Catacombs

 We had a rather slow start for the day.  We opted out of going to a morning mass and hung around the apartment.  Our big event of the day was to visit the catacombs of Priscilla operated by the Benedictine sisters.  On a tip from Rick Steves, this set of catacombs is the most historical and less commercial than the larger catacombs.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in the cool tunnels and learned a lot about the early christians in Rome.  Unfortunately, no photos allowed. The 8 miles of tunnel held 44,000 tombs.  The frescos date back to the early third century and provide an enlightened snap shot of the theology and practices of these early Roman Christians.  We also went to one of the oldest churches, St. Mary Major Basilica, which was packed with the year of jubilee faithful passing through the Porta Santa door, (one of four holy doors open once every 25 years). We entered as evening mass was in progress.  We ended the day with sidewalk dinner.

The Vatican

The whole gang got together finally for a tour in Vatican City.  The area was very crowded, even our tour guide was surprised by how crowded it was.  After a couple of hours meandering through the museum, past sculptures and paintings galore, we finally made it into to the sardine can of the Sistine Chapel.  It was nice to finally experience this iconic site, but it was a little hard to fully appreciate it among the tight conditions. Unfortunately, there are is no photographing, so we absorbed as much as we could 30 minutes. We were not allowed into St. Peter's Basilica during the tour because of a special event; so we rested up at the cafeteria before having to go outside the Vatican and get in an entering crowd to see the St. Peter's.  But the basilica did not disappoint.  Its grandeur of size and decoration dwarf the many churches we have seen.  After the Vatican, we took the subway over to the Spanish Steps area and had dinner and gelato before splitting up for our separate accommodations.

Ancient Rome

Today we joined the thousands of tourists absorbing the ruins of ancient Rome: the Colosseum and the Roman Forum.  We were joined by John and Cyndee Edgecomb, who arrived from a few days in London.  Unfortunately, we lost them soon after we got into the Colosseum.  Getting into the Colosseum didn't take long once we got our tickets from the 'tour guide' which included a downloaded audio tour.  The Colosseum was quite crowded, but it didn't restrict our movement.  We quickly abandon the audio tour because it was difficult to coordinate with our locations, and boomers don't do well with air pods.  The architecture and history of the structure is amazing, though it was hard to learn of the human cruelty that was celebrated so many years ago.  It was pretty hot and we kept moving from shade to shade.  After a couple hours, we were exhausted and hungry so we found a pizza shop and refueled for the afternoon.  Back on the tour, we went through the Roman Forum area and all of its ruins.  Exhausted from the heat, we headed back to the apartment a little earlier and took a nap before going back to our neighborhood restaurant.

Rome - Heart of the City

 After a much needed night of sleep, we headed out.  Stopped at a pastry shop for huge croissants.  Catching a bus was a little challenging as there is a strike and only limited service.  We chose to do a Rick Steves self guided walking tour of the 'heart of the city'.  Passing the colosseum by bus we got a glimpse of the throngs of fellow tourists who will share the streets of the 'eternal city'.  Our walk started at a street market in Campo de' Fiori where Esther and Camie found a linen clothes shop and purchased some skirts and a dress.  We walked by a lot of obelisks, piazzas and churches, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain with its crazy crowd, and finally the Spanish Steps.  We hung around the Spanish Steps for a couple of hours, finding dinner and watching the sunset over the city.  A first ride on the metro subway brought us exhausted back to the apartment.  Our casualties of the day were Camie's swollen ankles and Esther's sandal blisters.

All roads lead to Rome

 The. long anticipated trip has arrived.  The Gillards, Edgecombs, Trostads and Bulthuis' have been planning this trip for over a year.  We left Southworth with Jim and Camie on the morning fast ferry.  We took the light rail from Pioneer Square and checked in to our Turkish Air flight to Istanbul.  All went smoothly and we appreciated the great amenities and service of Turkish Air.  It was a long 12 hour flight to Istanbul; but the two meals (beef stew and scrambled eggs), along with watching the movie 'Penguin Lessons' made the trip as pleasant as possible.  A Russian lady sat next to Esther and talked her ear off.   The day went fast as we flew against time.  Our layover in Istanbul went very smoothly and we were delighted to get another meal on our short flight to Rome.  We had a little angst waiting for Jim and Camie's baggage to show up.  I was able to buy my SIM card immediately and we caught the express train to Rome terminal.  Catching a bus to our apartment was a little more confusing; but after a half hour wait and a crowded bus, we arrived at out apartment area.  Checking in was by phone with lots of key codes for lock boxes which our 'host' walked us through.  After settling in for a while, we took a stroll and ate dinner at a recommended restaurant which was excellent.  Meatballs with white cream and a strange glob of chard filled our waiting stomachs and prepared us for a good night of needed sleep.

Costa Rica - the southern Pacific coast

 After all of our scurrying around the country, we decided that we needed to slow down and relax in this tropical environment before heading home.  We chose the small coastal communities of Domincal and Uvita.  Dominical is a laid back hippy village with dreadlocked surfers and craft vendors lining the dirt beach road.  But it is also attracting the rich expatriate crowd who build luxurious villas on the hillside above.  It was in one of these amazing villas that we found ourselves relaxing for two nights; thanks to a last minute booking.com steal.  We couldn’t get enough of the surroundings; the jungle lined crescent beach and the constant rhythm of cresting waves.  It was a treat to make our own breakfasts in such an amazing setting.

We hated to leave the villa, but we moved down the road a few miles to the town of Uvita which borders Marino Ballenas Park and hosts a sizable expatriate population with its amenities.  It is still relatively laid back compared to some of the big beach towns along the coast.  We stayed in a very nice boutique hotel owned by a couple who just moved from Toronto.  We were the only guests for two nights and we ended up having some long conversations with our very kind hosts.  We took a couple of trips to the whale’s tail; one at high tide and one at low tide.  It is a bit of a surreal experience to stand in the surf as waves come at you from both sides.  The tail is composed of a rocky shelf met with crashing waves and tide pools.  Staying in an expat community enabled us to enjoy Thai food and an authentic Italian pizzeria with Papa working the earthen wood fire oven.  We even got to experience a tropical downpour one evening.  It was with mixed emotions that we made our way north to Liberia on our last day; sorry to say goodbye to the beautiful Costa Rican country but a little anxious to get home.

Volcanoes, cloud forests and jungle

 

It was a long, slow, winding drive to La Fortuna; but we enjoyed every bit of it.  Seeing the beautiful countryside, towns and local Costa Ricans doing life is an adventure in itself.  The last couple of hours of the drive were along the shores of Lake Arenal with views of the cloud shrouded volcano Arenal.  Before checking into our hotel, we got the details from the guide company for our overnight trek across the mountains.  The town of La Fortuna is the tourist hub of Costa Rica with a much larger European presence than the Pacific beaches.  Our hotel had a nice view of the volcano.  

We left on our two day hike around noon with our guide Franklin who had lived alone in  the mountains for ten years.  We weren’t sure about this stout older man in knee high white rubber boots, but he proved to be a knowledgeable mountain stud. So off we went with 2 other Americans 3 Germans and 1 French woman on a 20km hike through the mountains with an overnight stop in a rustic mountain shelter.  It wasn’t long before we forded a small river and then started the 3000 ft. climb through tropical forest.  Our Camino legs have gone rusty, and we lagged a little behind the younger crowd.  Our guide filled us in with forest information: natural insect repellent, edible termites and plants.  The shelter was even more rustic than we envisioned; wooden bunks with thin foam and old soiled sleeping bags and pillows.  We even had a huge hole in the floor with bare earth and who knows what else lurking underneath the shelter.  The candlelight dinner was cooked on a traditional wood stove by our 75 year old host.  His two dogs kept the wild animals at bay all night long with barking.  Of the ten hours that we laid on our hard bunk, we maybe got four hours of sleep.  The next morning we absorbed the amazing view of volcano and surrounding mountains and tanked up on beans, rice and eggs for some more hiking.  The camaraderie with the others reminded of nights on the Camino.  The rest of the hike took us to ridges and open meadows with fantastic views and into the cloud forest of Monteverde and the town of Santa Elena. The hardest part of the trip was the 4 hour impossibly bumpy van ride back to La Fortuna.

The next morning, before leaving the area, we took a hike through a forested park with swinging bridges.  We enjoyed the leisurely stroll through the amazing forest.  Then we drove six hours through the highlands and down the southern coast to the famed Manuel Antonio National Park.  Getting a mandatory online ticket to a guided tour proved quite taxing.  With much anticipation we entered the park which made TSA entry look like a breeze.  However, the experience was very disappointing.  Throngs of tourist bumping into each other, trying to look through their guides telescope at a tiny lizard or camouflaged bird soon got old.  We did see a few monkeys and some balls of fur real high in the trees that were supposed to be sloths.  The picturesque twin beaches were packed with people and the only eating was allowed in a large cage.  For the record, we don’t recommend Manuel Antonio Park; it is overhyped.