We left early Wednesday for Tivoli and the ruins of Hadrian’s Villa.
This is a huge site and we had it pretty much to ourselves.
This villa, a country resort, once supported as many as 20,000 people (including slaves).
Most of it is gone now but one gets the idea of its splendor.
These walls were once colorfully painted or covered in marble. Our tour guides emphasized over and over again that what we now see as white statuary
was anything but in ancient times.
I loved this pool surrounded in rosemary
and another with Caryatids.
Next we were back on the bus for a drive east to the Adriatic and Vieste on the Gargano Peninsula (what I think of as the spur on the boot).
Vieste is a pretty little beach resort that was pretty much closing up shop in October so not crowded for our visit. We had a delicious seafood dinner with local wine.
Next morning we were treated to a boat ride along the Adriatic coast with numerous forays into caves
with interesting features…and gorgeous water.
I took this picture inside a cave with light filtering through holes in the rock above so as to seemingly glow from below. The stripes in the limestone rock are flint, prized for making sharp cutting tools from ancient times to the present.
After our boat ride we had lunch at our Hotel Seggio with a demonstration on how to shape various pastas.
I always love a cooking lesson and now
I know how to get that hole in the macaroni…not that I’ll ever do it but fun to learn!
The winning dish was Pasta Fagioli.
After lunch Mary and I took a stroll and met up with much of our group at the seashell museum, not large but with thousands of different types of shells. Who knew?!? Later we wandered down to the beachside park where we watched an old gentleman playing with his poodle puppy, ecstatic over a pinecone. Soon two adorable grandkids joined in the fun. It was a perfect way to while away some time in a sleepy beach town. La dolce fare niente!
Comments