{"id":1044,"date":"2011-03-15T19:22:44","date_gmt":"2011-03-16T02:22:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interspacedesign.wordpress.com\/?p=1044"},"modified":"2021-06-25T12:25:31","modified_gmt":"2021-06-25T19:25:31","slug":"rome-to-rio-a-photoblog-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/rome-to-rio-a-photoblog-part-1","title":{"rendered":"From Formals to Gum boots: Cruising Rome-Rio and Forays into the Amazon, Part 1 – Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is a 5-part series of my vacation \u2013 a cruise from Rome to Rio and sojourn to the Brazilian Amazon last X\u2019mas. We left on 12\/2 and, despite misgivings about a 50 minute connection in Lima, returned as scheduled on 12\/29. Of course one of our bags decided to take an extended vacation in Brazil, but that\u2019s a separate issue\u2026<\/p>\n

Embarkation \u2013 Rome<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Since we just spent 5 days in Rome last year, we decided to arrive a day early and stay in Trastevere<\/a> across the Tiber River this trip. The next day\u2019s quest was to take in the local sights while checking out bakeries and gelaterias\u00a0before heading to the port of Civitavecchia at noon. For a few hours in the morning, we were tourists on steroids, snapping pix as we tore through the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\"Building<\/a>
Imposing building fa\u00e7ade in Trastevere.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As we zoomed around the neighborhood, we came across this building. No idea what it was, but I loved the stone and metal work of the ornate edifice.<\/p>\n

\"Church<\/a>
Sightseeing along the way.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Church<\/a>
The mosaic tiles of the Romanesque church and tower look their glittering best at night when they are illuminated.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Basilica di Santa Maria<\/a> (Basilica of Our Lady) in\u00a0Trastevere dates back to 4th century AD. The octagonal fountain in the piazza is an ancient Roman original.<\/p>\n

\"Chair<\/a>
Call of Duty – couldn’t resist doing some window shopping for furniture as well.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Saw this thru a showroom window on our whirlwind tour. There\u2019s an amazing array of patterns on the chair – but the mirrored symmetry of the back and seat patterns, with help of the neutral palette, pulled everything together.<\/p>\n

\"Cappuccino<\/a>
Breakfast was definitely a lot of fun having a choice of latte art on order!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My goal of sampling croissants and gelato fell short because most of the shops were either not yet open, or closed for the low season. But I hit jackpot at the venerable Checco er Carettiere, which sells both. Here\u2019s my cappuccino and chocolate croissant. Another patron got a Christmas tree on her coffee! I tried the gelato and the marron glace was also excellent.<\/p>\n

\"Kitten<\/a>
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof??<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Port 1 \u2013 Livorno <\/strong><\/h1>\n

Our first port was Livorno, the gateway to Florence \u2013 if you like a long ride and hurried visit amongst cruise ship crowds.<\/p>\n

Having visited the city before, I decided to take the train to the laid back Tuscan town of Lucca<\/a> and return via Pisa<\/a> for a more leisurely trip.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Europe was hit by a cold spell, barely topping 37\u00b0F at Lucca. So after a stroll around the town, we retreated to the roaring fireplace of La Buca\u00a0di Sant\u2019Antonio<\/a> to defrost and enjoy a well deserved lunch.<\/p>\n

\"Inside<\/a>
Happy diner with a glass of great local wine and scrumptious lunch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Luccan\u00a0food was touted to be the best in Tuscany, and our meal at La Buca\u00a0di Sant\u2019Antonio was exceptional. The cinghiale\u00a0(wild boar) stewed with olives and served with polenta was both hearty and flavorful, while the spit-roasted carciofi (kid) came with a sublime crackling-crisp skin and succulent, tender meat. Yummm!<\/p>\n

\"View<\/a>
View from atop Lucca’s medieval city wall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A group of us from the ship walked on the city wall. Aside from a few intrepid joggers, the town was practically deserted on this cold and blustery day. There were some gelaterias open but it was too cold even for a gelato fanatic to be tempted!<\/p>\n

\"Teddy<\/a>
Teddy bear in a Christmas window display along Lucca’s main shopping promenades. Wouldn’t you want to take one home?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I bought some dried porcini mushrooms at the\u00a0Sunday market and took a stroll along the main shopping street before hopping on the train for a short ride to Pisa.<\/p>\n

\"Duomo<\/a>
Duomo\u00a0in Campo dei Miracoli with the Leaning Tower (campanile) of Pisa in the background.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With the latest stabilization effort, Pisa is now a mere\u00a03.97 degrees off-kilter. The tower was undergoing stabilization work on my prior visit to Pisa, so I wasn’t able to get a decent pic of it.<\/p>\n

\"Tourists<\/a>
The tower’s grimy facade was cleaned and surface damage repaired in recent years.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was truly entertaining to watch the tourists posing with the tower \u2013 it looked like a tai chi class in full swing!<\/p>\n

\"View<\/a>
View along the Arno River.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tired of the raucous scene, I ventured out to explore other parts of the town.\u00a0Pisa is actually very quiet and pleasant if you wander beyond the tourist mobbed Piazza del Duomo…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo journal of my cruise-tour from Rome to Rio and beyond. Part 1 covers the Italian cities of Trastevere, Lucca and Pisa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7,415,15],"tags":[21,58,60,65,11,174,202,221,224,257],"class_list":["post-1044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-architecture","category-food","category-interior-design","category-travel","tag-amazon","tag-brazil","tag-buca-di-santantonio","tag-campo-dei-miracoli","tag-interior-design","tag-lucca","tag-pisa","tag-rome","tag-santa-maria-in-trastevere","tag-trastevere"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/trasteveresantamaria.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1044"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8743,"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044\/revisions\/8743"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}