If you are in Italy and you have your own way of getting around I really suggest that you take a trip to Tarquinia. Tarquinia is along the coast of Italy, and was one of the major Etruscan cities.
There is a Necropolis there with some of the finest decorated tombs in Tuscany.
If you leave Rome head out towards Sutri (the road isn't an autostrada though) and spend some time looking at the amphitheatre there. It might not be as fancy as the Colosseum but it is one that was hewn out of the tuff. There are some tombs there of a different variety and a church that was converted from a Mithreaum.
As I stated before the tombs in Tarquinia are very finely decorated. They have a few recurring elements. Feasting scenes for example are popular for tombs built when times were good. There are other scences though, one is decorated as if it were a forest. Another, known as the 'hunting and fishing tomb', is decorated in hunting and fishing motifs. There was one tomb that was influenced by Bacchic rites with one picture of a woman being whipped (Etruscan S&M?).
Many of the tombs have a happy/peaceful feel to them. There was one though that was built when the Romans started to increase pressure on the Etruscan cities. It had a family being led into the underworld by an Etruscan spirit of the dead. It seemed out of place and sad.
But it is worth seeing, however you need plenty of time since they close at 2pm. We needed to move on so we only saw the tombs, but there is a museum as well.
Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts
Monday, 9 February 2009
Friday, 6 February 2009
Jason Spiehler - Tour Guide
So, you're in eternal Rome, and you want to go for a tour. So you need to find yourself a guide. The best person to guide you around Rome is an American from Louisiana.
No, you read that right.
The man in question is named Jason Spiehler.
He is an art historian and theologian and is quite possibly the best tour guide in Rome.
He is even recommended by name by the New York Times.
Finding him starts at the end of our first day in Rome. We had been to the Colosseum, and we were wandering around the Forum when, a tour appeared near the Rostra Divi Iulii. The man, an American, was both informative and entertaining, something that is very important when it comes to a tour. The tour was free, so we tagged along and got to learn more about the Forum.
As a side note, when one of the people outside the Colosseum said that there were no signs in the Forum he wasn't kidding. There were a few signs, but they only said what the things were. For someone who doesn't know anything about the forum you would be hard pressed to know who the hell Phocas was, and why did he have a column in the forum, or what the hell most of the buildings were. It makes a really good selling point for the tour guides, because you are forced to pay a more expensive price for a tour. I'm not lying here, I saw nothing for an official tour of the forum, and the Colosseum official tour is €4. It probably works out cheap if you are not an EU citizen, but not if you are eligible for the discount.
Anyway. We learned about Phocas and at the Curia we learned about the cheap, corner cutting technique used to build it. There was quite a bit of stuff we learned, and it all culminated with him reciting Shakespeare at the foot of the Temple of Jupiter.
There was a night tour but we didn't go on that. Instead we decided to forgoe the Palatine Hill (the ticket is valid for two days) and check out some of the other well known sights in Rome (Trevi fountain, Spanish Steps, Castel Sant' Angelo etc.) and go to the Vatican for his Vatican tour (which did cost money though). Firstly it was worth it. It decided to rain about the time the tour started, so it worked out alright since we were inside. Secondly, after the partial tour that we went on with him in the forum it seemed like a really stupid idea not to take up the offer.
An interesting tour followed, and we never noticed that we spent three hours in the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. Someone with the credentials that Jason has makes it really interesting to look at and understand the artwork that is there.
I now understand far better then I ever would works like Raphael's School of Athens or the symbolism of the fresco of the Sistine Chapel (hint: Jonah = Jesus). Or a rather funny tale involving the painting of The Last Jugement where Biagio de Cesena insulted the painting Michelangelo portrayed him as Minos, in the hell part of the picture with ass' ears and a snake biting his penis. When Cesena complained to the Pope the response was that he couldn't do anything because the Pope is not in charge of hell.
If you ever get a chance to go on a tour of the Vatican (or find him in the forum, or on a night walk) go. Do it. You won't regret it.
[The title is there because of laziness, I can't think of a decent one. So this crappier one will have to do, sorry.]
No, you read that right.
The man in question is named Jason Spiehler.
He is an art historian and theologian and is quite possibly the best tour guide in Rome.
He is even recommended by name by the New York Times.
Finding him starts at the end of our first day in Rome. We had been to the Colosseum, and we were wandering around the Forum when, a tour appeared near the Rostra Divi Iulii. The man, an American, was both informative and entertaining, something that is very important when it comes to a tour. The tour was free, so we tagged along and got to learn more about the Forum.
As a side note, when one of the people outside the Colosseum said that there were no signs in the Forum he wasn't kidding. There were a few signs, but they only said what the things were. For someone who doesn't know anything about the forum you would be hard pressed to know who the hell Phocas was, and why did he have a column in the forum, or what the hell most of the buildings were. It makes a really good selling point for the tour guides, because you are forced to pay a more expensive price for a tour. I'm not lying here, I saw nothing for an official tour of the forum, and the Colosseum official tour is €4. It probably works out cheap if you are not an EU citizen, but not if you are eligible for the discount.
Anyway. We learned about Phocas and at the Curia we learned about the cheap, corner cutting technique used to build it. There was quite a bit of stuff we learned, and it all culminated with him reciting Shakespeare at the foot of the Temple of Jupiter.
There was a night tour but we didn't go on that. Instead we decided to forgoe the Palatine Hill (the ticket is valid for two days) and check out some of the other well known sights in Rome (Trevi fountain, Spanish Steps, Castel Sant' Angelo etc.) and go to the Vatican for his Vatican tour (which did cost money though). Firstly it was worth it. It decided to rain about the time the tour started, so it worked out alright since we were inside. Secondly, after the partial tour that we went on with him in the forum it seemed like a really stupid idea not to take up the offer.
An interesting tour followed, and we never noticed that we spent three hours in the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. Someone with the credentials that Jason has makes it really interesting to look at and understand the artwork that is there.
I now understand far better then I ever would works like Raphael's School of Athens or the symbolism of the fresco of the Sistine Chapel (hint: Jonah = Jesus). Or a rather funny tale involving the painting of The Last Jugement where Biagio de Cesena insulted the painting Michelangelo portrayed him as Minos, in the hell part of the picture with ass' ears and a snake biting his penis. When Cesena complained to the Pope the response was that he couldn't do anything because the Pope is not in charge of hell.
If you ever get a chance to go on a tour of the Vatican (or find him in the forum, or on a night walk) go. Do it. You won't regret it.
[The title is there because of laziness, I can't think of a decent one. So this crappier one will have to do, sorry.]
Sunday, 1 February 2009
Student Discounts
Won't be given in Italy.
That is what I have learned, in this, my third part of travel stuff.
I'm pretty sure that this isn't entirely true. But it is true at least if you go to more famous things.
I suspect that this is true in most cases for more famous things. In Paris, which isn't in Italy, you won't get a discount when you go to the Louvre. I don't know why, I mean it isn't like they get millions of people going there each year to see things, but you don't.
You do at the Catacombs, and at Invalides though.
The Rembranthuis has a discount of about €2.80 for students which is good, compared to €1.50 at the Catacombs and €2 at Invalides.
However, I don't remember getting one at the Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum. And to be honest the saving at Neuschwanstein was €1, which incidentally was the same saving as in Walhalla.
Italy however seems to work on EU citizenship. I may be living in Australia but I am technically a citizen of the EU under article 17 (1) of the Treaty of Rome. I didn't have to prove it in Rome and the Necropolis at Tarquinia (something I should write on), but I did in Florence, so I paid the full price because the consulate for the relevant country of which I am a citizen of (as well as Australia) didn't have a fingerprint machine and I couldn't be bothered paying $100 for a temporary one to save about $30.
The student discounts are ok, but I've found that you don't need to get an International Student card thingy. Places didn't accept them, and other places, like Walhalla for example, were happy enough to accept a student ID from the university.
However, the discounts don't seem to work for students over 26. Invalides, the Vatican Museum and a bunch of other places have an upper age limit of 26. The places in Germany didn't do such a thing which was good. I saw this limit annoy one man at the ticket counter in the Vatican for that reason. I didn't have to worry.
That is what I have learned, in this, my third part of travel stuff.
I'm pretty sure that this isn't entirely true. But it is true at least if you go to more famous things.
I suspect that this is true in most cases for more famous things. In Paris, which isn't in Italy, you won't get a discount when you go to the Louvre. I don't know why, I mean it isn't like they get millions of people going there each year to see things, but you don't.
You do at the Catacombs, and at Invalides though.
The Rembranthuis has a discount of about €2.80 for students which is good, compared to €1.50 at the Catacombs and €2 at Invalides.
However, I don't remember getting one at the Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum. And to be honest the saving at Neuschwanstein was €1, which incidentally was the same saving as in Walhalla.
Italy however seems to work on EU citizenship. I may be living in Australia but I am technically a citizen of the EU under article 17 (1) of the Treaty of Rome. I didn't have to prove it in Rome and the Necropolis at Tarquinia (something I should write on), but I did in Florence, so I paid the full price because the consulate for the relevant country of which I am a citizen of (as well as Australia) didn't have a fingerprint machine and I couldn't be bothered paying $100 for a temporary one to save about $30.
The student discounts are ok, but I've found that you don't need to get an International Student card thingy. Places didn't accept them, and other places, like Walhalla for example, were happy enough to accept a student ID from the university.
However, the discounts don't seem to work for students over 26. Invalides, the Vatican Museum and a bunch of other places have an upper age limit of 26. The places in Germany didn't do such a thing which was good. I saw this limit annoy one man at the ticket counter in the Vatican for that reason. I didn't have to worry.
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