We visited three of the smaller hill towns: Monteriggioni, Montepulciano and San Gimignano. All of these have most of their ancient encircling walls intact, and a central area with narrow streets and relatively tall buildings that date from times when people felt safer living within the walls. Each town has its charms. Visitamos tres deContinue reading “Hill Towns of all Sizes”
Tag Archives: Churches
Try Parma
I wasn’t thinking about visiting Parma, but Jonathan asked how we could pass up the place that is home to PARMAsan cheese, Eggplant PARMAgiano, and PARMA ham. We had to go. What we found is a city with impressive historic sights, a Duomo painted and frescoed from floor to (a very high) ceiling, great shoppingContinue reading “Try Parma”
Gaudi Day, the Sagrada Familia church
We were going to use our ICOM cards to visit Sagrada Familia, but it requires waiting in the long ticket line and then returning for the timed entry, often late in the afternoon. We caved and bought the online tickets. Even waiting until the end of October didn’t diminish the crowds much, though we gotContinue reading “Gaudi Day, the Sagrada Familia church”
A lighthearted look at the Romanesque
The 11th and 12th centuries were a busy time in the Pyrenees, people were building churches in every little valley and painting them from roof to doors with frescoes. That was a lot of work and a long time ago. Time passed. At the beginning of the 20th century when museums were building their collectionsContinue reading “A lighthearted look at the Romanesque”
Gaudi Week, Day 5. We blink.
Sagrada Familia, the still unfinished masterwork that consumed the final years of Gaudi’s life, is the single must-see work of Gaudi’s for anyone visiting Barcelona. That’s not my opinion, that’s from tourist statistics that suggest 85% of visitors to the city make a stop at the church. It’s now a ‘minor’ basilica (no resident cardinal)Continue reading “Gaudi Week, Day 5. We blink.”
