Happy new year! We did not hear much fireworks last night and we slept rather fine. Zeno wakes us up at 6:30, as usual, but this morning we take it easy and cuddle in bed until 8.
We call all opa’s and oma’s and leave at 10 for a roadtrip through the bearby mountains. We start with the summer palace of the pope in Castel Gandolfo, a 5 minute drive from our appartement, on the top of a hill overlooking the lake Albano. We cannot see much tough, but the sun is shining and we expect all sites to be closed anyways. Tim takes some shots and we the continue the drive along the summer palace’s of rich Romans like the Borghese and many more.
Our next stop is the town of Palestrina with the enormous temple of Fortuna Primigenia. It was built on a huge manmade platform like the one at Terracina, but this one is even bigger and dominates the town. We think we can just walk in as its in the middle of the town and the gate is open but we are told we need tickets. We are pointed in the direction of the palace which still shows clear signs of once being a Roman temple. It’s the museum and it is open today.
We are just behind a tour group and skip the room they are in and head upstairs, here are beautiful frescoed rooms filled with bronze funary goods and statues of gods. On the top floor is a huge allegoric mosaic of the Nile which was found nearby. We take the lift to the basement where Roman pillars betray the original origins of the building and are walking through an original cryptoportico which exits onto the main platform and the gate we can now enter.
The platforms provides far and wide views of the surrounding landscape. We descend the hillside along the Roman arches and artificial walkways. Once we’re back at the top we get back into our car and drive even further into the mountains.
Here we see beautiful hilltop towns and while the weather turns from blue to grey we climb ever higher and see snow capped mountains in the distance. Once we’re in Trevi nel Lazio, Tim gets out to get some good shots of the mountains and its castle and we head back home to relax and watch some Pippi Long stockings.
