Fingers crossed you would have already seen my first excursion post for Tivoli (Villa D'este), if not then please do take a look so that this post can make a little more sense to you.
After completing our tour at Villa D'Este at around 4pm we hurried and bought an autos biglietto (aka bus Ticket) from a small tobacco store opposite Villa D'Este (for around €2) to Hadrian's Villa or Villa Adriana as the Italian refer to it. The bus arrives at the stop roughly every 30 minutes and is blue and white coloured, unfortunately I can't remember the number However the journey was only 30 minutes, so in total around 1hr 30 away from Roma.
Although we arrived just minutes before the ticket office closing time we managed to purchase our tickets for entry which were around €4 with a student card. Once we walked through the gates we just knew we arrived at the perfect time - sunset. Everything looked and felt magical as you'll see from the Photos.
Bellow you can see My father and Issra strolling through the grounds. Everything is groomed to perfection here and the beauty of the place is phenomenal. If you have been to Rome and were amazed by the Roman Forum then this place is for you.
As soon as I saw photos online I fell in love and I knew it was just something we had to witness for ourselves. Villa Adriana is an exceptional complex of classical buildings created in the 2nd century A.D. by the Roman emperor Hadrian. It combines the best elements of the architectural heritage of Egypt, Greece and Rome in the form of an 'ideal city'.
The sheer scale is beyond phenomenal.
These two cheeky monkeys, My dad and sister Issra, these two were great company. My dad because he's a carpenter so he full appreciates the builds and structures of the Villa and my sister because of her banter... and her lacking photography skills that we had so much fun laughing at. Overtime she so much as breathed heavily I would huff and tut her just for the laughs. Issra was also the food smuggler, thats why her back pack was so huge, because it was filled with snacks for the day... Haha.
Bellow is the last area we visited of Villa Adriana before we heard an Italian woman shouting her head off. As we got down and were walking across towards the exit we realised she was shouting at us to leave and she was furious. Haha it was hilarious because she didn't speak a word of English.
Then there is the Canopus, a long water basin embellished with columns and statues that culminate in a temple topped by an umbrella dome - we climbed up to this to take this photograph.
Inside the Villa complex, you can see the Poecile, a huge garden surrounded by an arcade with a swimming pool. This area was built so that one could take walks whether it was winter or summer.
The photo above was photographed inside the 'Building with fishpond'. The mountains surrounding Villa Adriana really put into perspective why Emperor Hadrian decided to reside here. Simply magnificent.
This is the Building with three exedras built by the Emperor Hadrian, starting from 117 A.D.. Villa Adriana is the most extensive ancient roman villa, covering an area of at least 80 hectares, more or less the size of Pompeii - massive.
Tips:
- Wear comfortable shoes, you will be walking for at the very least two hours to cover the bare minimum of the villa, it is huge.
- As always with Europe I recommend taking water with you, especially here in Villa Adriana, its a bit more rural than any other attraction we have been to and there aren't fountains around.
- Check the bus times to Tivoli on arrival to Villa Adriana, they are few and far between and the last thing you want to do is miss the bus.
No comments:
Post a Comment