Le gusta el verde

At the end of Charlene and Tommy’s packed vacation to Europe, we spent one day in the large cosmopolitan city of Madrid. We thought we'd just wander around the city and see some sights; none of us expected Charlene to find her mother-of-the-bride dress that day!

We’d walked just a block or two from our hotel that morning when we were lured into a bridal boutique by the beautiful store display windows. Little did we know that it was the classiest bridal boutique in Madrid! This place has their own catalogue, they do custom-made gowns and they have little heart-shaped candies in the candy dish. Everyone who helped us there was so sweet; they gave Charlene earrings and a pin as a gift! Charlene let Brad be her translator and, by the end of the morning, she had placed an order for her dress – how exciting!

Las Novias (the brides) Boutique; where Charlene bought her mother-of-the-bride dress

We spent the rest of our day celebrating the purchase and eating Madrid cuisine. For supper, we went to Casa Mingo, a famous cider house in Madrid. A great end to an incredible trip. Charlene and Tommy, we had a blast with y’all – thanks for everything!

Drinking cider (or "Doghouse" as Tommy calls it) at Casa Mingo

Venezia

The proper noun Venice always used to evoke many mental images for me. When I stumbled out of the Venice train station and, for the first time, beheld the Grand Canal, those mental images were immediately replaced with infinitely superior real images. Venice is astonishing to look at. It’s quiet because there are no cars, and it’s not at all smelly in the winter; my sense of sight was the truly privileged sense during our time in Venice.

The term “small, dark alleyway” takes on a splendid new meaning in Venice – every street in Venice is a small dark alleyway. Getting lost is the easiest and most fun thing to do there. For me, every piazza, bridge and tiny passageway between buildings was an adventure. Every boat tied up along a small canal was picturesque. Every tiny pet dog running around the street was adorable. Venice is a city of about 400 bridges and countless canals. The buildings must be the inspiration for the “distressed” and exposed brick look at all the TGIFridays and Ruby Tuesdays of America. I cannot describe Venice adequately. Look at these photos:

A gondola on the Grand Canal
Someone's street

Venice is filled with winged lions (not real ones) because they are the symbol of St. Mark, Venice’s patron saint. San Marco, the famous Venetian church where the Gospel/Evangelist Mark is supposedly entombed, is amazing. According to Brad, Venice began to decline after the Middle Ages. Before the Portugese started sailing, Venice essentially had a monopoly on trade with the East. Gilded Byzantine mosaics give the church of San Marco an eastern feel. The back of the altar is covered with priceless gems. In the treasury, we saw some unbelievably old stuff – much of it from Egypt and Turkey. One of the pots on display is 5,000 years old.

The architect must've been warned in a dream that the church would collapse if there weren’t enough columns . . .
Inside San Marco
On the front of the church
In Piazza San Marco; the countless Venetian pigeons that live in this square are famous. Charlene supposedly has a photo of pigeons perched on her arms and head!

After visiting San Marco, we toured the Doges' Palace. Doges were elected Venetian dukes who, with the help of many advisers, governed the Republic of Venice (600s to late 1700s). The palace was a mind-numbing collection of rooms with gilded, carved ceilings, behemoth fireplaces, Tintoretto frescoes and Murano glass chandeliers. A bridge (Bridge of Sighs) connects the palace to the "new" prison – Cassanova was once imprisoned here. (It seems that the Cassanova mentality is dead in Italy . . . did I mention that I received zero cat calls there?)

We couldn’t spend time in Venice without shopping. It was the end of our time in Italy and Venice has some fabulous items for sale. Famous in Venice: hand-made marbleized paper, Carnival masks, Murano glass and Burano lace.

I had to splurge on this gorgeous Renaissance painting that I saw in a store window

Our hotel arranged for us to tour a glass warehouse on the island of Murano. A water taxi picked us up and left Venice to deposit us on Murano (20 minutes away.) We had a short tour of the warehouse and we got to see a “master” sculpting glass! We could have watched him work all day, but “I’m-not-a-salesman” Roberto, was anxious to show us their showroom. We didn’t buy the 4-foot tall unicorn with a naked mermaid on its back or the set of 12 gold leaf brandy snifters, but we did get a few goodies.

At the bus stop in Murano – looks like we both have a “buyer’s high.” The weather was perfection on that day.

When it was time for lunch, we decided to go to Burano, a tiny island near Murano. Burano is now Tommy’s dream-home spot. How could it not be? The buildings on Burano are all painted vibrant colors and the views of the water are heavenly. I couldn’t stop taking photos.

View from Burano
A seafood place on Burano

When we finally were able to pull ourselves away from this delightful island (and after we’d done some more shopping), we rode home on the water bus just as the sun was setting over Venice.

For our last dinner in Italy, we ordered lots of ham, pasta and wine. The waiter even brought us free limoncello before we left. Most Venetians were quite friendly. The young owner of our heavenly B&B came in early to serve us breakfast before we caught our early train the next morning. All of this just made it harder to say “goodbye” to Venice.

We took a long train ride from Venice back to Rome to catch our plane to Madrid (we made poor Charlene and Tommy take a million planes, trains, buses and boats.) As a special treat, we had lunch in the dining car. We got to look out onto picturesque vineyards and country houses surrounded with tall cedars. I am positive that Italy left a remarkable first impression on three of us. (And a great second impression on Brad.)

Ciao!

"Sotto il Sole della Toscana"

Charlene’s favorite movie: Under the Tuscan Sun

We spent one night in Siena, one of the many charming towns of Tuscany. When in Rome, it’s not easy to, “do as the Romans do,” because there aren’t that many Romans around. Siena, on the other hand, is a living, breathing city with actual locals. We saw them in the main square with their children celebrating the start of Carnavale; we saw them in the narrow hilly streets chatting with friends, walking their dogs and strolling their babies on their evening passegiate before supper.

The Piazza del Campo (main square) was littered with confetti and silly string from families celebrating Carnavale

One of our highlights in Siena was our dinner. I washed down my delectable chicken marsala with Tuscan wine and we may have had tiramisu for dessert . . . I don’t remember. While I’m chatting about food, I must mention some of the highlights in Italy.
1. Serving sizes – I hate getting a massive plate of tortellini at Olive Garden because I always try to eat it all. The serving sizes were actually appropriate in Italy.
2. Wine – When you order house wine in Italy, you often actually get a pitcher full of wine the restaurant got from a big barrel in the back. And, some places have sparkling wine ON TAP. Italy is the land of Proseco and I enjoyed every glass I drank.
3. Artichokes, sun dried tomatoes, gnocchi, prosciutto, strawberry tiramisu, nutella and cappuccino.

Gothic architecture is everywhere in Siena. The Duomo (church) there is especially artistic. The marble on the exterior of the church is pearl and pale pink tones; inside, the marble columns have wide horizontal black and white stripes. Our hotel in Siena was pretty unique. The rooms had vaulted gothic ceilings and we looked out on to antique mossy roof tiles.

Brad and his beloved gothic arches; in Piazza del Campo
Il Duomo in Siena
Close-up of the top mosaic
On our hotel balcony; this is the cover shot for February’s Siena Home and Garden magazine

After breakfast in bed at the hotel and one last quiet stroll through the Piazza, we were refreshed and ready for our long train ride to Venice.

La Città Eterna

Since Charlene, Tommy and I have never experienced the splendors of Italia, Brad, who toured Italy years ago, created a fantastic itinerary for us. During all his preparations, he never told me how COOL Italy is. I mean, I already knew it was old, they eat a lot of pasta, the men are flirty and the Pope lives there. With all the movies, music and art about Italy, it’s hard to have a realistic or multi-dimensional concept of Italy. Maybe I’ve just heard bad versions of That’s Amore too many times. The real Italy is a rich treat for the senses and it left me wanting more.

Speaking of flirty men, I was a little disappointed when no one so much as whistled at me or yelled something inappropriate in Italian during our entire trip. I was not, however, disappointed with the pasta or wine, and almost everything we saw exceeded my expectations by far.

Roma

Rome is known as “the eternal city” and one can hardly wonder why. The civilization of Rome shaped world history in such a dramatic and lasting way. On our first morning in Rome, we struck out and soon found ourselves surrounded by ancient ruins on all sides. It’s baffling to see modern parking lots and office buildings adjacent to large sites where stately forums once stood. Countless structures and pillars still stand – 2000 years after they were erected.

At I Fori (the forums)

After wandering through many forums of ancient Rome, we headed to the Colosseum. In Italy, you see iconic spot after iconic spot. The Colosseum is about as iconic as you can get. Incredibly, only one third of the original structure is still standing. A real-life Italian archeologist gave us a tour and we learned a lot. Apparently the Colosseum is built on a site where Nero’s private lake used to be. At the very beginning of the 1st century, A.D., crazy emperor Nero transformed the center of Rome into his personal park. Shortly after Nero’s death, the new emperor reclaimed the center of Rome for the public and built the Colosseum as a place for public entertainment.

View of Colosseum. See that tree to the left? The trees look different in Rome. That was the first thing I noticed when our plane landed here.

Our archeologist guide pointed out that the movie Gladiator was not completely accurate. Shocking. Apparently, gladiators would fight each other, but never animals as well. Wild animals were fought by hunters in the morning shows at the Colosseum. The after-lunch shows were man vs. man. Each “team” of gladiators would have their own weapon/special tool of death. Gladiators might be prisoners, slaves or even free men who volunteered to fight to gain money or fame.

Inside Colosseum; historically sand (rena in Italian) would cover the wood floor in the center to soak up blood – this is how the word “arena” is derived

We later moved on to more peaceful sites in Rome. The Pantheon is one of those non-Christian places of worship that the Catholic Church appropriated for itself. The Pantheon is probably most famous for its bewildering ancient architecture. Also famous at the Pantheon is Raphael’s tomb.

One God . . . many gods . . . Does anyone else see the irony in this sign?

To me, the most enchanting site in Rome is the Trevi Fountain. Again, iconic and seemingly trite, but it was truly enchanting. The Trevi Fountain plays an important role in a famous film I love: La Dolce Vita. Tossing a coin into the fountain ensures that you will one day return to Rome.

Trevi Fountain

Moving right along . . . the Vatican. Man, do they have a lot stuff there. If all the sculptures, paintings and tapestries in the Vatican museums were sold, I think we’d have enough money to eliminate world poverty. But that’s beside the point.

Our visit to the Vatican involved walking through the countless galleries and corridors of the Vatican museums, then the Sistine Chapel, then St. Peter’s Basilica. I use the term “eye glut” to describe this experience. Everywhere we walked, there were detailed mosaics on the floors, massive painted frescoes or tapestries on the walls and gilded and carved ceilings. Every corner of every room was extravagant.

Mosaic floor
On a staircase
One of the many Raphael frescos in the Vatican

Just as total eye glut has begun to set in, you enter the Sistine Chapel. What can I say? We’ve all seen the unmistakable images from this chapel many times. It’s surreal to look at the real thing. And, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was restored just a few years ago; Michelangelo’s colors are almost too vibrant to be painted in the 1500s. All four of us had severe cases of “Sistine Chapel Neck” when we left.

Then we walked into St. Peter’s Basilica. At this point, we’re only capable of making grunts of amazement because we’re so overloaded. The Basilica seems much newer than our little Sevilla cathedral. I call it “little” because St. Peter’s is the biggest cathedral in the world and ours is only the 3rd largest. St. Peter’s also gets its name because the Apostle Peter is supposedly buried there.

The high altar of St. Peter’s Basilica

I wanted to assure that I would be as weak as possible by the end of my visit to the Vatican, so I agreed to climb the dome of St. Peter’s with Brad.

Me, after 320 steps

The heavenly views of Rome were worth the crazy climb. We saw distant mountains, the Tiber river and countless church domes all over the city.

One view from the top of St. Peter’s

After such a marathon morning, we decided to cross the entire city by metro then take a bus out to the Appian Way and the catacombs. I couldn’t miss seeing these! After leaving our bus, we began to climb the small hill toward the Via Appia (Appian Way). The setting was so peaceful. Via Appia looked exactly like the illustrations of it from my 8th grade Latin textbook. The small ancient “highway” was exactly how I’d pictured it. Evenly-spaced shadows cast by cedars that line the road and the warm light of the setting sun made the scene especially magical.

Via Appia

We took a tour of one of the excavated catacombs that is located just off the Via Appia. Only three out of 60 catacombs have been excavated. We saw a huge portion of one catacomb, and then we learned that there are 20 kilometers of tombs at that one location. There is a common misconception that catacombs were primarily used as secret Christian worship spaces. While ancient Christians did sometimes celebrate mass here, the catacombs were primarily used as tombs for Christians.

And what a lot of tombs there are! We walked down many dark, narrow corridors filled with spaces for bodies on either side. Several 3rd century popes were buried at the catacomb we toured, as well as many Christian martyrs. The bodies of the popes have been moved, but all the other bodies had disintegrated, so the tombs were empty. Some families had family burial “rooms” with painted frescoes and mosaics – some of which are still visible. Walking by graves of the earliest Christians, seeing Christian symbols carved into the walls (graffiti) . . . was very powerful.

The chi-rho; one of the most common symbols we saw carved in the rock walls of the catacombs

On our last morning in Rome, Brad and I visited a cathedral called Santa Maria Maggiore. The interior of this cathedral is subdued compared to some gothic cathedrals in Europe, but it’s still filled with sculptures, carved wood and gilded frescoes. Mass was being celebrated in one of the side chapels and several nuns and other people were sitting in prayer, facing the main altar. Brad and I sat for a moment near the back of the church.

Presently, we heard a bell ringing – signaling the approach of a priest. Then, a procession of 20+ bishops passed by and they entered a side chapel to the left. The procession was led by (we think!) a cardinal. The cardinal was in a red robe and hat, and the bishops were all in magenta robes. So Rome! Inside Santa Maria Maggiore, there were about a dozen confessional booths that were similar to those at St. Peter’s. At the top of each wooden booth was written the languages spoken by the priest who receives confession there. Italiano, Deutsch, François, etc. A small red light on the booth would be lit if the priest was currently in the booth.

I thought about my Catholic friends a lot while I was in Rome. Many Catholics visit Rome on a religious pilgrimage. After visiting the opulent St. Peter’s Basilica, where many popes are buried and immortalized in larger-than-life sculptures, it was strange to visit the catacombs and see the humble tombs of early popes. Christians were worshipping together in Rome long before the religion was divided into Catholic and Protestant. Going to the catacombs felt like a mini religious pilgrimage to me.

Whew! Rome exhausts even the most seasoned tourist. Our next destination, a small town in Tuscany, would be the retreat we needed.

Nuestro “Hogar”

Being back in Sevilla after the holidays was lovely. Wandering familiar streets and ordering my regular breakfast made Sevilla feel almost like home. So, when Charlene and Tommy (my in-laws) came to Sevilla for a few days, I especially enjoyed revisiting those Sevilliano spots that I love.

Sevilla is a wondrously accessible and charming European city; the perfect place for Charlene and Tommy to begin their first visit to the continent. We saw the main attractions here of course – the cathedral, barrio Santa Cruz, Triana bridge, castle, Plaza Nueva, Plaza de España, the park, etc. With each visitor to Sevilla, we visit many of these spots and I always notice something I’ve never noticed before. I’m starting to learn more about who lived in the castle years ago, how they built the cathedral (the architect wanted to build a cathedral that would make future generations ask “Were they crazy?”) and on which back streets there is a cozy cafe hidden away.

At Plaza de España; looks like they recovered from jetlag in record time!

Charlene and Tommy enjoyed the tapas and wine culture as much as Brad and I do. We shared lots of cheese, ham, calamares (fried calamari), ox, shrimp and flan. Yum! We also breakfasted at a little neighborhood French bar, lunched at an Irish pub and thoroughly enjoyed some Spanish chocolate and churros.

Brad and I used Charlene and Tommy’s visit as an excuse to see (for the first time) the Countess of Lebrija’s house and the Plaza de Toros (bullring). In the early 1900s, the Countess of Lebrija bought a bunch of Roman mosaics and artifacts from Itálica (ancient Roman city just miles from Sevilla) and installed them in her sumptuous home. These items from ancient Rome were just a foretaste of things to come.

The Plaza de Toros was super fun. Bullfighting season is only April to October, but we got to tour the ring, the stables and the museum at this famous bullring. One item of note in the museum was the head of Islero’s mother. Oh, you don’t know Islero? He was the bull that killed the most famous matador in Spain, Manolete, in 1947. Islero’s mom was killed after Manolete’s death, “so that she would not give birth to any more killers.”

Plaza de Toros, Sevilla

To round out Charlene and Tommy’s ultra-Andalucian visit, we attended a fantastic flamenco show at a famous venue in Santa Cruz (neighborhood in Sevilla). A singer, guitarist and bailadora (dancer) performed. When you’ve eaten fried fish, gazed at Moorish architecture, seen a flamenco show, toured a famous bullring and laughed with the locals, you know you’ve been to southern Spain.

But the Bentons had much more to see on their European vacation! We had plane tickets to fly from Madrid, across the sparkling Mediterranean, to Italy . . .