October heat and experiencing Lazio's countryside

Greetings from a warm Roman October!

So its nearly the half way of October. For me it means that after two weeks I will be at the half way of my exchange. Last week I was mainly trying to relax and cure myself from the long and gritty flu and cough I have had already for almost three weeks. I have to admit that the antibiotics medication has finally paid off and I feel very well now. Apart from a heavy load of studying and spending my time at the university, I have managed to organize a trip to Tivoli where we visited two UNESCO World Heritage sites, Villa Adriana and Villa d’Este. The town itself was very idyllic and traditional Italian small town on a hill – with full of tourists by the way. Villa d’Este was situated in the center of the town and it was very impressive, particularly its garden with numerous fountains and statues, if you are visiting Rome I warmly recommend this site for everyone.

Villa Adriana situated a little further from Tivoli on the way towards Rome. The name of the Villa derives from Roman emperor Hadrian who lived in the second century AD. The villa at that time was the emperor’s countryside residence with huge baths and wide ponds surrounded by numerous statues. It composed mostly of ruins and ponds but the magnitude of the ruins clearly showed that it had been a huge complex almost 2000 years ago. Travel to Tivoli and to the surroundings required a little bit of patience and planning but eventually we managed to see astonishing views and marvellous sights. 

For the first time I also managed to see Saint Peter's cathedral lighted up in the dark October evening, and I was pretty dazzled by that appearance. During all this sightseeing I managed to do little studying as well and even a presentation about the German legal system. 

 

All that said, next weekend I am off to Firenze (I prefer to call it that apart from Florence), so some update about that trip next week!

Ci vediamo!