Category Archives: History

Historical background of a location we visit.

Hiking the Alps and Visiting a Medieval Village

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Continued from yesterday”¦ As we trudged up, we passed through a clearing with two small buildings surrounded by a grassy field. They were well maintained and looked like they were actively used as vacation houses. Christi was amazed that anyone would want to be in such a remote place, with such a long hike down to the closest village. And there wasn’t much of a village there, for that matter. To get to the nearest grocery store was a fairly long drive. Antonio explained that in the olden times, these were summer houses. One building was for the people, the other(s) for the cows and goats. Farmers would bring their livestock up for the summer to graze in the cleared fields. The farmers made cheese and other goods, then would go to their winter homes lower down on the mountain.

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We continued upwards through the forest, and passing through two or three more of these cleared areas. Each clearing had two or three small buildings in the traditional style with a circle of grassy fields around them. They were all abandoned, which Christi thought was no surprise. They were too high up and too isolated to be practical. We stopped for lunch in a shady spot in the forest.

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After lunch, we continued up and came to Continue reading →

Exploring Monaco

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Monaco has the biggest per capita police force in the entire world. There are closed circuit cameras everywhere. The entire city is closely monitored. This made Christi worried as we got dressed. With so many closed circuit cameras, there was absolutely no way to hide from the fashion police, a division that must surely exist here. We were both wearing pants purchased before we set off on our journey and they were way out of style now. Our shoes are practical camping kind of shoes, always totally out of fashion. Going out was risky. We could very well be arrested and deported for our clothing. But we’re risk takers.

We were delighted to see that one of the restaurants on the boardwalk served breakfast. Praise the Lord! We love going out to breakfast, and we hadn’t expected to see breakfast here. When we got our meal, we were sad to see that breakfast consisted of one soft boiled egg, toast, and a 16 ounce cup of tea, all for only $11.00 USD. So, yes, in this case, Monaco has lived up to its reputation for ridiculously expensive restaurants. And tax in restaurants here is 20%, which can add up fast.

After breakfast, we headed over to the historic district to do some sightseeing.
We couldn’t believe how nice the weather was. It was bright and sunny with no clouds in the sky. It was warm, but not hot. Talk about a nice change of pace from cold, rainy and gloomy Rome. We walked southeast down the boardwalk towards the mouth of the bay. At the end of the boardwalk, there is a set of stairs that takes you into what looks to be an old fortress. The round area on the right is now used as a theater.

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The fortress is built on a sheer cliff, and these days is Continue reading →

History of Monaco

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Monaco is only 1.95 square kilometers, making it the second smallest country in the world after Vatican City. And 20% of that land is man made land produced in the 1960’s. Monaco has a population of 32,000, but only 7,800 are actually Monegasque citizens (by birth or marriage). Monaco is surrounded on three sides by France, and the fourth side is water. It is on the French Riviera, close to the Italian border and to the Alps. Monaco has a natural harbor that is well sheltered, and on the west side of the bay is an enormous rock that made an excellent natural fortress from which to defend the harbor. Combined with overall good weather, this was always an attractive location to control.

There is scientific evidence that Continue reading →

Castel Sant’Angelo

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Continued from yesterday”¦ When it looked like the rain had slowed down, we ventured out and caught the bus. It turns out we caught the right bus, but going the wrong direction. Oops. We decided to ride it out, knowing that sooner or later it would get us to the Castel. This was not a good of an idea as we originally thought, since it took us way out of downtown. At least we were warm, out of the rain and got to see more of the city than we could on foot. Rome has a lot of nice looking churches, buildings, and sculptures all over the city. After an hour, the bus turned around. Hmmm”¦ it would be at least an hour back to the Castel. We saw Continue reading →

The Pantheon and The Vittoriano

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This morning it was bitter cold, overcast, and windy, with on and off rain. We debated going into Rome, kind of afraid to leave Kosmos in the heavy wind. We decided we were being paranoid, though, and went.

The first thing on today’s list of sites to see was the Pantheon. We exited the Colosseum Metro station to see our connecting bus leaving. Darn. It was really cold and had started raining again, so we took shelter in a nearby café for some hot food and beverages to warm us up. After lunch, we caught a bus that dropped us a few blocks away from the Pantheon. Fortunately, we didn’t have to stand in the rain long.

On the walk over, we passed a statue of an obelisk strapped to the back of an elephant, quite similar to the one that we had seen in Catania. We are pretty sure that the obelisk in Catania isn’t a real Egyptian artifact. It just didn’t have that real Egyptian look to it. However, in passing by this statue, it was immediately evident to us that the obelisk had been pilfered from Thebes (Luxor), Egypt. It is made of the marble that is dominant in most of the temples in Thebes we saw, and it is inscribed with hieroglyphics, looking incredibly similar to the obelisks we had seen in Thebes. We checked Lonely Planet, and, sure enough, it is a real Egyptian obelisk dating from the 6th century BC. The statue was designed by famed sculptor Bernini.

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We can’t remember if Continue reading →