san luca

on wednesday my friend nikolas came up from florence to visit me here in bologna. bologna is pretty small so we mostly just walked around and then we decided to take the hike up to the basilica della madonna di san luca, or.. just san luca for short. when i took italian last fall, i did a report on bologna so i've known about this walk for a while and wanted to walk up when i visited in february but didn't have enough time.

the trail up to the church is a 30-40 minutes walk through 666 porticos, uphill and with many steps. it was quite the work out just walking but once in a while we'd get passed by someone who was actually working out (running, speed walking, etc). i think they were pretty dedicated to the bella figura to be running up the porticos in 89 degree heat.

the porticos felt endless. every time we thought we saw the end of the porticos, we'd turn the corner and see another long stretch of porticos before us. but, we FINALLY made it. the little church was lonely and beautiful, and we felt triumphant.

Catching Up (Delphi)

Delphi

I have something to confess. I didn't take pictures of my feet in every city, like I thought I did. And I'm really regretting it now. But here's a substitute photo.

Delphi was my absolute favorite site. I also didn't take as many photos as I wished I had, so I also regret that. This little city is in the middle of mountains or giant hills or something, so it's all stairs. Each street is one level, and to get to the next street over you have to go up or down a flight. Needless to say, my knee hurt a lot. And, as I found myself saying frequently, "Who needs a Stairmaster when you have Delphi." Anyway, here is Delphi at night. These pretty little lights were everywhere.

Here is the beautiful site. Everything is up hill, but it was so worth it.

Justine, cute as always.

I think this is the Treasury of Apollo.

I missed it on our quiz.

THE ORACLE OF APOLLO.

(haha sorry for the caps, it was a big highlight being there).

On our way to the museum, Jamie found this little guy on her foot.

The famous kouros brothers (please don't ask me their names).

They were on their way to the festival of Dionysus but their cart broke down. Their mother really wanted to go but couldn't walk because she was sick. The brothers then carted their mother over to the festival. Later, the mother went to the temple to give thanks and asked how to make her sons die the happiest men alive. The next morning they were found, like this, dead but immortalized in stone. That day was their happiest because they served their mother and the gods. (I think that's how the story goes).

Me and the view from Delphi.

Greek risotto. Delicious.

Beautiful little church.

The day before, when we went to Delphi we couldn't go to the Temple of Athena because they were doing construction. I really wanted to see it, so the morning that our bus was leaving, I woke up really early and walked down to see it myself. It was a hike, but it was worth it.

I love you, Delphi.