I started writing a post last night, but with news about the recent shootings in Falcon Heights and Baton Rouge, I needed a second to process. Apparently I’m not going to get it with what just happened in Dallas. But I’m not going to talk about any of that.
We spent the better part of a late night researching the best day trip that we could take that would give us the best balance in travel time, cost, and things to see. Initial thoughts were to go to Naples and Pompeii, but the travel time ended up being close to 4 hours one way, and the travel cost ended up being an average of €30 each way.
Instead, we went to Tivoli. Tivoli is located only about 20 miles east of Rome. The train goes pretty slowly, so it still took us about an hour to get there, but I love riding trains, so I didn’t complain!
Tivoli is an ancient city that houses several parks and villas. It was a favorite retreat spot of Hadrian, the ancient Roman emperor who built the Pantheon and the famous Hadrian’s Wall that separates Scotland and England. He also built a huge villa in Tivoli.
Another villa, Villa d’Este, is the reason you may have heard of Tivoli before. Paris, once upon a time, had a large park named Tivoli that was based off of Villa d’Este. Then Copenhagen has an amusement park based on the Parisian park (that I’ve skirted the outside of back in 2010, but never got to visit). For a full list of things named after Tivoli, go here.
After getting off the train, we followed the two other small groups of tourists, stopping at the same convenience store for bus tickets, then stopping again at the same bus stop. It was like Jessie and I had stumbled on tour guides, and didn’t have to ask any difficult questions. We just jumped on the bus, and rode it down the side of the mountain to the valley where Villa Adriana (Hadrian’s Villa) was situated.
The villa was a marvel. It was designed by Hadrian itself, and sprawls over 250 acres of baths, libraries, courtyards, reflecting ponds, military stations, tunnels, and orchards. Much of the original villa has collapsed and been buried over time, leaving a large collection of ruined brick buildings.
We opted to take the audio tour, which I am reasonably confident was a good idea. The audio guide used directions like, “On the left, on the right”, without telling us where we were supposed to be. It also used words, like “triclinium,” “portico,” and “heliocaminus,” with little or no explanation.
We spent a good 5 hours wandering. The villa proves hard to write about, because so much of the allure of the place was in its antiquity and ruin. Photos don’t really give the sense of scale that you feel there either. But I’ll try:
From there, we returned to town on the bus, ending up at our next stop. Before we got embarked on another villa, we needed some food. We quickly found a little restaurant / pizzeria. The woman behind the counter didn’t speak any english, but was willing to try to help us out. This was a refreshing change of pace from the impatient Romans who are worn from centuries of tourism. We learned that they did not accept card, but there was an ATM down the road and to the left. We returned, and had a great pair of paninis.
The Villa d’Este was built onto the side of a hill. Unlike the Villa Adriana, this location was contained to a single building. This building had room after room of frescos and artifacts. After seeing the Vatican Museum, I was pretty tired of ancient roman artifacts and frescos, so we eagerly buzzed from room to room to make it to the main attraction: the gardens.
The Villa’s gardens are a multi-level park of fountain after fountain. contrasting the cool wet air with the hot dry air just down the mountain at Adriana, this place was a paradise. We stopped at every fountain, soaking our feet, trying to cool off. You couldn’t help but be in a good mood when you were there. After seeing the main attractions, we sat at the reflecting pool opposite the main fountain, dipped our feet in, and relaxed, (sneaking an orange or three from the nearby orange trees) until the place closed.
The train ride home went more or less smoothly… except that we were charged €50 per person for not validating our €2.60 tickets. This was a disappointing set back, bringing the cost of travel still less than going to Pompei. Jessie and I are still pretty sore about that. (Seriously, that clause was written in light gray on the back of our white ticket. I’ll be very careful next time I buy tickets to a movie from now on. Always read the fine print.)
We returned to rome at Tiburtina station, took the subway to the colosseum station, and stopped for food once again at Luzzi. This late in the night, it was much busier. We were book-ended by Italians who were talking about America. They ended up criticizing Jessie’s food choice. “Chicken? You come to Rome and get Chicken?)
I’ve been thinking a lot about why traveling is worth while. I think the goal is to try and be more of a visitor than a tourist. So far, Rome has been the hardest place to avoid sticking out, but I think that’s part of the whole experience. There are many more places let to see in Italy, so I’d better get used to it if I ever want to see them!