge church, San Petronia, is on the northern side. A few years back the Muslims threatened to bomb the church as in the 2nd fresco on the left is a picture of Mohammed in Hell. It is quite something and the fifth largest church in the world. It would have been the biggest except the Pope said it wasnt on.. as St Pauls Basilica (the house of the Pope) had to be the biggest!
Bologna is famous for its arcades. I must say (sorry to those of you who think they're wonderful) I wasnt that impressed.. yes they make Bologna unique as an Italian city but they are, after all, only arcades. Some of them have amazing artwork which are pretty impressive but a lot are just plain covers on the outside of shops. No offence meant to Italians...
And this is one of the roofs in an arcade.. pretty impressive.
And having wine tastings in the arcades is also my kinda arcade!
Statues over the doorway in the big Church in the beautiful Piazza.
And a jazz band playing in the middle of the city.. quiet cool.
The Lonely Planet talks about a wonky tower. Bologna has about 14 towers and this one, the wonky one (and its more wonky than the one in Pisa) was never completed as it started to subside.. as you can see. However it was difficult to show how wonky it was in photos...
This photo does capture the wonkiness (now is that a real word??) ...
One of the tower and the dome of the Church.
The Republic of San Marino
Me (of course) in front of the sign telling one all about The Republic of San Marino. Its one tenth the size of New York with a population of 30,000 people set in the Appenines in Italy. If you are really interested in knowing more... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Marino
The view from the funicular on the way to the top.
A floral garden, just to let you know you are really here.
Ross with the guidebook so we can find all the sights there are to see..
Perhaps being a mimic is more viable than an English teacher? .. well perhaps not...
A gun shop. It would appear one can buy guns over the counter in San Marino?
A Mr Bean moment.. one of the guards at the Castle of Far far away land!
The Castle from Shrek? Far far away land.. it was all a bit fairy taleish...
And a view of San Marino looking back from across the Appenine Mountains on our way through to Urbino.
Obviously my education had failed me (as my father was often heard to protest!) as I had never heard of this small country in the middle of the Appenines in Italy. It was well worth a visit albeit short and sweet.
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