Moving on down the road

This morning we left Consuegra, where the landscape reminded us very much of west Texas--flat, dry (except for obviously irrigated farmland), and mostly treeless. It wasn't long before the landscape changed completely, and we found ourselves driving through a beautiful mountainous area, overlaid entirely with olive groves. My mother-in-law stated that it was "olive trees like the stars in the sky," which is no exaggeration. Even in Italy and Greece, we never saw so many olive trees. As we approached our destination on the Spanish Riviera, the landscape changed again, as did the weather. It had been downright cold in Consuegra and drizzly for most of our drive, but when we arrived in Benalmadena Costa, it was sunny and very warm. Mimi and the boys were quick to change into swimsuits, so they could splash around in the Mediterranean and the pool. It really never gets warm enough for me to splash around in anything, but the view from our apartment is like Heaven, so I was quite content to hang out here and get us settled in. It's always challenging to start back to school after a holiday, but I think our the view and the promise of playing on the beach will help everyone make it through the morning tomorrow.

A lovely drive

The view out the front door of our apartment

The view from the bedroom and living room

Venice

I must honestly admit I felt pretty "meh" about visiting Venice, especially since I had read that it could be pretty hot and smelly and overcrowded in the summer. I'm so glad we didn't let those negative reviews stop us from going! It was none of those things and turned out to be, by far, our very favorite place we visited in all of Italy! I wish we could have stayed much longer in the charming, labyrinthine city.

We arrived in the afternoon on Thursday, and took the vaporetto (water bus) to our stop near the Rialto Bridge. A quick walk through the market and down a very narrow street brought us to our apartment, which seemed to be at the heart of everything. We settled in and then set out to explore. We loved the little streets, many of which seemed like secrets, and the many shops and cafes scattered throughout the city. We found an interesting book store, with books stacked everywhere, including in wheelbarrows and bathtubs, and even a gondola that sat in the middle of the store. Out back there was a small garden, with a staircase made out of books that led to a viewpoint overlooking a canal. We eventually stopped to eat at a wonderful place, right by one of the canals in a large square near a basilica and a beautiful hospital. And, since our days in Italy were numbered, we stopped for gelato on the way back to our apartment.

Yesterday, we slept in and then lazily made our way to a little sidewalk cafe for coffee and a light breakfast. From there, we tracked down a free music museum that Ruth had read about online. Inside, we found many interesting, beautiful and unique instruments and a room devoted to the process of violin making, while lovely classical music filled our ears. By the time we were finished, it was just about lunch time, so we stopped at a street vendor for several slices of pizza for those in our group who felt the need to eat again. (And those who just wanted to take the opportunity to eat more pizza in Italy). After that, we wandered around some more and eventually found The Doge's Palace and a nice little playground, where we stayed until it was time to head back to our apartment and get ready for dinner. Another ride on the vaporetto got us there fairly quickly, and getting off one stop before we needed to allowed us to take in the bustling shops near the Rialto Bridge. Ruth had been hoping to celebrate her birthday in Venice, but we just couldn't get it to work out. However, we did promise her a belated birthday dinner while in the city, so she chose the place. Osteria alla Staffa was a tiny place, only seating about 20 people, so we had to have a reservation to get in, but it was simply fantastic. The portions were small, though, so a couple of people in our group, who shall remain nameless, felt the need to stop at the pizza stand when we left. And, of course, we ended the evening with our last Italian gelato.

This morning, we got up at the crack of dawn, so we could see the fishmongers and fruit and veggie sellers set up at the market right outside our apartment. The seafood was coming in right off the boats, and some of it, like the crabs, was so fresh that it was trying to run away. The fishmonger kept kept putting this one crab back on the pile, and it kept wandering off. Finally, the man stuck it on the bottom of the pile so that the weight of the other crabs kept it mostly in place. Clay was particularly thrilled by this and laughed and laughed. After taking in all the sights, sounds and smells of the fish market and the adjacent fresh produce market, we popped into a cafe for breakfast. Too soon, we had to pack up our bags and say good-bye to this incredible city and to Italy. This is a place we will definitely try to visit again in the future!

Quintessential Venice

Our apartment was on this tiny street.

A boatload of books

Climbing up for a peek at the canal

A lovely location for dinner

The winged lion is the symbol of Venice,
and our statue lover couldn't pass up the opportunity to pose with it.

The Music Museum

Venice apparently has a long history of violin making.

So much pizza, so little time!

The Doge's Palace

Belated birthday dinner

Some interesting finds at the fish market

The one that nearly got away!

The market was absolutely beautiful,
and this chili tree was stunning!

We were among the first visitors to the fresh market this morning.

We are already looking forward to visiting this city again in the future!

Florence

Our last day in Tuscany was spent in Florence, which we loved! We got to watch some sculptors in action as they created beautiful reliefs, visit a wooden toy store (in the style of Pinocchio), ride an antique carousel in a city square, and learn about Da Vinci and many of his incredible inventions and paintings, at the Leonardo Da Vinci Museum. It was a really wonderful day! (To see more about our time in Tuscany, check out my previous post.)

Sculpture Studio

Max posing as Pinocchio at Bartolucci Toy Store

Piazza Della Republica

Back in the saddle

Il Duomo di Firenze--Florence Cathedral

This invention of Da Vinci's was the precursor to the modern firetruck ladder.

Da Vinci had some pretty explosive ideas.

Gelato in Firenze (Florence)

Tuscany

Here I am playing catch-up again. The Internet of the world can't quite keep up with the Wandering Watts! :) We spent several days in Tuscany, which is absolutely beautiful, with all it's rolling hills, vineyards, hay fields, sunflower fields and olive groves. Our house, outside of Pontassieve, had a nice little backyard, with a killer view, and we spent many happy hours there. On the way there from Rome, we stopped by the Terme di Saturnia, which is a river/waterfall fed by a natural hot spring. Under the waterfall, little pools have formed from the mineral deposits, making a very neat place to hang out. We had lunch at the little snack bar and then continued on to Pisa, where some of us jumped out of the car to snap photos of the leaning tower, while Jeff made the block. It was a pretty hilarious stop! By the time we made it to Pontassieve and met up with our landlord, the supermarket was closed, so we went in search of a seafood and pizza restaurant in Santa Brigida, which our landlord recommended. It was a fun place with delicious food, and we even got to do a drive-by of the local castle.

The following day, we slept in, caught up on laundry and reading, made our grocery run and produced some homemade goodness in the kitchen, including rosemary potatoes, using fresh rosemary from the garden, which thrilled the kids. It was a slow day, but we needed it very much after all the long travel days we had had prior to that. The day after that was a school day for us, and everyone picked right back up where we left off in Naples. We are trying some new things with school this year because of the way we are traveling, and, so far, we are very pleased with the way it is going. I will be trying to post more catch-up posts as the Internet allows.

Terme di Saturnia

Sunflowers as far as the eye can see

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

Our Tuscan Home

The view from our backyard

Castle in Santa Brigida

Roma

We got everyone up around 6:00 this morning, in an effort to beat the crowds (which we have heard again and again are absolutely horrible), for our sightseeing day in Rome. First we caught a bus, which took us to the metro station. (Actually, we intentionally missed the first bus, which was packed to the gills and didn't have room for one of us, much less six of us!) We then took two different trains and finally ended up near Vatican City (the smallest country in the world), which we were able to walk to very easily. True to our expectations, the crowd was relatively small at that early hour, so we were able to get right into St. Peter's Basilica, which was truly beautiful. After that, another subway train took us to The Colosseum, which was a very impressive structure to see. With a seating capacity of 75,000, it would rival almost any modern college football stadium, but, additionally, it also had the entire underground area where the wild animals were housed, largely unfed, until they were to face off against the gladiators, who we heard were mostly slaves and prisoners, but were occasionally volunteers. We all thought it was pretty interesting that the basic stadium design, which functions well at allowing many guests to enter or exit in an expedient manner, hasn't changed much in all these years. From there, we made the short walk over to Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. By 11:00 am, we had taken about 10,000 steps (according to my FitBit tracker)! We had a picnic lunch overlooking the former Circus Maximus (a large chariot racing stadium), at the base of Palatine Hill. We ended our outing with a walk over to the Boca della Verita, made famous in the 1953 movie Roman Holiday, with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. We all made it out with our hands intact, so I guess that means we are a very honest bunch! A few more train and bus rides brought us back to our campground by 1:30, just as everyone was ready for a little nap. I must say, we were pleasantly surprised by Rome and enjoyed our time there very much!

St. Peter's Basilica

The opulent interior of the basilica, which was partially designed by Michelangelo

The Colosseum

The impressive interior of The Colosseum,
including a view of the lower level, where the animals were kept

Taking a break at The Colosseum

The entrance to the Roman Forum

The entrance to Palatine Hill
(Clay was very impressed with all the arches!)

Palatial ruins at Palatine Hill, which is, in fact, where the word "palace" comes from

Looking across Circus Maximus toward Palatine Hill

We managed to capture a pretty decent family selfie,
with Palatine Hill in the background.

We all took a turn at Boca della Verita.
No liars here!

Mini Golf

Camping Village Fabulous

After eating a great deal of pizza and gelato in Naples, we exceeded the acceptable weight limit and were kicked out :). So, we headed on over to our fabulous campground, appropriately named Camping Village Fabulous, just outside of Rome. This is similar to the place we stayed in The Netherlands, with a pool and all sorts of kids activities. It is full of families from everywhere, and the boys have already made a friend from Ireland. This is a really fun place, and we are glad we get to spend the week here!

The campground sits in the midst of a beautiful 70 acre pine forest

So much fun on the water slide!

practicing his "big arms"

The boys worked out a bunch of pent up energy in the pool this afternoon

Our Camping Village Fabulous house

Clay wanted to take selfies while we waited on dinner to be ready