Bombarzo Lago di Corbara Bagnoregio Viterbo Lago di Vico
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Sunday... I hopped on the bike and headed north of Rome to a town called Bomarzo. | |
"Bomarzo?" you ask. "Why Bomarzo?" | |
"A nice town," you say, "but much like other towns, isn't it?" | |
Well... | |
... the road leading to its main attraction might have been damaged... | |
... but the road I then had to walk had gorgeous views... | |
... and other interesting features to keep my camera finger happy... | |
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... | |
... as I tested my sprained ankle on the fairly long walk... | |
...to Parco dei Monstri (Monster Park). | |
A customized game (fortunes) previewed my reason for being there. | |
Once reaching the main building where tickets to the park were sold... | |
... I still had a bit of a walk... | |
... to the main entrance. | |
This sculpture park was built in 1552 and the first thing to greet you... | |
... are the unusual sphinxes. | |
The vegetation in the park was lush. I really should have taken this picture with something of a known size in it so you could realize that the leaves are more than a foot and a half across. | |
My first "monsters"! | |
Ercole vs Caco... | |
... a struggle between giants. | |
Off to the side of the path, a small waterfall into the Fosso della Concia (tannery pit)! | |
Tartaruga e Orca... Turtle and Whale. Although both statues are huge, you have to look closely to see the open mouth of the whale (left) because it is so overgrown. | |
A better view of the turtle. | |
Look directly above the bright green bush to see one of the orca's teeth. | |
This is the Fontana Pegaso - Fountain of Pegasus. | |
Leading away from Pegasus, these lions or perhaps cougars or jaguars adorn the path. | |
There are also stone benches... | |
... and a "Nymphaeum" | |
I loved the stone chaise. | |
To one side was a fountain... | |
... Fontana Delfini. | |
Perhaps at one time, water spouted from the mouths of the dolphins. | |
Further along the path, another fountain featuring the nymph, Iside... | |
... a theater... | |
... and a leaning house. These tourists (who I had a short chat with) were having fun with "the leaning tower". Looking at this picture and having been there, I still find it hard to find vertical. | |
Detailing from the house... | |
... which really does lean! | |
There was a courtyard of large vases (you can see how tall they are by comparing them to the person in the picture). | |
At one end of this courtyard was this statue... | |
... and at the other end, Nettuno (Neptune). | |
Of course I wanted to have my picture taken with Neptune's dolphin. | |
On a path above Neptune, is Donna Dormiente or the sleeping woman. | |
You might have missed her dog sticking in the crook of her arm in the front view. | |
On the path beside the sleeping woman, is a stone face with a stone face! | |
Now it's time for dragons and other creatures! | |
The detail on the dragon was great. | |
It's too bad weather has taken its toll and has eroded parts of the statue. | |
A couple of reverse views. | |
Another great statue was of the elephant... | |
... cradling the warrior. | |
A medical student from Bosnia (and studying in Rome) took this picture of me captured by the scariest monster of all. | |
There she is... also in the mouth of the monster, the next to be eaten alive! Inside the mouth of the monster (and barely visible in front of me) was a "sacrificial alter"! | |
This single vase was twice the size of those in the courtyard. | |
The three headed Cerbero (Cerberus). | |
Tempio del Vignola. | |
Orsio... the "Heraldic Bear". | |
Furia (Fury). | |
Echidna (the mermaid, Echina) | |
The lions that stand guard between Fury and Echina. | |
Proteo Glauco (Proteus Glauco) | |
As I left the park. | |
View up towards Bomarzo. | |
Nature's contribution to the statue park. | |
Now that's fresh fruit! | |
The walk back to the bike... | |
Upon leaving Bomarzo, I headed towards Lake Corbara. | |
One end of the lake, the water is held back by this huge dam. | |
On the left, "air" created in front of the dam, on the right, the lake. | |
Lago di Corbara | |
Next I stopped in a town called Lubriano... | |
... a pretty town with a great view... | |
... towards Bagnoregio. | |
La Civita of Bagnoregio is only accessible via the long bridge you see in the right of the screen. | |
Normally you'd take a road from Lubriano twisting down and then up the mountain to get to Bagnoregio but the road was closed. | |
While I wondered about how I'd detour to la Civita di Bagnoregio... | |
... I just enjoyed the view from where I was. | |
A resident of Lubriano gave some directions to myself and the driver of a bus who was taking a busload of tourists there. The driver understood the quick Italian directions for the detour and of course, I didn't. The bus driver told me not to worry... "Just follow me!" A good arrangement!! | |
Soon we were in the bus parking lot in Bagnoregio proper. | |
I toured around that area but soon realized that the hike to la Civita was really long from there, especially with motorcycle gear on. | |
Therefore I hopped on the bike and went a little further along a road which wasn't very bus friendly to make my trek. | |
Not long after that, I was at the stairs leading to la Civita. | |
Now that's cool! | |
You can see why the bridge is pretty much the only way to get there. | |
The views of the valleys on either side of the road were great. | |
This is a "reverse view"... that's Lubriano in the distance. | |
Cars (and a few buses) with permits can go up to this spot where there are shops. | |
Hey, look! I wasn't the only one gazing out towards la Civita! | |
Unfortunately I didn't feel that I had the time to make the hike over... | |
... so I sampled some of the local olives... | |
... and I stopped at the local gelateria... | |
... for my new favourite flavour... nocciola (hazelnut)! | |
I wasn't the only one needing refreshments... | |
... and a little rest from the long walk! | |
Small touches like these flowers... | |
... make a place so much more inviting. | |
Time to go back to the bike and get going. | |
A mule and her foal were a lot more sure footed than I was and THEY were directly on the slope! | |
I was on my way. The afternoon had become evening and it was necessary to get moving. I made a very brief stop in Viterbo to take these pictures. | |
Another walled city... | |
... that I'll try to visit next time I'm in Italy. | |
I arrived at Lago di Vico at the same time as this Italian couple. | |
I felt badly that I was sharing their evening view because I think they had come there to have some "alone time". | |
Nevertheless, they were very gracious and shared the view of this volcanic lake and farmland with me. | |
The gentleman told me that they grew almost exclusively hazelnuts in this low lying land. | |
Here they are. I feel badly that I've forgotten their names but I think they were very nice to the motorcycle lady who was only there to take pictures, not to ruin their evening. | |
With a little more twist of the throttle, I JUST beat dusk coming back into Roma for the evening. I went to a neighbourhood restaurant and had a lovely meal of grilled vegetables... | |
... and "frutti di mare" (seafood). I couldn't help but snap pictures of the food since it was so nicely presented. Below is a map of my route. "C" is Bombarzo, "D" is Lago di Corbara, "E" is Bagnoregia, and "F" is Lago di Vico. |
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