Rome, Italy part 1

We arrived in Rome by plane from Croatia. After getting settled in the hotel we took the metro downtown to check out the Colosseum.

Roman gate:



Colosseum:







Street artists:



Caryl asking the police if it's legal to drink in public in Rome (Croatia spoiled him). It's not. You get a fine:



Big park behind our hotel:



On our first full sightseeing day we continued our bone church world tour. We started by seeing two different Roman catacombs, the old Christian burial grounds (made popular by Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade).







Unfortunately, photos are not allowed in the catacombs. They resemble deep underground maze caves with lots of sealed or empty graves along the walls. Some even had the remains of early (~400 AD) Christian frescos!

We finished off the day with a visit to the Capuchin Crypt, a proper bone church. Of all the bone churches we've seen, this one, in my opinion, was the most creepy. It has whole mummified monk skeletons, complete with dried flesh, and the most elaborate bone decorations.

A little history on the Capuchin bone church:

Created in the first half of the eighteenth century, the Capuchin Crypt arose from the need to make room for new bodies in the friary's cemetery. The Capuchins left San Bonaventura, located near the Trevi Fountain, in 1631 and came to live in their current location, which is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They needed to find a suitable burial place for the exhumed bodies they brought with them.

The bones were arranged in order along the walls of the chapel, and the crypt began to be used as a burial site for the friars and paupers. The first mention of ornamentation was in 1775, when the Marquis de Sade visited the cemetery. It is assumed that the work was completed in the period between 1732-1775. The mortal remains of approximately 3,700 people, mostly Capuchin monks, are gathered in this place in a corridor about 30 meters in length with 6 chambers along its side. As in the last bone church we visited, dirt was brought from the holy land, either Palestine or Jerusalem, to consecrate the land.

While the artist behind this work is unknown, there are several theories as to who created the artistic ornamentation. One theory is that it was Father Raffaele da Roma, a talented Capuchin friar and painter who died in Rome in 1805. Others have suggested that the artist may have been Father Norbert Baumgartner from Vienna, another renowned Capuchin painter whose paintings still hang in the church above the ossuary.

Today, they strictly forbid photography in the cemetery portion of the church. However, they do sell low quality postcards. I am attaching pictures I took of the postcards to give an idea of what the ossuary looks like. I apologize for the crappy quality of the pictures.

The church from the outside:



And inside:

Zagreb, Croatia

We spent two nights in Zagreb, the capital and largest city of Croatia with about a million people. Although the weather continued to be a little rainy at times, we still really enjoyed Zagreb, much like the rest of Croatia.

Art pavilion:





Main square:



Zagreb Cathedral:



St. Mark's Church:



Another church:



View of the city from one of the many parks in Zagreb:





Tourist train back down into the center of town:







And here's Caryl with his friend Matt and Matt's super cute son Lucas. They were the deciding factor in our decision to come to Croatia, and we're very grateful, because it was an awesome week!

Zadar, Croatia

We left Split on a bus headed to Zadar. The three hour bus ride was awesome - even had great WiFi (which resulted in the completion of many overdue blog posts). We recommend Croatian buses.

Zadar is another ancient city with many Roman ruins in the downtown area. While not exactly on an island, it feels like one, as it is on a peninsula with only a small passageway connecting the city to the mainland. It is a little bigger than Trogir, but not by much.

As always, the city is surrounded by a protective wall with many gates:



My favorite attraction was the Church of St. Donatus. It was built in the 9th century on top of the old forum romanum. It is round in shape with a double ring. The most interesting thing about the church is that it was built out of old Roman materials. It's foundation is now bare, so you can see the antique building materials, including fragments of pillars, stones, and capitals. They even used part of the sacrificial altar to the goddess Juno, which still bears Roman inscriptions. While it no longer serves as a church, concerts are now regularly held there due to the structure's great acoustics.

Church from the ground:



Top view:



Inside:



Roman fragments:



They used a column fragment at the base of the pillar! Crazy!



Probably the most famous thing in Zadar is the Sea Organ, an experimental musical instrument on the shore of the peninsula. It plays music by way of sea waves and tubes located underneath the large marble steps. It produces somewhat random but harmonic tones. Our hotel owner informed us it is listed as one of the 35 most romantic places in the world - a perfect place for us to celebrate our three year anniversary!

Here's a view of the water:



And here we are on the steps:





Near the steps is the Sun Salutation. It's a series of solar panels that power a circular area of leds (and the whole lighting system along the harbor) at night, creating a fun, interactive art piece.



The next day we saw the Cathedral of St. Anastasia:



Climbed the bell tower for a phenomenal view of the city:



Saw St. Mary's Church, located across the square from St. Donatus:



Bought cat food and fed it to a friendly, pregnant park kitty:



Saw St. Michael's Church:



Drank a beer at some more church ruins (Caryl's favorite Croatian activity):



And on our way out of this wonderful town we stopped by the Five Wells square:

Trogir, Croatia

From Split we took a day trip to Trogir, an ancient island city about a half hour up the coast. The island is pretty small. We spent about 5 hours there, which was enough time to see all the major attractions.

Like most old cities we've seen so far, Trogir is surrounded by a wall with numerous gates:



Cathedral of St. Lawrence:



Cool ceiling:







Interesting side altar:





We were also able to walk to the top of the bell tower. There were signs at the bottom indicating climbing was at your own risk, and that children under 14 were not allowed. We figured it was a liability thing, but the climb was actually pretty scary! Really tight stairs, crappy railings, people going up and down trying to get around each other. The view at the top was worth the climb, but it was definitely an adventure!

Half way up:



I tried to take a picture of the stairs. However, it's hard to see here how low the banisters are, how tight these are, and the worst part (slippery stone steps at the top) is not pictured.



View from the top:





Back on solid ground:



We also saw the citadel at the tip of the island (complete with kiddie trampolines):



Us looking silly at the top (but no sunburn since Mexico!):



Citadel at sunset:



And one more old church: