Monday, July 7, 2025

ROAD TRIP TO THE ITALIAN ALPS: Bergamo, Valle Camonica, Lake Iseo

View from our room in Capo de Ponte, Italy.

In early June, after spending four days in Milan, we rented a car and did a short driving trip to the Italian Alps. It was a trip we had done before, in February 2003. This time, the weather was warmer, days longer, and we spent more time in the Valle Camonica. We started in Bergamo, just an hour or so north of Milan.

Looking over the city walls, Bergamo, Italy.

Bergamo dates back to Roman times, when it was known as Bergamum. It has two parts, a lower city on the flat plain, and the Citta Alta, or upper city, perched on a hill and surrounded by an ancient wall. The cobblestone streets in this medieval city are narrow and there is almost no available parking. On the advice of our hotel, we parked in the underground parking structure, took the elevator to the top, and bumped our suitcases over the cobblestones for the seven-minute walk to our hotel. 

Evening's bread supply for the hotel restaurant.

View from our room in Bergamo.

There we climbed the steep stairs to our room on the top floor of the building, which, we were told, dates back to the fourth century. Our room looked over the hotel restaurant patio below.

The Citta Alta, Bergamo.

Most tourists come to the Citta Alta just for the day and arrive by funicular from the lower city. In addition to its historic churches and museums, the Citta Alta has one long shopping street lined with restaurants and shops--pizza, pastries, gelato, candies, souvenirs, clothing, jewelry—you name it.

Sweets for sale, Bergamo.

Puppet theater.

Among my favorite shop windows was one featuring animal masks. I was also intrigued by a book shop with a small puppet stage displayed in its window. When I was a child I would have loved to have had such a puppet stage
Mother and baby wooly mammoth models, Natural Science Museum, Bergamo.

The main focus of our visit to Bergamo was the natural history where we paid a visit to Eudimorphodon, the pterosaur fossil that was featured in my book Pterosauars: Rulers of the Skies in the Dinosaur Age, and to the wooly mammoth model, also a subject of one of my books. See my post at my Art and Books blog about the fossil and diorama of Eudimorphodon. We also visited the historical museum in Bergamo, where there are exhibits about the long human history in northern Italy, from prehistoric to Roman times to the present.

Prehistoric rock engravings, Naquane National Park.

From Bergamo we headed north into the Alps to the Valle Camonica, where our goal was to visit Naquane National Park to see the ancient petroglyphs. 

Rock with prehistoric engravings, Museum in Cemmo.

Our first stop was at the local museum, which provided a preview and information about the discoveries in the Valle Camonica. The ticket was also good for both the Naquane park entrance and another museum. At the park entrance we got a map that guided us to the major petroglyph sites. There wooden walkways allowed a close-up view of the images and sign-boards in both Italian and English explained the significance of the carvings.

View from our room at the Casa Visnenza B&B, Capo de Ponte.

In Capo di Ponte we stayed in a B&B tucked in the hills above the river valley. As I gazed out the window I felt like I had become part of a Renaissance painting. Over a hearty breakfast we got to know some of the other guests and the owner, whose mother had grown up in the house (the youngest of six children). She was very helpful in advising us where to go and what to see. The valley is filled with history and numerous tracks and hiking trails.


One evening, on a short walk, we met a curious pair of donkeys and their foals along the carriage track up the mountain behind our B&B.

Olive orchard and farmhouse at Agriturismo La Tesa hotel.

From Capo di Ponte we drove down the west side of Lake Iseo (through many tunnels!) to the resort town of Iseo, where we stayed for one night in a agritourism hotel in the hills above the town. The original farmhouse is now a hotel and restaurant. The olive orchard and berry vines are still maintained and part of the grounds. (Robot lawn mowers keep the grass perpetually trimmed.) 

Overlook of Lake Iseo from Agriturismo La Tesa hotel.

A short walk from the La Tesa hotel leads to the top of the escarpment with a panoramic view of Lake Iseo and Isla Isola.

Hotel Villa Malpensa, Milan airport.
 
Our last night in Italy was spent at a hotel near the airport. From the window of our room we could see the airplanes taking off just a mile away. But rather surprisingly, the hotel felt rural, surrounded by fields and next to a small village. 

Tower behind Hotel Villa Malpensa.

As we took a walk after dinner that evening we discovered a strange tower that looked like the perfect setting for “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!” Apparently, it was built as some sort of silo, or grain storage tower.

During the entire trip to Italy we relied on our GPS for both walking and driving. We wonder how we ever managed to find our way on our previous trips to Italy, before GPS was invented! We must have relied on paper maps and verbal directions!

Path between petroglyph sites in Naquane National Park.

We always enjoy travelling to Italy and have been there numerous times—summer, fall, winter, spring. This was our first trip in June, and although the weather was warm, only two days were truly hot (above 90 degrees F.) and we had almost no rain. It was also the beginning of high tourist season, so popular sites like the Duomo in Milan and the main street of the Citta Alta in Bergamo were crowded. But our trip to the Valle Camonica was enough off the beaten track that we felt we had escaped the crowds. It was a good trip.

At the entrance to Naquane National Park.

My report of the first part of our trip, in Milan, posted on June 30, 2025.
 

Monday, June 30, 2025

FOUR DAYS IN MILAN, ITALY: The Duomo, Museums, Cimitero Monumentale, Canals, and More

Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele II, Milan, Italy. 

Milan is the bustling center of modern Italian design and fashion. Even babies in their strollers are well-dressed. The city also has a long history, with countless churches, palaces, museums, and historic sites to entice visitors. In early June, Art and I spent four days in Milan at the beginning of a ten-day trip to northern Italy.

Display welcoming the 2026 Winter Paralympics to Milan/Cortina.

Like all of our trips to Europe, a nine-hour time difference from our home in California, we allowed several days to adjust to the time change. We arrived in Milan on a Sunday, and after checking in at our hotel in the city center, walked to a nearby pizzeria for a light supper, ending with our favorite Italian dessert, caramel panna cotta. Every meal we ate in Italy was delicious!

The Milan Duomo (Cathedral).

The next day our focus was the Duomo, the cathedral that sits in the middle of Milan like a giant stone wedding cake. As we stood in the piazza gazing up at the roof spires, we could see tiny people walking up to the top. We then made our way to the back of the cathedral to wait for our turn to ride the elevator to the roof. (We had bought tickets online ahead of time. Alternatively, you can climb up the 165 steps to the top—a cheaper ticket and different line.) Security is strict to get into the Duomo. Women are required to have covered shoulders and knees and flip-flop sandals are not allowed. If you show up in shorts or a sleeveless top you can purchase a thin white cover-up garment.

View of Milan from the roof of the Duomo.

As we emerged from the elevator we found ourselves on the first roof level, amongst the flying buttresses and 135 statue topped spires, and with a spectacular view of all of Milan. In the distance was the modern business center of the city, with its skyscrapers and the needle-like tower, the Torre Pirelli . Until it was built (1955-60), the Duomo was the tallest building in Milan.

Walkway around the roof of the Duomo.

As we followed the route around the roof we got close-up views of the elaborate stonework and hundreds of figures perched on the spires before our final climb to the roof peak. Once again we admired the view, and then from there descended the narrow circular staircase to the inside of the Duomo.

Marble floor of the Duomo. Woman wearing cover-up over her bare arms.

Some of the 52 pillars inside the Duomo.

Sculptured panels on the central doors of the Duomo.

We had purchased an audio tour for our phone to guide us around the inside of the Duomo and this helped us appreciate the history and significance of its various parts. Everything in the cathedral is over-the-top, from the huge stained-glass windows (said to be the largest in Christendom), to the marble floor, the pillars (52 of them, one for every week of the year), the numerous side chapels, and the huge paneled doors on the front.

Detail from one of the windows of the Duomo, displayed in the Duomo Museum.

Gargoyles from the Duomo, some from the 14th Century, moved to the Museum for conservation.

The construction of the Duomo began in the 14th century but was not completed until Napoleon’s time. The Duomo Museum, next to the cathedral, displays statues, gargoyles, building models and artifacts that tell the Duomo’s 600-year history. A side doorway in the museum takes you through a courtyard to a small hidden chapel, San Gottordo in Corte, refreshing in its simplicity. A fresco from the Giotto School was recently discovered on one of its walls.

Courtyard leading to the chapel of San Gottordo in Corte.

Before returning to our hotel, we did a short tour of the Vittorio Emmanuel II shopping arcade, located at the side of the Duomo Piazza, and billed as the Rodeo Drive of Italy, with its glamorous designer stores. However, most people in the crowded mall were tourists, not shoppers, taking selfies under the magnificent domed roof.

Center of the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuelle II. 

The next day began with a visit to the weekly street fair and farmer’s market on Viale Pepiniano. The wealth of available fresh fruits and vegetables on display explains why Italian cooking is so good!  

Stall at the Tuesday farmers' market on Viale Pepiniano.

We purchased super-sweet cherries just in season. On our way back to our hotel we stopped to visit the Basilica and monastery of Sant' Ambrogio one of the most ancient churches in Milan.

Mosaic of Christ the Pantocrator (4th to 8th C.) in the apse of the Basilica of Sant' Ambrogio.

In the afternoon we met my cousin and her husband who live in Milan, who gave us a personal tour of some sites that I had read about in my guidebook but were outside the city center. (They had a car.) The first was the CimiteroMonumental, a burial ground for the rich and famous begun in Victorian times, that is more like an open-air art museum than a graveyard. (Entrance is free.) A map at the entrance marks the mausoleums and graves of particular importance. 

Reclining figure at the Cimitero Monumental.

Ziggurat-like sculpture at the Cimitero Monumental. Tomb of Antonio Berocchi, created by Giannino Castiglioni.

It seems that every Italian artist worth his salt has been invited to create a sculpture here. Themes vary from the intimate to the majestic, with many references to ancient history. The shaded walkways were welcome on the warm day of our visit and there were almost no other people there on a weekday afternoon.

The Bosco Verticale apartment building, designed by Boen Studio in the Porta Nuova area of Milan.

Our next stop was at the Bosco Verticale, or Vertical Forest, a unique pair of apartment buildings covered with so many trees and plants they appear as giant trees themselves.

Summer evening in the Navigli (canal) District, Milan, with its restaurants, shops, live music and giant video screens.

Our day ended with dinner at a restaurant in the Navigli, or canal, District. At the time that the Duomo was under construction in Milan, a system of canals was dug (including a lock designed by Leonardo) in order to transport marble from the quarries in the mountains to the city. In the last century, most of the canals were filled in, but a few remain. Today they are lined with shops and restaurants and have a lively night life. Next to the canal, a communal washing station is preserved, from the time that women gathered here to wash their clothes and chat.

Science Museum. Models of some of Leonardo's flying machines.

Science Museum. Cat drawings by Leonardo da Vinci.

We did not see Leonardo’s Last Supper, perhaps Milan’s most famous artwork. Limited tickets are available and need to be purchased months ahead of time, which we didn’t do. But, on our last day, we visited the Leonardoda Vinci National Museum of Science and Technology where most of the second floor is devoted to Leonardo’s life and many inventions, with models, drawings, artifacts and multi-media displays. One section focused on the many works of art inspired by and modeled on Leonardo's Last Supper.

On the bridge of the canal.

We didn’t visit La Scala, the Sforza Castle, or go shopping while we were in Milan. Not enough time to do everything. But we did see a lot and enjoyed delicious Italian food. And after four days we had made significant progress on our jet lag and were ready for our driving trip to the Alps.

Monday, June 23, 2025

A BEAUTIFUL SPRING DAY IN OXFORD, ENGLAND: Guest Post by Jennifer Arnold

View of Oxford from the top of the tower of St. Mary.

With many thanks to my daughter Jennifer for her excellent report of her recent trip to London with my grandson, who met her there during the spring break from his semester abroad in Madrid. They packed a lot in during the week they were in London! One beautiful spring day they escaped the hustle and bustle of the city did a trip to Oxford for the day.

Street in Oxford with typical Gothic architecture.

Oxford . Oxford is about an hour-and-a-half by train from London and makes a good day trip. We wandered around and enjoyed the beautiful gothic architecture, the famous Blackwell’s book store, St. Mary’s church, and the canal towpath. We went inside the Bodleian library’s divinity school room, which is famous in movies (e.g., it was the infirmary in the Harry Potter movies).

Gothic architecture of one of the colleges.

Printing press.

Connected to the Bodleian was a museum with several free exhibits, including this printing press from the 1800s. They had it set up so that tourists could print a sheet with an excerpt from Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales.

Jennifer in front of the Radcliffe Camera.

The Radcliffe Camera is a famous building in Radcliffe College. As with most colleges, it was off-limits to tourists to enter. Some colleges were open to the public with advance tickets (but we didn’t arrange this).

View from the top of the tower of St. Mary.

We had to pay 6 pounds each to climb the narrow and steep staircase to the tower top, but it was very worth it. From there you could see Oxford from above in every direction.

Bridge of Sighs, Oxford

Note:
For Jennifer's report of the rest of their week in London, go to her post on June 16, 2025.


Monday, June 16, 2025

A WEEK IN LONDON: Tower of London, Houses of Parliament, Charles Dickens and More, Guest Post by Jennifer Arnold

Houses of Parliament, London.

With many thanks to my daughter Jennifer for her report of her recent trip to London with my grandson, who met her there during the spring break from his semester abroad in Madrid. They packed a lot in during the week they were in London!

My son and I recently spent a week being tourists in London (Easter week 2025), visiting some of the major sites and learning about British history and contemporary life. One theme that seemed to connect the different sites we saw is the long history of England and the British empire, and the continued class conflict and power struggles.

The "tower", which is now a gift shop.

Tower of London.
The Tower of London is really a castle, although it does have one building called “the tower”. This used to be where the kings and queens lived, and it represents both a long and fraught political history as well as the proud history of the royal family. 

Guards marching as a part of the ceremony of the password, which is solemnly shared with the guards.

There are informative and entertaining tours given by the “beef-eaters” (no one knows where that name came from), who live on site with their families and take care of the Tower. The charming man who gave our tour told us that he had been in the British military for 30+ years, serving as the principal violinist in their orchestra! As part of the tour, he told us about the many political prisoners and beheadings that took place nearby. This castle was the primary seat of English political and military power for hundreds of years. 

Metal monkey sculpture.

Artistic metal sculptures depict some of the animals that used to be kept at the tower of London; these animals from far-off places were given as gifts and kept in the tower, which was not always the best habitat.


Observatory ball.  Every day at exactly 1:00 pm Greenwich Mean Time, this red ball on the top of the observatory drops. It is visible from the Thames and allows ships to synchronize their clocks with the official time.

The Greenwich Royal Observatory   A little south of London is the Greenwich Royal Observatory. This observatory marks the location of the Prime Meridian, which is the line that is used across the world to count as the start of a “day”. The museum teaches about the astronomers and mathematicians who worked there, and the long endeavor to develop a method of calculating longitude accurately from a ship. This project took decades, spurred on by a monetary award offered by the British government.  There were many attempts along the way that weren’t successful but nevertheless made scientific and engineering contributions. Ultimately the solution was to develop a clock that would be accurate within seconds when aboard a ship. You can read more about this in Dava Sobel’s book Longitude.

Royal Observatory.. This line marks the prime meridian.

It’s striking how the financial support of the English government was critical to both the scientific advancements as well as the social infrastructure of marking time consistently across the globe.  This is an early example of a federally funded grant, and it accrued power to England.

Houses of Parliament. This photo was taken in one of the only places we were allowed to take pictures.

The Houses of Parliament . Unfortunately, we were visiting during Easter week, which is a holiday in England, so we couldn’t see the houses of parliament in action. But we still could enter the space and take an audio tour. British Parliament includes both the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Originally these parliamentary roles were only open to men of wealth, but later they opened up to “commoners”, and today the only real political power lies in the House of Commons. But we also learned that the House of Lords plays an important negotiating role, precisely because they do not have the same level of power as the House of Commons. The rooms dedicated to the House of Lords are also a lot more ornate than the rooms for the House of Commons!


The 80’s: Photographing Britain at the Tate Britain.  This powerful exhibit depicted several major class struggles in the 70’s and 80s, including union strikes, the coal miner’s strike, and the struggle for recognition of the LGBTQ+ community.


Dickens Museum

Charles Dickens Museum . This museum is built in one of the houses where Dickens lived in the 1800’s, in a beautiful and somewhat secluded neighborhood of London. We learned that Dickens himself came from a financially insecure background, which was blamed on his father’s inability to manage his debts. At age 12 Dickens was sent to work in a factory doing grueling and uninspiring work. This undoubtedly motivated the themes in his novels, which portrayed the poor in a positive light and championed their cause. We also learned that Dickens’ had a flamboyant and entertaining personality. He enjoyed financial success during his lifetime due to the popularity of his writings, and he frequently entertained at his house and performed his books.


Handel House. The room where Handel entertained visitors and musicians, next door to the room where he did most of his composing.

Handel and Hendrix House .  In an unusual twist of fate, two major musicians lived in neighboring houses in London at very different times. The composer George Frederic Handel rented a house in the early 1700s, where he composed his famous Handel’s Messiah and many other works, and from where he developed his career in London. 

The bedroom of Jimi Hendrix’s flat.

Two centuries later, Jimi Hendrix rented a flat next door where his career took off in the 1960’s.

 Note: Next week look for Jennifer's post about their day trip from London to Oxford.