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Stroncone and Marmore Waterfall

If you are interested, over the last couple of weeks I’ve loaded several more trip videos onto my YouTube channel. I’m still about three weeks behind in editing videos but if you would like to see them here is a link to my YouTube Channel.

The owner at Hotel Porta del Tempo in Stroncone where we are staying recommended that we visit Marmore Waterfall today. It was about a thirty minute drive.

Marmore Falls is the tallest man made waterfall in the world. It was first created by the Romans in 271BC when they diverted the Velino river to drain a swampy area.

When we bought our tickets to see the falls and hike down to the bottom (10€ apiece) the man told us they would be turning off the water for hydroelectric use in about 30 minutes at one PM. Our ticket would be good all day though and they turn the water back on at three PM.

I’ve never seen a waterfall that can be turned on and off! We started the hike, and hurried to get to the bottom before one.

We made it to the bottom about one. The spray was making everything wet and the noise was thunderous. Then gradually over the next half hour the flow slowed, the noise decreased and we dried out.

Marmore falls after the water was diverted to the hydroelectric plant.

We had espresso and then started the hard climb back to the top.

The waterfall from the same place as the first picture above.

We had been thinking that today would be a rest day, but the two kilometer hike with 150 meters of climbing was well worth it!

For dinner we had by far the best meal we have had since coming to mainland Italy. We ate right next to our hotel at Taverna La Mola. We shared pasta with sausage and truffles.

Home made Pasta with truffles and sausage

Then we shared pork fillet with truffles and roasted chicory with balsamic vinegar. It was my first time having chicory and I liked it.

For desert I had pears with walnuts and mascarpone and Duke had panna cotta with caramel sauce.

Rome to Stroncone

Our plan Sunday was to pick up the rental car at noon. We checked out of our hotel and stowed our bags there. Then we walked to the park near the rental car place and people watched for a bit.

Renting the car was an adventure. We had a reservation guaranteed to cover the total rental cost. The lady in the single person Sixt rental car office told us that the cost was going to be over $500 more than the guaranteed price. We have rented a lot of cars in Europe and we have never had a problem like this.

After arguing for a bit we left and looked into renting someplace else. But, long story short, she eventually cancelled our non refundable reservation and booked us another car for basically the same price. I don’t know if she was trying to scam us or she was inexperienced and using their system wrong or what, but three hours later we finally had out car and were leaving Rome.

When we arrived in Stroncone, the medieval hill town where we are staying there were cars parked along the road everywhere as we drove through the people walking up to the town. When we got to the main square it was closed and we found out that the Chestnut Fastival was going on!

So we parked out of town, along the road, at the bottom of the hill. We left our suitcases and walked up to our hotel. It did help that once we got to town there was an elevator that took us up to the road near our hotel. It’s so much fun to happen upon local festivals.

We walked around enjoying all the activity. They were roasting chestnut in a barrel with a crank over a big fire.

We had some wine and chestnuts. A cone of hot roasted chestnuts and a glass of wine cost us €3.

About 7pm the square was open and we were able to walk to the car, move it to the town parking lot and get our suitcases.

Rome and Vatican City – 23 October 2021

Saturday we had tickets to see the Vatican Museum at 6:30 in the evening. That was the earliest we could get tickets. We left our hotel around noon and did a lot of walking and saw a lot of Rome.

We saw the Italian Parliament and the obelisk they took from Egypt after conquering Cleopatra and Mark Anthony.

We saw the Pantheon,

had coffee on Piazza Navona overlooking the four rivers fountain,

And then walked across the Tiber and got our first view of St. Peter’s Basilica.

The Tiber with St. Peter’s in the distance.

At St. Peter’s Square we waited in a 30 minute line to get into the basilica. It is enormous and it’s beauty is like no other church I have ever visited.

The alter and bronze canopy at St. Peter’s

From St. Peter’s we walked about 20 minutes to the Vatican Museum. It is enormous too. I bet we only saw a quarter of what there is to see. We ended with the Sistine Chapel. I particularly liked the map hall.

The quantity and quality of the art works was overwhelming. By the time we left the museum it was dark. We had a nice view of St. Peter’s from some of the windows.

Our feet were hurting and we were worn out. We planned to get a cab back to the hotel but couldn’t find one. So we got gelato and walked the 40 minutes back to the hotel.

Rome – 22 October 2021

Friday morning we went online and bought tickets to visit the Forum and the Colosseum Friday and the Vatican museums Saturday.

The Colosseum is so big. It impresses me how advanced Roman civilization was that they could build and use a 50,000 person stadium. It shocks me that those 50,00 people were enjoying public torture and killing. It is ingenious that they raised and lowered people, sets, and animals through trap doors in the floor.

After the Colosseum we went through the Forum. There were a lot of people in both places and they checked our tickets and covid green passes in both places.

We got back to our room. But just as we were putting our feet up housekeeping arrived to clean the room. So we went out to find a snack. We ended up having beer, salad, and pinse at a great sidewalk cafe, Il Miraggio Trevi, with a very friendly waiter and excellent food.

From there we went to see the Trevi fountain.

We were so full from our pizza that we didn’t want to go out for dinner. Later we did go out and buy water and wine and crackers to go with the cheese we already had for a late picnic dinner. We also stopped to see the Trevi fountain at night. Duke thinks it look a bit like our new backyard landscape!

Visiting Pompei and then on to Rome.

Thursday morning we entered the Pompeii archaeological site just as they were opening. It was lovely to almost have the place to ourselves Even at noon when there were a lot more people it still didn’t feel crowded. Perhaps the threatening rain and the fact that it’s October made a difference.

It was the little things we saw in Pompeii that caught my imagination. Like the stepping stones at cross walks that were placed so that chariots could drive through them and people wouldn’t get their feet wet crossing the street when the streets were being flushed out or it rained.

The two mountains to the north of Pompeii today allow you to imagine the top of Vesuvius that was blown off in the eruption.

The remains of Vesuvius in the background

More than one of the houses had a beware of the dog sign built into the mosaics at the entrance.

We did the Rick Steves Pompeii walking tower. We saw lots of storefronts with counters built to hold food bowls. Rick Steves called them fast food joints.

Pompeii had a population of 30,000. The archaeological park is massive. The distance from the west entrance to the amphitheater is over a kilometer.

The plaster casts of people who died in the explosion are haunting.

When we left the archaeological park we picked up our bags at our hotel and walked to the train station. We took a train and a bus to Naples and from there took the high speed train to Rome.

Before we could board the high speed train we had to show our green pass. That’s proof of vaccination. It’s interesting that the QR code I got for France works just fine here in Italy. I show the PDF download of my pass and a green check shows up on the device the gatekeeper is using. It’s all very efficient.

We had a wonderful dinner around the corner from our hotel at La Cabana restaurant. I didn’t get any good pictures. We had spaghetti with bacon and a spicy sauce and great steak. We shared both.

We will be in Rome for three nights. I was last here in 1970 and Duke was last here in 1976. I’m sure exploring the next few days will be a very different experience.

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