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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. |
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"Bomarzo?" you ask. "Why Bomarzo?" |
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"A nice town," you say, "but much like other towns, isn't it?" |
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Well... |
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... the road leading to its main attraction might have been damaged... |
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... but the road I then had to walk had gorgeous views... |
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... and other interesting features to keep my camera finger happy... |
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... |
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... |
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... as I tested my sprained ankle on the fairly long walk... |
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...to Parco dei Monstri (Monster Park). |
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A customized game (fortunes) previewed my reason for being there. |
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Once reaching the main building where tickets to the park were sold... |
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... I still had a bit of a walk... |
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... to the main entrance. |
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This sculpture park was built in 1552 and the first thing to greet you... |
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... are the unusual sphinxes. |
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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. |
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My first "monsters"! |
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Ercole vs Caco... |
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... a struggle between giants. |
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Off to the side of the path, a small waterfall into the Fosso della Concia (tannery pit)! |
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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. |
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A better view of the turtle. |
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Look directly above the bright green bush to see one of the orca's teeth. |
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This is the Fontana Pegaso - Fountain of Pegasus. |
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Leading away from Pegasus, these lions or perhaps cougars or jaguars adorn the path. |
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There are also stone benches... |
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... and a "Nymphaeum" |
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I loved the stone chaise. |
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To one side was a fountain... |
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... Fontana Delfini. |
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Perhaps at one time, water spouted from the mouths of the dolphins. |
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Further along the path, another fountain featuring the nymph, Iside... |
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... a theater... |
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... 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. |
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Detailing from the house... |
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... which really does lean! |
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There was a courtyard of large vases (you can see how tall they are by comparing them to the person in the picture). |
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At one end of this courtyard was this statue... |
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... and at the other end, Nettuno (Neptune). |
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Of course I wanted to have my picture taken with Neptune's dolphin. |
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On a path above Neptune, is Donna Dormiente or the sleeping woman. |
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You might have missed her dog sticking in the crook of her arm in the front view. |
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On the path beside the sleeping woman, is a stone face with a stone face! |
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Now it's time for dragons and other creatures! |
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The detail on the dragon was great. |
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It's too bad weather has taken its toll and has eroded parts of the statue. |
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A couple of reverse views. |
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Another great statue was of the elephant... |
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... cradling the warrior. |
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A medical student from Bosnia (and studying in Rome) took this picture of me captured by the scariest monster of all. |
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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"! |
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This single vase was twice the size of those in the courtyard. |
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The three headed Cerbero (Cerberus). |
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Tempio del Vignola. |
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Orsio... the "Heraldic Bear". |
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Furia (Fury). |
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Echidna (the mermaid, Echina) |
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The lions that stand guard between Fury and Echina. |
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Proteo Glauco (Proteus Glauco) |
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As I left the park. |
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View up towards Bomarzo. |
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Nature's contribution to the statue park. |
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Now that's fresh fruit! |
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The walk back to the bike... |
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Upon leaving Bomarzo, I headed towards Lake Corbara. |
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One end of the lake, the water is held back by this huge dam. |
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On the left, "air" created in front of the dam, on the right, the lake. |
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Lago di Corbara |
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Next I stopped in a town called Lubriano... |
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... a pretty town with a great view... |
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... towards Bagnoregio. |
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La Civita of Bagnoregio is only accessible via the long bridge you see in the right of the screen. |
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Normally you'd take a road from Lubriano twisting down and then up the mountain to get to Bagnoregio but the road was closed. |
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While I wondered about how I'd detour to la Civita di Bagnoregio... |
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... I just enjoyed the view from where I was. |
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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!! |
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Soon we were in the bus parking lot in Bagnoregio proper. |
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I toured around that area but soon realized that the hike to la Civita was really long from there, especially with motorcycle gear on. |
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Therefore I hopped on the bike and went a little further along a road which wasn't very bus friendly to make my trek. |
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Not long after that, I was at the stairs leading to la Civita. |
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Now that's cool! |
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You can see why the bridge is pretty much the only way to get there. |
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The views of the valleys on either side of the road were great. |
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This is a "reverse view"... that's Lubriano in the distance. |
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Cars (and a few buses) with permits can go up to this spot where there are shops. |
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Hey, look! I wasn't the only one gazing out towards la Civita! |
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Unfortunately I didn't feel that I had the time to make the hike over... |
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... so I sampled some of the local olives... |
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... and I stopped at the local gelateria... |
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... for my new favourite flavour... nocciola (hazelnut)! |
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I wasn't the only one needing refreshments... |
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... and a little rest from the long walk! |
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Small touches like these flowers... |
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... make a place so much more inviting. |
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Time to go back to the bike and get going. |
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A mule and her foal were a lot more sure footed than I was and THEY were directly on the slope! |
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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. |
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Another walled city... |
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... that I'll try to visit next time I'm in Italy. |
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I arrived at Lago di Vico at the same time as this Italian couple. |
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I felt badly that I was sharing their evening view because I think they had come there to have some "alone time". |
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Nevertheless, they were very gracious and shared the view of this volcanic lake and farmland with me. |
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The gentleman told me that they grew almost exclusively hazelnuts in this low lying land. |
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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. |
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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... |
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... 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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