Italian road trip – Day 7 – Ladispoli, Capalbio, Rosignano Marittimo

Twelve years after our road trip, I still haven’t published the photos taken during its last day. At a time like this, when travel is a somewhat distant memory for most, and draconian travel rules require you to jump through even more hoops in order to board a crowded cattle plane, perhaps these photos, taken during more relaxed times, will provide a bit of comfort to you. So, Day 6 ended with us crashing around 11:30 pm, exhausted, at our newly found hotel in Ladispoli, after having charged through most of downtown Rome earlier that day.

We woke up the next morning to find we were about 20 meters from an unusual beach. We hadn’t come to Ladispoli for its beach — we came because we wanted to find a reasonably-priced hotel outside Rome, on our way back to Pisa, but the next morning, we got to enjoy the beach nonetheless. I’ll let the photos show you what I mean.

You see, Ladispoli is know for its black (blackish) sand. It’s quitely a lovely texture too. Ligia and I actually went back to the hotel to tell the others about the beach, but they were too tired from traipsing through Rome to come down, so we had our breakfast and off we went toward Pisa.

We’re driving along on the highway and around lunchtime, we spot this lovely medieval village on a distant hill. We all agree that we’ll go there for lunch and a little visit. That little village was Capalbio. The lunch was delicious and we had a wonderful time walking through the fortress. Much like many other medieval villages, the entire settlement is surrounded by fortified walls and is set on a hill, with vineyards and fields spread out in the valley below. The houses and overall properties inside the fortress are small and right next to each other, in order to maximize the available space. The actual patrol routes along the walls have now become sidewalks that visitors and inhabitants alike use to get around the place.

By 4 pm or so, we could see the sea (pun intended), with the Gorgona Scalo barely visible in the distance in some of the photos. By 5:30 pm, we made our way seaside in Rosignano Marittimo and found a spot to stop and take photos. It was lovely. In the gallery below, you’ll see I edited the colors in some of photographs quite heavily. Sometimes I can’t help myself. In recent years I’ve begun to do fairly conservative edits but in my younger years, I sometimes ended up doing fairly heavy color manipulation, and these photos were edited years ago. I also snuck in a photo of Ligia and I on the shore of the Ligurian Sea, as it’s called down there. That’s how we looked 12 years ago. How time flies…

We then drove to a hotel in Pisa, where we spent a short night, because the next morning at 6:10 we were on a plane which fiddled around on the runways until 7:06, when it was wheels up and on its way back to Romania.

And that was my last, long overdue post on this road trip. You can wind your way through our days on the road in Italy from start to finish by following these links:

The Italian road trip
Day One – Pisa
Day Two – Florence
Day Three – Venice – Part 1 and Part 2
Day Four – Ravenna, Rimini and Grottammare
Day Five – Crossing Italy from Grottammare to Rome
Day Six – Rome
Day Seven – this was it

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the photographs!

I’m not sure I’ve communicated well enough in the past that my wife collects traditional, handmade Romanian costumes. These aren’t new; they’re historic and they range in age from 50-100 years or more. She buys them in “as is” condition, she makes repairs where needed, she washes them with special detergents and she places them in her collection. They come out looking quite amazing. Sometimes she chooses to sell some of them, but then she ends up buying more. And we’ve taken to photographing them from multiple angles, to document them. We may even put a book together to showcase her collection. At any rate, I’m quite taken with the beauty of these costumes and their intricate, hand-sewn designs. I hope you will appreciate them too. Here is a set of ten photographs taken recently.

Lists

Today’s images

Places

Washington, DC

We lived in the DC area from 2003 to 2008 and we loved it, particularly the historic area of DC with all the old neoclassical buildings. Here is a gallery of photographs of some of those buildings, including a few from Union Station, which is not only a train station but also a connection to DC’s metrorail system.

Washington, DC
Union Station, Washington, DC
Union Station, Washington, DC
Union Station, Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Washington, DC. This image is stitched together from 17 separate photographs and is almost 70 megapixels at full resolution.
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Washington, DC. This image is stitched together from 40 separate photographs and is almost 100 megapixels at full resolution.
Washington, DC
Metro station, Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
One of my favorite photos from Washington, DC. The fresh green leaves bursting out of their buds are the perfect sign of Spring.
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
The top of the US Capitol Building, in downtown Washington, DC. Notice the statue of the Roman general on top of the cupola. It bears the likeness of George Washington.
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
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Washington, DC
Washington, DC
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Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Monument on the Arlington Memorial Bridge, Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
A panoramic image of downtown Washington, DC, taken from the top of the Washington Monument
A panoramic image of downtown Washington, DC, taken from the top of the Washington Monument
A panoramic image of downtown Washington, DC, taken from the top of the Washington Monument
A panoramic image of downtown Washington, DC, taken from the top of the Washington Monument
A panoramic image of downtown Washington, DC, taken from the top of the Washington Monument
A panoramic image of downtown Washington, DC, taken from the top of the Washington Monument
A panoramic image of downtown Washington, DC, taken from the top of the Washington Monument
A panoramic image of downtown Washington, DC, taken from the top of the Washington Monument
A panoramic image of downtown Washington, DC, taken from the top of the Washington Monument

Places

A jaunt through Dresden

Dresden (known as Drježdźany in Sorbian, Drážďany in Czech and Drezno in Polish) is the capital city and, after Leipzig, the second-largest city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the border with the Czech Republic. Its name derives from Old Sorbian Drežďany, meaning “people of the forest”. An important thing to note here is that there is a difference between Sorbians (also known as Lusatians) and Serbians; they are separate ethnic groups in Europe, with completely separate histories.

Dresden has a long history as the capital and royal residence for the Electors and Kings of Saxony, who for centuries furnished the city with cultural and artistic splendor, and was once the family seat of the Polish monarchs. The city was known as the “Jewel Box”, because of its baroque and rococo city centre. The American and British bombing of Dresden in World War II towards the end of the war killed approximately 25,000 people, many of whom were civilians, and destroyed the entire city centre. After the war restoration work has helped to reconstruct parts of the historic inner city, including the Katholische Hofkirche, the Zwinger and the Semper Oper.

A view of Dresden in 1945, after the Allied bombing

We visited that old part of the city and we walked around in the section between the Frauenkirche and the Hofkirche in the course of an afternoon. We didn’t stay. We were on a fairly tight schedule and needed to move on. That evening, we made it to a small town named Radebeul, where we spent the night. Enjoy the photographs, there are 93 of them!

In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany
In the historic part of Dresden, Germany

Places

Sanssouci Palace

After sightseeing in Berlin, we visited Potsdam (which in our days is technically within the territory of Berlin but was once a separate place), where we spent time over the course of a couple of days at Sanssouci Palace (Schloss Sanssouci). The Palace was once the summer home of Frederick the Great, the former King of Prussia. The town of Potsdam was a favourite place of residence for the German imperial family until the fall of the Hohenzollern dynasty in 1918.

An interesting aside: the House of Hohenzollern is also notable for being the official monarchy of Romania from 1881 to 1947 and unofficially from 1991 onward, with the current heir being Princess Margareta, Custodian of the Crown of Romania.

Sanssouci was built in order to fulfill King Frederick’s need for a private residence where he could relax away from the pomp and ceremony of the Berlin court. It was designed and partially built by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff between 1745 and 1747. Because of a disagreement about the site of the palace in the park, Knobelsdorff was fired in 1746. Jan Bouman, a Dutch architect, finished the project. The palace’s name emphasises this; it is a French phrase (sans souci), which translates as “without concerns” or “carefree”, symbolising that the palace was a place for relaxation rather than a seat of power.

Sanssouci is little more than a large, single-story villa—more like the Château de Marly than Versailles. Containing just ten principal rooms, it was built on the brow of a terraced hill at the centre of the park. The influence of King Frederick’s personal taste in the design and decoration of the palace was so great that its style is characterised as “Frederician Rococo“, and his feelings for the palace were so strong that he conceived it as “a place that would die with him”.

During the 19th century, the palace became a residence of Frederick William IV. He employed the architect Ludwig Persius to restore and enlarge the palace, while Ferdinand von Arnim was charged with improving the grounds and thus the view from the palace.

Here is a gallery of 56 photographs I took there. Enjoy!