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Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Ancient Ostia Antica Day Tour from Rome


Published on Viator Things to do Rome on July 28, 2014


Ruins of Ostia Antica
Our tour guide, Rebecca, told us, ‘Ostia Antica is the better Pompeii,’ which is not as farfetched as it sounds. Just 19 miles west of Rome, Ostia Antica is certainly more accessible. Our small group tour of Ostia Antica from Rome met at the Ostiense train station for the easy 30-minute train ride to the site. The tragic story of Pompeii is more compelling with the violent eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, but the city of Ostia Antica actually does a better job of presenting a typical Roman town. Unlike Pompeii, Ostia Antica suffered no natural disaster. The inhabitants left Ostia Antica voluntarily to avoid malaria and a dwindling economy. Eventually, the ghost town was buried (intact) beneath tons of silt from the nearby Tiber River, creating a dream dig for archaeologists. Ostia Antica is also more tranquil than Pompeii and much greener with lots of shade from numerous umbrella pines (aka ‘broccoli trees’).

In its 9th c. heyday, Ostia Antica was the main port and trading center for the city of Rome, a cosmopolitan place with 50,000 residents including many Jews and foreigners. Although modeled after Rome, this was a town of middle class business people, prosperous and comfortable but not ostentatious.

The theater at Ostia Antica
We walked down the main thoroughfare, the Decumanus Maximus, which was lined with paving stones, some exhibiting wheel ruts made by thousands of Roman carts. We visited the theater, one of the most popular spots in Ostia Antica, where the dramas were so realistic that during the murder scenes, they actually killed criminals on stage (switching out the actor for the criminal at the last moment). And we think our reality TV is shocking!

The Tavola Calda
Rebecca was an excellent and enthusiastic guide who led us to many of her favorite corners of the 120+ acre site making the tour very personal and unique. She led us to the Tavola Calda (hot table) that looked like a cafeteria-style eatery still in use today. Here, a selection of hot dishes was placed on a heated tile countertop for the patrons. Strangely, the best hidden gem was the laundry, virtually intact with large rinsing basins. It is believed that children agitated the clothing via foot power (similar to stomping grapes). This was bone-breaking work made even more distasteful because the Romans used urine to bleach their togas sparkling white!

The House of Diana apartment

 One of the loveliest structures was an early apartment house called the House of Diana, built of fashionable red brick. The Romans actually invented the apartment as a way to house their burgeoning population. Nearby, what looked like a garden of buried amphorae contained dozens of clay vessels used to store wine. The Romans experimented with ways to preserve wine, even adding blood and lead to prevent spoilage. But wine literally saved their lives. When the Romans conquered other parts of the world, they brought their wine with them and mixed it with the local water, killing any deadly foreign bacteria.

The communal toilet room

 The Forum was the most impressive part of town with a temple raised on a hill and an elaborate bath complex that even included a steam room. An estimated 300 gallons of water were pumped into the city every day to support the baths. These baths, that were available to everyone at no charge, were much more than just a place to wash up. Patrons could get a massage, a haircut, and most importantly, get caught up on the latest gossip. Our most amusing stop was the communal toilet room, a place where Roman men would come to chat and conduct business.

At the conclusion of our tour, we were given our return train tickets with the option to catch a later train back to Rome if we wanted more time on the site. Back in Rome, I ate a late lunch at a Tavola Calda that looked remarkably similar to the ancient one I had just seen in Ostia Antica. As French journalist Alphonse Karr once said, ‘The more things change, the more they remain the same.’

The Temple in Ostia Antica's Forum

-Contributed by Anne Supsic

A Tour of Ancient Rome and the Colosseum


Published on Viator Things to do Rome on July 7, 2014

The magnificent Colosseum

I first saw the Colosseum almost 20 years ago, but at that time, no one was allowed inside. So when I returned to Rome this year, one of my top priorities was to enter this magnificent structure and see it all: from the underground chambers to the top tier.

Our Ancient Rome and Colosseum Tour began across the street from the Colosseum where we gazed at the stunning ruin and listened (on handy headsets) as our guide, Alessia, explained that this land was originally part of the gardens of Nero’s Palace. The Colosseum derives its name from a colossal statue of Nero that once stood here. After Nero’s death, the Romans tried to wipe out his memory by altering the statue turning it into a generic Sun God. The Romans also drained the lake in Nero’s garden, creating the perfect location for this arena.

Fifteen thousand slaves spent the better part of a decade erecting this monument dedicated to entertainment. One of the reasons Romans loved the Colosseum so much was that admission was free! Entertainments were actually an integral part of every emperor’s propaganda campaign; a way to keep the people happy and keep himself in power. (The games kept people’s minds off plotting to overthrow the empire.) In 80 AD, Emperor Vespasian celebrated the opening of the Colosseum by offering 100 days of games involving 5,000 beasts (all free of charge, of course).

A view of the Vestal Virgin apartments

Following that introduction, we headed for Rome’s ‘downtown’ and nucleus of city life, the Roman Forum. The Forum had it all: the Senate for the politicos, the courts for all legal actions, the best markets for the shopaholics, and the temples where priests administered to the spiritual needs of Rome. The only actual residents of the Forum were the Vestal Virgins who lived in special, isolated apartments. Girls joined the order as 6-year-olds and remained until age thirty (when they were too old to reproduce). These girls came only from the wealthiest patrician families, and it was considered quite an honor to have a Vestal in the family. Being a Vestal Virgin was serious business – if a Vestal Virgin was caught fooling around, the man was executed, and the ‘virgin’ was buried alive.

Private playground of the wealthy on Palatine Hill
Next, we strolled up to the rural-feeling Palatine Hill where the wealthiest Romans lived in villas surrounded by flowering trees and fountains. The rich folks even had their own private ‘playground’ to watch athletes compete in various games including chariot races.


View from the arena floor
At last, we headed for the highlight of the tour: the inside of the Colosseum. The entranceway was a madhouse of frantic tourists, but once inside, Alessia led us into a quiet section of the arena floor for a heart-stopping view of the indoor seating that once held 70,000 spectators. I looked around and realized that our small group had this amazing space all to ourselves.

In the cavernous underground

We descended below for our special access to the separate world of the underground chambers. This was the place where exotic animals, and of course, gladiators waited for their grand entrance into the arena. The entertainments were carefully orchestrated with an elaborate system of elevators and trap doors that allowed fierce animals or heroic gladiators to suddenly pop out on the arena floor. Everything was designed to wow the audience and keep them coming back for more.

Top down view of the Colosseum

We ended our tour by climbing several sets of stairs to the top tier. The effort was well worth it as we stood alone on the terrace with plenty of time to absorb a top down perspective of the inside of the arena and gaze outside for sweeping views of the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. Now I could truly say I had seen this ancient wonder inside and out!
-Contributed by Anne Supsic

Saturday, August 9, 2014

10 of Europe's Best (Lesser Known) Art Museums


Published in the Viator Travel Blog on August 8, 2014

Europe is blessed with an abundance of art museums that extends well beyond the indisputable acclaim granted to places like the Louvre or the Prado. While these art museum giants tend to leave a visitor dizzy after covering hundreds of years of art in one afternoon, the lesser known museums frequently focus on a single artist or time period. This narrower scope is less overwhelming and often provides a unique opportunity to see how an artist evolved and matured.
Here are ten lesser known art museums guaranteed to surprise and charm.

1. Galleria Borghese in Rome, Italy


Galleria Borghese is an intimate 20-room art museum housed in a former villa surrounded by the lush Borghese Gardens. Access is by reservation only in 2-hour time slots ensuring a peaceful visit. The museum’s impressive collection focuses on Italian works that once belonged to Cardinal Scipione Borghese (1579–1633), a ruthless art collector who stopped at nothing to get his hands on a coveted work. He once arrested a man on trumped up charges and only released him after receiving a ‘gift’ of two Caravaggio paintings.

The riotous colors of the fresco-covered main salon give a hint of what lies beyond. Above the main doorway, a dramatic bas-relief depicts a stumbling horse and rider who appear ready to tumble right into the room. This remarkably realistic sculpture was created by Pietro Bernini. Following in dad’s footsteps, his son Gian Lorenzo Bernini became one of the greatest sculptors of the Baroque era, and his dazzling works are the highlight of the museum. Bernini’s ‘Pluto and Prosperina’ is a miracle in marble with Pluto grabbing Prosperina’s leg so forcefully that the imprints of his fingerprints are visible on her seemingly soft skin. But Bernini’s best work is the astonishing ‘Apollo and Daphne’ which captures the moment when Daphne, being hotly pursued by Apollo, is turned into a tree to escape his advances. The leaves that sprout from Daphne’s hands exemplify artistry at its most impossible. The delicacy seems to defy the rules of physics. It is said that if you brushed over the leaves with your hand, they would sing like chimes.

2. Skagens Museum in Skagen, Denmark


The unassuming Skagens Museum holds an enchanting collection of Impressionist-like paintings by young artists drawn to this northernmost part of Denmark by the unspoiled landscapes and the amazing Nordic light. Traveling to Skagen in the 1870’s was so risky that some artists nearly lost their lives getting there, but the journey was worth it to work in this idyllic environment. The artists painted the local fishermen, the villagers going about their daily lives, and they painted each other, often strolling along the shimmering beaches.

These ‘painters of light’ soon formed a friendly artist colony with P.S. Kroyer and the husband and wife duo of Anna and Michael Ancher as the most famous of the group. Kroyer loved to paint what he called the ‘blue hour,’ the time when day fades into night. A good example is ‘Summer Evening at Skagen,’ a painting featuring his wife Marie and his dog Rap on the beach at dusk.
The aim of the Skagens Museum is to display the art in the environment in which it was created. The best place to sense the spirit of the artists is in the dining room of Hotel Degn Brøndum, once the center of social life in the community, which has been relocated to the museum. It became a custom for the artists to donate portraits of each other to the hotel owner, and the old friends are still here, gazing down from the paintings that line the wood-paneled walls.
Note: The Skagens Museum will be closed for approximately six months from October 2014 to May 2015 for a major renovation and expansion project.

3. Toulouse-Lautrec Museum in Albi, France


The Toulouse-Lautrec Museum is housed in a 13th c. palace of massive proportions; a stark contrast with the diminutive artist whose work is on display. Born in Albi, Toulouse-Lautrec suffered from a genetic disorder (perhaps a result of inbreeding among his aristocratic family) that caused severely brittle bones. He broke both of his legs as a teenager, stopped growing at barely 5-feet tall, and needed a cane to walk.

Perhaps because of his physical deformities, Lautrec felt at home in the uninhibited atmosphere of bohemian Paris, and he lived in brothels for weeks at a time creating intimate portraits of the ‘working girls.’ He is considered one of the greatest painters of the Post-Impressionist period, and the museum collection, donated by his parents, follows Toulouse-Lautrec’s life and work culminating in an odd mix of heartbreaking paintings of life-worn prostitutes and stylish posters of cabaret singers.
Often called the father of poster art, Lautrec’s advertisements for Paris hot spots like the Moulin Rouge turned local singers and dancers into celebrities and raised the lowly poster to the level of fine art. Sadly, the licentious life caught up with him, and he died at the age of only 36 from the combined effects of alcoholism and syphilis (which he is said to have caught from a red-haired prostitute called Rosa la Rouge).

4. Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Bilbao, Spain


Oddly enough, the highlights of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao are outside, beginning with the extraordinary $100 million Frank Gehry building, a groundbreaking 20th c. architectural landmark. The complex sculptural design required the use of computer software initially developed for the aerospace industry, and the flowing outer skin of the building consists of 33,000 paper-thin titanium sheets that change color with the weather.

Much of the art resides outside as well, including the spider sculpture called ‘Maman’ by Louise Bourgeois that looks like something straight out of a sci-fi film and the lovable plant-covered sculpture ‘Puppy’ by Jeff Koons. The 43-foot tall West Highland Terrier actually blooms in a profusion of marigolds, begonias, impatiens, and petunias. In 1997, two days before the museum’s grand opening, ‘Puppy’ was almost the unwitting accomplice in a terrorist event. Fortunately, the three ETA Basque separatists, who arrived dressed as gardeners with Puppy-like flower pots filled with remote-controlled grenades, were apprehended. Today colorful ‘Puppy’ stands guard on Aguirre square, named for the policeman who was killed foiling the terrorist attempt.

5. Cluny Museum in Paris, France


Housed in a beautifully restored 15th c. monastery (one of only two surviving medieval mansions in Paris), the Cluny Museum offers one of the world’s greatest collections of medieval art with paintings, sculptures, tapestries, stained glass, and items from daily life. The somewhat rambling layout includes a small room showcasing backlit fragments of stained glass, providing a rare opportunity to get a close up view of the original glitter. And the basement holds a real surprise: the ruins of ancient Roman baths built at the turn of the 1st c.

Most popular by far is the circular room devoted to the six ‘Lady and the Unicorn’ tapestries. Little is known about the origin of these exquisite wall hangings although they are assumed to have been woven in Belgium during the 1500’s. Described as one of the great masterpieces of western art, the tapestries represent the five senses: touch, taste, smell, hearing, and sight. And an enigmatic sixth sense that carries the inscription ‘À mon seul désir’ (to my only desire) which has been interpreted to mean understanding, intuition, or love. Whatever the intended message, this is the only tapestry where the lady has just the faintest trace of a smile!

6. Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens, Greece


The Museum of Cycladic Art has one of the finest collections of Cycladic art in the world including marble figurines, bronze tools, and pottery. Although Cycladic art is over 5,000 years old (dating to the 3rd millennium B.C.), the many sleek female figures look remarkably modern, much like a Picasso creation. Which is not surprising since artists like Picasso, Modigliani, and Brancusi were heavily influenced by these ancient masters.

The abstract female figurines stand proudly in well-lit glass cases eliciting a sensation of quiet reverence. The simple sculptures follow a strict design formula: geometric forms posed in frontal positions with arms folded across the stomach and each face empty of any features other than a prominent nose. The elegant female figures are assumed to be fertility goddesses, but little is known about this ancient culture and the statues’ role in Cycladic life remains a mystery.

7. Marc Chagall Museum in Nice, France


The Marc Chagall Museum contains the largest public collection of Marc Chagall paintings in the world and was designed in the 1970’s with the help of Chagall himself who decided on the exact placement of each of his works. The museum contains an auditorium with stained glass windows portraying the creation of the world and a mosaic overlooking a pond, but the heart of the museum is a series of 17 paintings based on Biblical themes.

A central room displays twelve large paintings illustrating the first two books of the Old Testament. Chagall’s paintings are filled with fanciful folk art reflecting his Russian childhood and radiating a gentle playfulness; even serious subjects like ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ come with an upside down angel and a flying tree. A smaller hexagonal room holds the museum’s greatest delight: the exuberant 5-painting series called ‘Song of Songs.’ This may be the art world’s most romantic room. The series had a biblical inspiration, but Chagall made it personal, dedicating the room to his wife, ‘my joy and happiness.’ The rosy red canvases are covered with young lovers including the famous image of newlyweds flying over Jerusalem on a winged horse. Chagall once said, ‘In Art as in life, everything is possible if, deep down, there is Love.’

8. Sansevero Chapel Museum in Naples, Italy


The Sansevero Chapel Museum is the brainchild of an unusual character named Raimondo di Sangro (1710-1771) who was a lover of the arts and sciences, a prodigious inventor, and an alchemist. Reflecting Raimondo’s distinctive taste, the chapel walls are covered with strange alchemistic symbols, and the paint on the 200-year old chapel ceiling is from a special concoction he invented himself. The amazingly vibrant colors have never been retouched in any way. Raimondo’s scientific side is best appreciated in the basement where his ‘anatomical machines’ are on display: two bizarre skeletons with complete circulatory systems that indicate an understanding of human anatomy highly unusual for the time.

Raimondo was also obsessed with intricate sculpture, and the chapel is filled with remarkable examples. In one statue, a figure attempts to untangle himself from a rope net that is fully detailed right down to what look like actual knots in the rope. The supreme creation is a sculpture called ‘The Veiled Christ,’ a wondrous work created by Giuseppe Sanmartino in 1753. Somehow Giuseppe created a translucent marble veil that drapes over the features of the Christ figure beneath it. Christ’s fingernails and his crucifixion wounds are clearly visible beneath the veil. This is a phenomenal engineering and artistic feat but gazing at the statue is also extraordinarily moving – almost a religious experience. As you walk from his feet to his head, Christ’s expression changes from painful agony to peace.

9. Dali Theatre-Museum in Figueres, Spain


Visiting the Dali Theatre-Museum is not your typical day at the art museum. Opened in 1974, this is a surrealist experience beginning with the museum building itself, a rose-colored fortress with walls topped by giant eggs, described as the largest surrealistic object in the world. Dali said, ‘I have Dalinian thought: the one thing the world will never have enough of is the outrageous.’ He certainly outdid himself here in his hometown where he spent over a decade perfecting the presentation of about 1500 eclectic pieces that include paintings, drawings, sculptures, engravings, installations, jewelry, holograms, and photographs. By the way, Dali has not left the building – he is buried right here in his museum.

The inner courtyard definitely has a theatrical quality with niches holding golden figurines that look like oversized escapees from Hollywood’s Oscar Night. In the center of the courtyard sits a black Cadillac that actually belonged to Dalí who was a big fan of the carmaker. Inside, the car is covered with green vines that even engulf the mannequin driver and the two mannequin passengers in the back seat (insert a coin and it rains inside the car!). Another one of Dali’s fantastical works is ‘Face of Mae West Which Can Be Used as an Apartment.’ A viewing platform with a giant lens reveals the face of the sultry sex symbol with a sofa for her lips, a fireplace for her nostrils, and wall paintings for her eyes. Those bright red ‘sofa lips’ look ready to mouth, ‘Why don’t you come up and see me sometime?’

10. Vigeland Park in Oslo, Norway


Vigeland Park is the world’s largest sculpture park devoted to a single artist with a quirky collection of 192 bronze and granite sculptures of more than 600 nude figures. Gustav Vigeland began work on the sculptures in 1924, modeling all of the figures out of clay, in full size, in his studio. Then he employed professional craftsmen to do the carving. Poor Gustav worked on the project until he died almost 20 years later and never lived to see the end result.

The bulky, naked figures are weirdly captivating, portraying all types of human relationships: adolescent boys running, young lovers in an intimate embrace, parents holding their children close, and elderly couples with sagging bodies. One of the strangest statues is of a man who appears to be fighting off four babies –one baby rests on the man’s foot as if he is ready to drop kick the child. The most popular is a crowd-pleasing favorite called ‘Angry Boy’ that captures a little boy in the middle of an epic meltdown. However, the park’s most impressive achievement is the monolith: a giant pile up of 121 entwined human figures carved in one piece of stone 46 feet high. It’s hard to say if this is a group effort to reach the heavens or a struggle to climb over one another. When Vigeland was asked about the meaning of the monolith, he replied, ‘This is my religion.’

-Contributed by Anne Supsic

Friday, January 31, 2014

Sydney Crimes and Passions Walking Tour

by Anne Supsic

Published in the Viator Travel Blog on January 30, 2014

The famous Kings Cross intersection

Walking tours are an ideal way to get the lowdown on a city, and our Sydney Crimes and Passions Walking Tour delivered on its promise to expose the underbelly of Sydney’s notorious past. We met our guide, Valentino, under the oversized Coca Cola sign at the famous intersection known as Kings Cross. He explained that in the 1800’s, this area was an exclusive suburb known for its posh Victorian homes.

Striking view of downtown

Valentino described how life changed dramatically in the early 1900’s when a Navy base opened nearby, and a new law forced bars to close at 6:00 p.m. Interestingly, two women became the first crime bosses of Kings Cross. Kate Leigh established ‘sly-grog shops’ to sell liquor illegally afterhours (eventually expanding into drug peddling as well), and Tilly Devine created Sydney’s largest brothel system. These Queens of the Underworld hated each other, and their gangs were constantly at each other’s throats (literally) using their weapon of choice: the cheap but deadly razor. Their gangland-style feuds became known as the Razor Wars. Eventually the tax man caught up with the ladies and ended their wicked reigns in ‘The Cross.’

The once-endangered Victoria Street

Knowledgeable Valentino shared other stories of murder and mayhem as we strolled along lovely Victoria Street, a street whose charms were almost destroyed by a crime boss named Abe Saffron aka ‘Mr. Sin.’ Abe planned to bulldoze the marvelous old Victorian homes on this street and make a fortune putting up ugly high rise buildings. However, he didn’t count on the vocal opposition of a local journalist named Juanita Nielsen.

One day, Juanita went to a meeting at the Carousel Club (which just happened to be in the same building as one of Abe’s nightclubs), and she was never seen again. The case is still unsolved and remains one of Australia’s most famous missing person cases. After Juanita’s disappearance, the public outcry prevented Abe’s demolition plans, and Victoria Street remains a graceful gem lined with backpacker places. However Victoria Street has not totally changed her stripes – Valentino pointed to a pretty house called ‘The Golden Apple’ and told us it’s a famous brothel.

The Bourbon, formerly known as the Carousel Club

Next we headed for the heart of the action along Darlinghurst Road, known as ‘The Golden Mile.’ Despite being in the red light district, our walk took us past gentrified private homes and even a convent school for girls (talk about a diverse neighborhood!). Soon alluring neon signs touted the names of nightclubs like Bada Bing, Porky’s, and The Bourbon which was formerly known as the Carousel Club, the place where Juanita Nielsen was last seen alive.

Nightclubs along "The Golden Mile"

The crime boss tradition still continues, and the current ‘King of the Cross’ is John Ibrahim who reputedly owns 18 venues in the neighborhood. However, he denies any involvement and leaves no paper trail which has earned him the nickname ‘Mr. Teflon.’ In some ways, ‘The Cross’ has cleaned up its act with police corruption a thing of the past, legalized prostitution, and a Legal Injecting Room offering a clean environment for drug users. But after the sun goes down, party-hearty crowds still throng the streets around the landmark El Alamein Fountain, and scandalous stories, both new and old, are just waiting to be told.

The El Alamein Fountain




- Anne Supsic