Author: ashingcon

It takes some time to write these blogs, so I am writing the Roman section after a visit to Rome. We had a great visit to Rome seeing some major sites we haven’t seen before. I must say I was stuck by the lack of beautiful art in Rome as compared to Ostia antica, Herculaneum, France, Sicily and yes Spain. We did not see one colorful mosaic in Rome; it appears all the subsequent inhabitants knew about the beautiful Roman buildings and plundered them.

I now search for Roman ruins wherever we go to an area the Romans have colonized. Spain being a major province of Rome has wonderful remains. My research returned two villas that were in the vicinity of where we were going plus a town. There were other sites, especially Merida, that were out of the way.

The sites we saw were:                                                                                                                                                                                   

  1. The city of Italica – just outside of Seville

  2. Villa romana de Noheda – near Cuenca

  3. Villa romana La Olmeda – near Saldaña

1.Italica

Italica is a 20 minute drive north of Seville. It was founded in 206BC by Roman general Scipio as a colony for his Italic veterans. It was the first Roman settlement in Spain. It was the birthplace of 2 important emperors Trajan and Hadrian. The site is definitely worth seeing with a unique amphitheatre and some lovely mosaics. It is a real shame that it doesn’t get the love like Olmeda. At least cover them to prevent sun and rain erosion.

The first structure one sees is the amphitheatre but its confusing at first because it just looks like a large rock formation. Once you get inside you can see the amphitheatre has been built into an existing rock formation, very unique. It seated 25,000 people, about half the size of the Colosseum.

I love getting glimpses of Roman life through the archeological remains. This next gallery shows an army latrine. You can see the communal toilet seats with spots for 4 people. What no longer exists is the stick with a sponge on the end that sat in a bucket, that was used in lieu of toilet paper. The historians peg this as army because of the mosaic in the latrine. I guess the joke 2000 years ago was that a small person like a pygmy would have a large penis.

The building ruins and mosaics are great, better than anything in Rome. The bird mosaic is world class.  Apparently it only had 8000 inhabitants. However considering the size of its amphitheater it must have attracted people from the surrounding area. There is also a theater that was located a short distance from the main site.

2. Villa romana de Noheda

This was a disappointment. The Roman villa in Sicily was our first Roman villa and it was spectacular, setting the standard by which all other villas are measured. This looks like its still being uncovered for one thing. The structure covering the site is pretty crude. There is no visitor center, you meet some lady in a dirt parking lot with your tickets purchased online. There is no English provided on the tour. The mosaics were in rough shape. I am glad we stopped in Cuenca; it broke up a long drive, the town with its hanging houses was great and so was the hotel. I would recommend skipping Noheda.

3. Villa romana La Olmeda

Yes Yes Yes this is what we wanted. It compared very well to Sicily. This is a world class museum, with a significant structure built over top of the villa’s remains. There were great mosaics and a full bath. The story of the villa is very interesting. Apparently as Rome started to decline in the 3^rd and 4th century AD their control over their provinces started to wane. So in Spain ruling/commercial hubs started to emerge and the villas were where these “magnates” ruled from. I stole the term magnate from Byzantine history, but it works here perfectly. Initially the villa would have been much more modest and was expanded in stages from the 1^st to the 3^rd century AD as its wealth and importance grew.

As I mentioned in the Trip Blog, archeological museums where the Romans happened to be settling are a treasure trove of information and artifacts. Here are some of the artifacts from the archeological museum in Madrid.

This was our 3^rd trip to Spain. So why go back? The answer is there is just so much to see. We hit some new areas and in places we had visited previously we found other things of interest to us. For example the first 2 times I was not into Roman history, so this time in Sevilla we went out to Italica, a Roman city. There were three main objectives that I had and our friends had one. My three were:

1. New Wine Areas – mainly Ribera del Duero and Toro, with a hint of Jumilla
2. Romans – we visited 2 villas
3. Cultural Event – the Feria de Caballo in Jerez was the event we planned our trip around

Our friends, Dave and Corrie, had a cousin that moved to Spain so Corrie wanted to visit with them in Hondon de las Nieves located in Alicante province.

1. Madrid

Madrid is where you fly into. Being the capital you can find influences from all over Spain; the most important for us is the food. Paella is everywhere although it originates in Valencia. We were able to sample some pintxos, crostinis from the Basque country.

The ladies had to try sangria when we hit the rooftop bar at El Corte Inglés. They kept trying sangrias for the rest of the trip but none bested this first one. I tried it later and that drink would hold up on any cocktail menu. The other must stop for us is San Gines a chocolate and churro shop that has been around since 1894. The chocolate is thick and dark and Spanish churros are like the Mexican ones but without the cinnamon sugar. You don’t need the sugar when you have chocolate.

We took a day trip out to Toledo. I would suggest you do more research and find a better tour than VTP Tours on Get your Guide . It was basically transportation (big bus) out to Toledo. You couldn’t hear the guide.

B. Seville

This is still one of my favourite cities in Spain. It has an energy in the air; for example we saw several guys walking down the street playing guitars, some singing. We also stumbled upon the gala for the next Netflix Money Heist series at Las Setas. Las Setas de Sevilla is a sculpture that resembles giant mushrooms: Setas means mushrooms in Spanish that is why it is known by its nickname. We had tickets to walk on the Setas and almost didn’t make our reservation due to the barricades set up for the gala. It was pretty neat being able to watch the celebrities walk the red carpet from above. We actually saw a few getting on the train in Madrid.

The Alcazar is the premier site but we had seen it so we went out to Itálica. Itálica is a former Roman city of some renown. It was the birthplace of Roman emperors Trajan and Hadrian, and possibly Theodosius. It was astounding that such beautiful mosaics are just sitting out in the open. Most sites protect their mosaics from the sun. The guide said there was no interest in these Roman ruins until Game of Thrones. The Roman amphitheater of Itálica served as the Dragonpit of King’s Landing in Seasons 7 and 8. If you enjoy Roman ruins including some mosaics check out the more in-depth discussion in the Roman section.

The second day we all went out to Cordoba. The premier site here is the Mesquita which we had seen, so our friends went there. We went out to the Medina Azahara. It is pretty much a ruin, so not visually spectacular. I didn’t realize this was the headquarters of the Umayyad caliphate, which I had heard about on the History of Byzantium. Apparently the caliphate was initially established in Syria but were defeated by the  Abbasids in 750, the Umayyads then moved their headquarters to Cordoba.

The other highlight in Sevilla is Flamenco. There are many venues from small and intimate (which we saw last visit) to theater style, which is what we did this time. There are also dinner shows, but I figured we should eat at establishments designed for eating (i.e. Restaurants) and watch Flamenco at a place designed for dancing. In addition to watching these artists/athletes dance there is the music, the singers and the guitar player.

C. Jerez de la Frontera

On our previous trip we had seen some ladies dressed up fancy in Cordoba. We had also seen all the dress and fabric stores in Sevilla. I don’t recall exactly where we heard about the Feria de Abril, but it supposedly had large tents that you party in and everyone dresses up. So when we were in Columbia we met a couple at dinner from Jerez. We told them we were planning this Spain trip and thinking of going to the Sevilla festival. They suggested we go to their festival instead because it is more intimate and friendly; it is called La Feria de la Caballo – or Festival of the horse. We are so glad we listened to them. We wondered into many tents and were never turned away. The festival is exactly what I was looking for. People, primarily the ladies, were dressed up all around town. Most were probably coming or going from the fair grounds but we saw a group eating at a restaurant.  

Although none of us are horse lovers, we do appreciate their power and grace. We took in a couple of horse activities. We saw a performance at the Royal Andalusian Riding School which was pretty impressive. We also took a carriage ride around the fair grounds. The locals were doing it too, so don’t judge.

There wasn’t much music on the grounds but each casita had food and drinks. The food was good, not great.

Jerez is Sherry country so we were drinking some nicely chilled Fino sherry and Croft Twist (a sparking Fino sherry).

Speaking of Sherry, the first thing we did when we got to town was to go on a sherry tour. This was a great learning experience. We were able to try 4 different sherries. First though we need to ask what is Sherry?

Sherry is a fortified wine, meaning alcohol is added during the process. Fino is fermented dry then aged with a layer of yeast on top to prevent spoiling. This yeast provides a bready note to the Fino. I found it paired well with food. 2^nd The third one we tried was the Amontillado which is a Fino that has its yeast layer removed this allows the sherry to oxidize resulting in nutty and dried fruit flavours. The last one we tried was a cream. A cream is a sherry, typically a Fino, that is sweetened. …….winery used Px to sweeten the wine. Px is the abbreviation for Pedro Ximinez a very sweet and delicious dessert wine. I thought it was odd they didn’t produce their own Px, they buy it from another winery. Yes sherry producers call themselves wineries.

D. Cadiz

This was a short visit because we decided to add in Ronda at the last minute so Cadiz got the short shift.

Cadiz is a nice city but not a lot to do, so one full day was fine. Our first day in town was nearly a full day because the drive from Jerez to Cadiz is only half an hour. I was able to hunt down a local guide [name] and the tour was great. She told us about the history of the buildings and town and pointed out some unique features. Many buildings have towers built on top of them; this is where merchants could see the ships returning from the New World. The ships would signal what they were hauling, and the merchant would signal his interest and that was the start of the transaction. The other fun fact is Cadiz was pretty strategic so there were lots of naval battles. There were so many cannons lying around, the town installed them on street corners to protect the buildings from drivers who turn too tight – steel doesn’t give like plaster.

A local tapas dish that is well known and delicious is the Tortilla de Camarone. It is baby shrimp in a thin batter that is fried. Although they originate here, we did have a few in Jerez (only 30min from the ocean).

E. Ronda

On the way to Ronda we stopped in Arcos de la Frontera, one of the white villages. Rick Steves rates Arcos a 3 and Ronda a 2, I would switch those around. Arcos was nice but no nicer than any other town we were in. Ronda is so much more dramatic.

The bridge over the gorge is famous I guess. I think it shows up in pop culture today. I know the Disney movie Ferdinand used Ronda as its setting. Dave had seen images of the bridge and really wanted to see it. We had been there before but the hike down the valley has been modified. A path was built to take you to a viewing area where you can see the water gushing out from the gorge. It costs a few Euros, but it is a neat view, I love waterfalls so it was worth it.

Next we toured the bull ring. Even though nobody had any interest in actually watching a fight, the history and cultural significance makes the visit worthwhile. The museum is done very well, with lots of history and artifacts.

 We wanted to go to Tragata for dinner which we had been to before. It appears the owner, Benito Gómez, now has a two Michelin star restaurant in town, so you get the same quality just less fancy at Tragata. So everyone else had this figured out and made reservations or got there early. Brenda loves pizza so we dropped into Cerveceria la Giralda. It was a proper pie, no gimmicks, good chewy crust. They have no wine menu, but they do have one local red wine she promised we would love, and she was right.

F. Granada

On the way to Granada we made a quick stop at the Dolmens of Antequera. This is a megalithic monument (so is Stonehenge) built during the Neolithic and Bronze Age. The video in the interpretive centre shows how they were constructed. This is an example of the type of non touristy site you can visit in Spain. When I was planning the trip I was constantly bumping into interesting sites along our route. You would never plan a trip around them but they do add some extra spice to the touring.

Like Ronda we have visited Granada before but wanted Dave and Corrie to see the Alhambra. Instead Brenda and I relaxed in an Arab spa. I use Calm to help with sleep and they have a story about this spa; the stories kind of work like brainwashing, so we had this strong desire to visit it. The spa is called Hamman Al Andulus and is beautiful inside. I’ve only been to a Nordic spa and similarly they have a hot pool, a warm pool and a cold plunge(yikes!). The architecture and tiles set the tone. The endless tea was lovely. We also booked a half hour massage; I asked for hard and got it in spades, Brenda asked for relaxing and when it was done she asked if she had to leave.

We had two lovely meals, well 3 actually. The first was a Moroccan dinner in the arab section of town, Moroccan food is one of the world’s great cuisines and this section of Granada has over a dozen restaurants.

The restaurant we went to was called Las Palmeras. The second meal was at a Carmen, these are grand houses in Granda with a view that have been turned into primarily restaurants. The only one we were able to make a reservation at, Carmen San Miguel, turned out not to have a view of the Alhambra but it did have a great view of the Sierra Nevada mountains (fun fact: Sierra means serrated and Nevada means with snow, and sure enough the mountains were snow topped). We got the best seats in the house and the food and wine were great. Dave and Corrie couldn’t wait to try Paella and they got a good one with table-side final prep. The last place I’ll mention was the breakfast spot at our hotel Shine. It was nice to have an eggs benedict, as most of our breakfasts were Spanish. A very common breakfast in Spain is a piece of toast that you top with olive oil, grated tomato pulp and a slice of Jamon (ham),I miss it now. Bigger hotels had buffets.

G. Hondon de las Nieves

This was our vacation from the vacation. It’s nice to have one of these when travelling, but with so much to see and do one often skips it. As mentioned above Corrie’s cousin and wife lived here; to be specific it was an acreage a couple of miles out of town. We didn’t sit around all day and chat, we did some touring. I love the fact that in Europe, Spain for sure, there is always something interesting nearby. We were in the middle of nowhere and within a half hour to an hour there was the sea, 2 wine regions, and many towns.

The set-up was great with a 2 bedroom casita for our group, a beer fridge just outside and an electric juicer. You do not get any fresher orange juice than walking out your front door, picking 10 oranges and then juicing them – every single morning! There was also a large outside table where we sat and ate and drank and visited.

The first day was vacation mode. We did go into town to pick-up some ingredients for the dinner I planned on making the next night. There is a winery in town, Bodegas Cerda, that you see when you enter, so we tried a flight. This is not a good winery. A world class winery is located where the grapes grow, and they typically have a designation from that area. This winery was making wine from all different regions in Spain. The lack of focus really showed in their uninspiring wines. The afternoon was spent swimming and lounging around. Spent the evening eating, drinking and visiting.

Day 2 was a touring day I had planned from home. The highlight was the olive oil tasting we did at Almazra deortegas. I especially liked their mushroom flavoured finishing oil. We went to a cheese factory, that google indicated had a store. There was no store, just the factory. A worker ended up selling us a piece of cheese. And the real bust was the wine tour that I thought had been booked. NOTE to self and you the reader, always get a confirmation of the tour; sometimes you have a conversation indicating what you want and thinking we are on the same page, and then there is nothing when you get there because it was not confirmed. I did want to get some wine for dinner so we stopped at Barahonda (available in Alberta) and picked up a bottle of Syrah. Tours only offered at 11 in the morning. The Spanish cassoulet I made that evening turned out great thanks to the fantastic chorizo we picked up at the butcher shop in town.

Day 3 we went into Alicante, located on the Mediterranean, and did a tour Corrie’s cousin recommended. After parking we walked by the city beach which was just hopping and apparently bathing tops are optional. We then took an elevator up to the castle. Such a spectacular view from there. We stopped in the city market to pick up some food for our tapas meal that night. We then stopped for lunch at “30 y Tantos” and had this warm bread with olive oil that was so comforting.

Day 4 we headed into Elche to see the palm trees – they were fine but Alicante had some too, I would skip this trip. We decided to have a snack (croquette) and a beer. I haven’t explained croquettes yet; they are a breaded and fried cigars of creaminess and goodness. They originated in France and then became popular in Spain. My experience with Spanish food is they excel at taking a dish from France or Italy and riffing on it and often making it better. Croquettes are on virtually every tapas menu; our favorites were jamon (ham) and mushrooms. That evening we went to a very nice Spanish restaurant run by Dutch people called Bar Mucho.

In summary everyone enjoyed their vacation from the vacation. A large part because of Monique, Corrie’s cousins wife. She is quite an impressive lady, having run a B&B operation in Amsterdam, scouted out and bought the house in Spain. Her hospitality was exceptional and Art always had a cold beer for us. So for you the reader, Alicante is a lovely city and I would suggest you base yourself here and then go for a wine (Jumilla and Yecla are about an hour away) and olive oil tour one or two days.

H. Valencia

Valencia was the biggest surprise of the trip. There is so much to see here. Knowing this was a big city and it being our first time I booked a city tour. Looking at the tours I concluded a bike tour was the best option to get a glimpse of everything. The Bike Guy VLC is a Brit who has been in Valencia for 10 years. He introduced us to so many sightseeing options, in the old town, it would have taken another 4 days to see it all. We rode out to the beach which was huge; we just stopped for a drink. The main reason for going a bike tour was to get out to the Plaza of Arts and Sciences. This is an architectural wonder by Santiago Calatrava (same guy as Calgary’s peace bridge). You have probably seen it in a movie, it makes an appearance in Andor. Our ride back was wonderful as it was along a greenway/park.

We arrived the afternoon before and did some exploring; it’s a beautiful city. For dinner we had to have Paella now that we are in the home of this famous dish. Well actually the home is a few miles south, but more on that later. There are multiple versions of the dish now, branching out from the original Chicken, Rabbit and Cockles (a bivalve similar to a clam but generally tastes sweeter and more pronounced). Brenda and I simply picked what we like – shrimp and chicken. It was great but frankly I think you could probably find just as good in Madrid; Dave and Corrie still liked the one in Granada at the carmen the best.

Day 2 was spent visiting a couple of areas outside of town. The first was a visit to an orange grove to learn about the famous Valencian orange. The estate called Huerto Ribera is in the area that was the birthplace of orange production in Spain. It was interesting to learn about oranges and other citrus fruit that we eat every day.

The second tour was to Albufera, a few kilometres south of Valencia. This is a lagoon where the rice used in Paella, Bomba, was originally grown and still is today. It is also the birthplace of Paella. After some confusion on the location of our tour we had a lovely ride around the lagoon. There were quite a few birds flying around. After that we walked into town and had some Paella at Restaurant Albufera. They had pictures of the Spanish Royal Family visiting the restaurant. Brenda and I had the lobster paella. It was fantastic; although it wasn’t any better than the one in Valencia.

1. Cuenca

The reason for stopping here was the Roman villa of Noheda. However everyone enjoyed the town more than the villa. I was able to figure out that the town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the history and the hanging houses. I found a guide on some site about local activities. When I contact him the day before to make sure everything is set for our tour, he says who are you and why are you bothering me. Yikes, so I ask what is he going to do for us. He rounds up Chistian, Mr. Cuenca, this man knew everyone in town. This is the kind of person with a big personality and a zest for life. He knew all the history and sights to see and gave us a recommendation for a great restaurant.

The other highlight of this town is the hotel we stayed in; Hospederia del Seminario. It is a working Seminary,

where catholic priests train to become priests, with a good portion of it converted to a hotel. It wasn’t posh but it had classic décor and a fabulous buffet breakfast.

The next day we visit the Roman villa. It is a dirt parking lot with a lady trying to explain in Spanish you need tickets from their website. I go on and pay. Our Spanish language tour then starts; we walk to a quonset which is covering some mosaics. Very disappointing as we were expecting something like what we saw in Sicily. To this day I don’t know the story of who built Noheda.

J. Ribera del Duero

Our home base for this wine region was Hotel Las Barones in Santa Cruz de la Salceda. I was looking for something more intimate and did we find it. Aranda del Duero is the main town in the region and driving by it looked like a major city with warehouses, so that was a good call. Santa Cruz de la Salceda is so small, Las Barones was the only business open in town during our stay. I knew they had a kitchen; although they had funny opening times. They were good about us shifting the times. None of the staff could speak English so it was an opportunity to practice our Spanish. It turned out to be a lot of fun. We would get a beverage from the bar and play cards outside. The hotel people would ask us where we toured that day. It was a glimpse of Spanish life.

Day 1 of wine touring was provided by Madrid Wine Tours. I looked high and low for a wine tour company from the area but they don’t exist. If anyone wants to semi-retire to Spain, this would be a great business opportunity. Ribera means banks, so the area is the Banks of the Duero. There are 320 wineries. The DO was only founded in 1982. These are the three wineries we visited on the tour:

1. Dominio de Cair – owned by Luis Cana from Rioja

This is a big commercial winery with excellent staff. Apparently a small amount of a white grape called Albillo can be added to the red wine.

2. Alvides – this was just crazy fun. Apparently it is very common in the area to age wine in cellars. This was a tiny cave, just enough room for about 6 people. We tasted 3 wines and Brenda bought the Reserva Tempranillo. The owner/wine maker only spoke Spanish but our guide Raul translated. The stone pillar with the holes in the top is a ventilation shaft to let air into the cellar.

3. Aster – and now for something completely different. This is a huge complex with winery, hotel and restaurant. In addition to the tasting we had an exceptional lunch with Morcilla (blood sausage) and croquettes to start and roasted lamb for the main course. Note to self – don’t book a wine lunch at the end of a day of wine tasting – we were all a little drunk when we got back to the hotel.

               Day 2 of wine touring David was our chauffer.  Here’s the line-up:

1. Tinto Pesquera – was one of the early wineries that contributed to the creation of the D.O. We really liked their Reserva and Gran Reserva. Not a fan of the white grape Albillo – but it was good to try it.

2. Lubiano Dominio- is owned and wine made by a lady. She was a bit bitter about the lack of traction she is getting in the market. There is nothing wrong with her wines, they were as good as anybody elses.

• Emilio Moro – we stopped for lunch and a small tasting flight. Everything was great.

• Val Sotillo – was a real find. I booked it because I knew they had a cave for storing their wine. What I didn’t realize was the extent of the cave system in this area of Spain. 90 out of 100 caves are still used today for wine storage and parties. Our guide (wife of the wine-maker) showed us a map of the caves – there are miles of them. You can tell you are in cave country by the ventilation stacks scattered around the area. Val Sotillo actually connected one of these tunnels directly into their winery.

We felt much better this evening; learned our lesson and skipped the glass of wine at lunch. It was fun playing cards, sipping on a beverage, and watching the local kids playing at their first communion party.

K. Saldaña

I really liked this little town. Yes, it is spelled the same as Zoe’s name. The reason for the visit was to give our liver’s a rest, just kidding, the real reason was another Roman Villa called Villa Romana La Olmeda. This is exactly what I was looking for; a well preserved and well documented villa in the style of the Sicilian villa. The mosaics were fantastic and so was the well-preserved bath house. For more details about the purpose of the villa and dozens of pictures see the Roman Blog. We had a great midday meal at the Crooked House and got to watch a child’s birthday party. I had lamb with potatoes and a lovely house wine. In the late afternoon we visited the La Olmeda museum in town and learned more about the founding of the site and its role in the area.

L. Toro

On our way to Toro we stopped in at a church called San Jaun de Baños (St John the Baptist). It was built by the Visigoths in the 5^th century. Unfortunately it was not open.

We had a relaxing evening in town, going for a stroll around town and seeing the Duero river, having a tapas dinner and playing a card game. This sculpture of a bull is supposedly why this town is called Toro; Toro means bull in Spanish. The sculpture is credited to the Celts, refered to as Celtiberians in Spain and Portugal.

Toro has an interesting history. Although it only became a D.O. in 1987, it has been around since the time of Christopher Columbus, who took a few bottles on his voyage. It is one of the few areas in the world that has pre-phylloxera vines, due to its sandy soil. Most of the vineyards in this area, and all the wineries we visited have 50- to 100-year-old vines. I still remember a winery in Canada saying they were going to pull up their 30 year old vines and replant the vineyard. The difference is no comparison, the concentration in these Toro wines is exceptional, it will stain your mouth.

Here’s the line-up:

Day 1

1. Valbusenda

This is a big commercial winery. Our guide didn’t know English but communicated via Google translate, which was cumbersome but worked just fine. They had a unique “barrel” that had both American and French Oak staves.

• Bigardo

Is owned and run by Kiko Calvo, another big personality guy. He talks a good game, but he backs it up with excellent wine. In fact, my one souvenir bottle is from here. We tried 5 different reds starting at 50 year old vines and moving up to 100 years (I bought one of the 100yr old). We did a tasting in his shop in town. He wanted us to drive to his winery but we didn’t need to see another set of tanks and barrels.

• Velasco & Hijos

Their winery was right in town. They also have a small underground cave where we did the tasting. We tried 3 wines, the Candongo was the only tinto de toro (name of the red wine in the area) we tasted and it was excellent. They also have a wine store as you enter. This is the place to buy wine. I bought the Bigardo wine here because it was cheaper by a few euros. I came back at the end of our second day and bought it because I had tasted all of the Toro wines by then and liked the Bigardo the best.

Day 2

• Bodegas y Viñedos Sobreño

We had some confusion with Farina, so we went there to clear up the problem. I’m kind of glad we didn’t do a tasting here as it looked very commercial. So we called Sobreño and got in last minute. The guys doing the tour were a couple of workers who didn’t speak English. Seeing how the Valbusenda tour worked well with the babel fish (Google translate), Dave whipped out his phone and translated.

• Bodega Vocarraje Vino Abdón Segovia

More confusion here as well, but it worked out for the best. Apparently I contacted them and I thought I had a confirmation and they were expecting a payment to secure the reservation. The reason it worked out well is because we interrupted their labelling operation so the old man (the patriarch of the family) dropped everything and gave us a tour and tasting. The old man couldn’t speak English but he spoke slow and clear so Brenda and I caught over half of what he was saying and Dave used google translate again. Brenda really likes when she gets a chance to practice Spanish in real life, beyond hola and gracias. Brenda is also a vermouth lover and was the only one to figure out one of the samples the old man poured was vermut (the Spanish spelling for vermouth).

• Elias Mora

This winery and the next one were a little distance away from Toro near the town of San Roman de Hornija. We were told there are 60 wineries in the Toro D.O.. We tasted 4 wines ending with the 100 year old vine wine.

• Legando de Orniz

This was a great tour because the owner took us up a hill where his vineyard is. All his vines were bush trained, the norm in Toro. The soil was basically gravel with some big rocks thrown in. Across the road was a plot owned by Marques de Riscal, who uses trellised vines and irrigation for blending with their Rioja! Again we tasted wines with vines starting at only 40 to 50 years old going up to 100 years plus. My second souvenir bottle was a blend of 4 different vintages from the 100 year old vines.

               Tasting Discussion

I am still confused about both Ribera del Duero and Toro wines. At home our favorite Ribera del Duero is Val Reinas which has both fruit and earthiness. However every wine we tasted from these areas had an intense sweet note. The closest comparison is the Petit Verdot we get in the Okanagan, it too has that perceived sweet black fruit component. I love that style, its just not what I was looking for. I suspect that the reason we were finding the “sweet” style is because everyone was pouring us their premium old vine wine and what we have been drinking in Calgary is their entry level wines. More research is required, and this kind of homework I can get into.

Back to Madrid via Segovia

Dave really wanted to see the aqueduct and since it was on our way we stopped. Brenda and I had seen it already but we just saw the main part in town. This time we walked the length of the aqueduct to where it starts. The start of the aqueduct is from an underground pipe.

1. Madrid

Normally we would stay one night at the airport and head out the next day. Dave and Corrie did that. I screwed up again so we added a few days onto our trip. After a couple of missteps we found a great hotel. The NH Madrid Airport was very nice with a great breakfast buffet and only a 5 minute walk to a metro station. The great thing about a city like Madrid is there are so many options, so we would pick a museum and then hit some shopping. Here’s the 4 Madrid bonus touring days:

Day 1-Banksy Museum

The man is so creative and clever. We thought he only did graffiti murals on the side of buildings, we didn’t realize that he does paintings as well.

Day 2- Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum

This is modern art museum that sits between the classical Prado and the very modern Reina Sofia. It has quite a few impressionists and even pop art’s Roy Lichtenstein has a canvas.

We found a store with some children’s clothing and got an outfit for our grandson.

Day 3 – Museum of Archeology

What a find. These national archeology museums in countries where the Romans were active are a treasure trove of artifacts and information. The one in Edinburg was where we figured this out and Madrid’s did not disappoint. I won’t bore the non-Roman reader with all the pictures and details here; if you want to see them go to the Roman blog.

Afterwards we strolled down a nearby shopping street and found a Muji store. If you have never been you must. Its filled with the most clever Japanese designed items. For example they have the worlds best nail clippers for only 8euro.

Day 4 – Museum of Illusions

Well we were starting to run out of good museums; this was fun for an hour.

We decided to hit a few favourites and have a very good meal. First we went back to El Corte Ingles for their Sangria cocktail. I never had one the first visit and I have to say it was delicious. Sangria can be very sweet, this one wasn’t. Next we decided to go to the oldest restaurant in the world, Casa Botin, founded in 1725 and recognized by Guinness World Records. The décor is underwhelming, yes its old but it didn’t look ancient like I was expecting. Thankfully the food was great. I had sucking pig and Brenda had a veal cutlet. We also ordered a plate of green beans and a half bottle of Protus from Ribera del Duero. I love half bottles – I wish more restaurants offered this option. For dessert we went back to San Gines for churros and chocolate. Having had it a few other times on our trip, I can confirm San Gines is the best. Its their thick dark Chocolate that makes the difference.

Scotland is a long way from Rome – it would take about 60 days to march there.

Yet in this far-flung corner of the empire there stands one of the best Roman sites to visit – Hadrian’s Wall.

If you have seen pictures of it, it doesn’t look very spectacular – its no Great Wall. However the real treasure is Vindolanda, the fort and town that housed the soldiers who patrolled the wall. What makes it so special and unique is the fact that the soil is clay and clay is waterproof, which means organic material is preserved here. You never see clothing in a typical Roman museum only metal and stone.

We toured the wall with Rabbies Tours, I highly recommend this company. First we visited a stretch of the wall, then onto Vindolanda. The Rabbies tour guide didn’t talk much about Roman history, mostly Scottish facts and stories. There is a Vindolanda guide who will give you a little tour and give an excellent discussion about the site and its importance, included with admission. There is also a little museum with some amazingly preserved artifacts like: shoes, leather horse armor, wooden combs, wooden shovel, etc.

I’ll take a break from touring and give you some historical facts.

Hadrian ended his predecessor Trajan‘s policy of expanding the empire and instead focused on defending the current borders. The wall was the answer in Britian, since there were no rivers or other natural boundaries. With construction starting in 122, the entire length of the wall was built with an alternating series of forts, each housing 600 men, and manned milecastles, operated by “between 12 and 20 men”. It took six years to build most of Hadrian’s Wall with the work coming from three Roman legions.

Mike Duncan of the History of Rome podcast maintains that the primary purpose of the wall was to control movement, which would be channeled through the gates in the wall, where it could be monitored for information, prevented or permitted as appropriate, and taxed.

I wanted to mention the Antonine wall because it shows that even though Hadrian’s wall already existed the Roman’s still had designs on pushing forward. So the Romans were hanging out near modern day Edinburg and Glasgow.

The other place with some Roman history is the place where all of Scotland’s history resides, in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburg. As mentioned above the Antonine wall proves the Roman’s had a presence in Scotland. There are some of your typical stone carvings, etc. but the artifact I was excited to see the most was a milepost marker. Mary Beard talked about them in one of her documentaries, and I had never seen one before.

So in summary Hadrian’s wall is a very worthwhile detour if you are in Edinburg or Northern England (an hour drive from the Lake District). It is a world class site in the world of Roman ruins.

Don’t worry, we didn’t try any wine in Scotland (though it does exist), this trip was another departure from the wine world, much like our trip to Mexico.

We chose Scotland for two reasons: first, Brenda and I are huge Outlander fans and the scenery in the show looked spectacular; and second, our son Adam is a whisky expert and was interested in seeing a few areas he hadn’t visited before.

To understand Scotch whisky, it’s best to start with a map. You’ll notice that in Scotland, “whisky” is spelled without an “e.”

To be considered a whisky region in Scotland, an area must have at least three operational distilleries. There are five official regions: Lowlands, Islay, Campbeltown, Highlands, and Speyside.

Geographically, Speyside lies within the Highlands, but due to the high concentration of distilleries (around fifty), it has its own distinct region.

Note that the map also shows an area called the Islands, comprised of the western and northern Orkney islands. As far as I know, all the islands are considered part of the Highlands with one exception: Arran. Arran is called “Scotland in Miniature” because a fault line runs through the island. This caused the northern part to be buckled into mountains (the Highlands), while the southern part is flat (the Lowlands). Consequently, the Arran distillery in the north is in the Highlands, and the Lagg distillery in the south is in the Lowlands.

Our trip took us to a few areas not typically on a first-time visitor’s list. Most first-timers head to Speyside for its sheer number of distilleries or to Islay for its famously smoky whisky. That’s exactly what Adam did on his first two trips. (See the bonus blog on these two areas.)

For this tour, our primary destination was Campbeltown. It’s one of Adam’s favorites and, in his opinion, one of the best whisky districts in Scotland—and the only one he hadn’t visited. While researching, I came across the Isle of Arran, which looked interesting, and Adam happened to really like Arran whisky, so we added it.

Knowing we wanted to see the historical Outlander sites, we headed up to Inverness. Using my trusty Rick Steves guide book, I saw that Oban and Fort William were along the way, so we added them in. As it turns out, they both happen to have a distillery. Finally, when looking for distilleries near Inverness, there were one or two nearby, the fifty in Speyside (which Adam had already seen), and three up by Tain. We like small towns for a change of pace and thought Tain would do the trick.

We started our trip in Edinburgh, a true bucket-list destination. The Royal Mile looks like you’ve stepped into medieval times, except for the tourists and the occasional Mickey Mouse. It simply seeps history and was the inspiration for many literary works like Harry Potter and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. We didn’t drink any whisky here, just wine and beer. I’ve heard reports that Britain is upping its food scene, especially in London. I can confirm that Edinburgh now has a great food scene. The best meals of the trip were just around the corner from where we were staying on Thistle Street. We spent a week in Edinburgh, though three or four days are all you really need to see the town. The extra time was for the three bus tours we took.

The Edinburgh highlights are the Royal Mile (use the free audio tour on the Rick Steves website), the Castle, the Royal Yacht Britannia, Calton Hill for the city and Firth views, a Harry Potter tour (we did both our own and an organized one), and the National Museum of Scotland. The tours we did were an Outlander filming locations tour and two from Rabbie’s Tours (https://www.rabbies.com/): one to St Andrews and Fife and another to Hadrian’s Wall.

Our next destination was Glasgow, an hour train ride from Edinburgh. We met up with Adam and Tyler (another son) for a whisky tasting after visiting two museums: Riverside and Kelvingrove. They both had some good stuff, but Kelvingrove had one spectacular painting: Christ of St. John of the Cross by Salvador Dalí. There are only a handful of paintings that truly move me, and this was one. Dalí is known for his crazy surrealism, so I was very surprised to see a conventional-style painting. We had a day to kill in Glasgow before our next leg, so Brenda and I found a website (https://justinpluslauren.com/glasgow-mural-trail/) with an interactive map of street art, and there were some really good ones.

The other thing we did that day was repack our luggage so it would make it on the plane. We had to ensure we weren’t overweight, because the luggage wouldn’t be allowed on otherwise. Luckily, the Marriott Adam was staying at allowed us to keep our luggage there since we were coming back to Glasgow.

When we got to the airport and saw our plane, we understood the weight restriction: it was a Canadian bush plane, the Twin Otter. A great plane, but small. This plane offered a great aerial tour thanks to its low-flying altitude. You can get to Campbeltown by bus, but a scenic 45-minute flight versus a four-hour-plus bus ride was an easy decision. Here’s another pro tip: small towns in Scotland don’t have taxis waiting at the airports. It’s best to book one ahead of time. I was given this advice by Tyler and booked Roy’s Taxi, who never showed up. Luckily, we were able to get hold of Tavies Taxis. We used them again another time to go out to Davaar Island. Both drivers were friendly and very interesting to talk to. My breath hitched in my throat when I saw the view from our AirBnB; it was the best view of the harbor we could find. This is what I came to Scotland for—the beautiful scenery.

The Springbank family of whisky companies includes the Springbank Distillery, the Glengoyne Distillery, and Cadenhead independent bottler. They each offer their own tastings and tours, so if you are going all this way, you’ll want to book three tours. You’ll definitely want to do a Springbank tour, as it’s one of the few that still malts its own barley, which you get to see on the tour.

I knew that most of the flavor in whisky comes from the barrel, but in Scotland, every place said that 30% of the flavor comes from the distilled spirit and 70% from the barrel. So I decided I would try to figure out which wood I liked best. Here is another pro tip: make use of the tasting bar. You will get one to four or five drams (25ml) to taste, depending on the tour. A basic tour will give you their big seller to try and maybe one of their good ones. Adam will always pick a tasting, often done in the warehouse, over a tour. The process is the same everywhere (except for Springbank’s malting floor), so you just want to get to the tasting. The tasting bar allows you to try some different whiskies that aren’t on the tour.

I took advantage of this option to help me determine my preferred wood. It turns out I like “sweet wood,” my term, not an industry term—feel free to use it. “Sweet wood” means the barrel was used to age a sweet alcoholic liquid. The two sweet woods I determined suited my palate were Port and Pedro Ximénez. Pedro Ximénez is a spectacular dessert sherry wine that tastes like liquid raisins; it’s often referred to as PX for short. Sometimes you have to ask what kind of sherry cask was used, because there are five or six different kinds used in Scotland.

I think I figured out why I wasn’t a Scotch fan before: I just hadn’t found my wood. I was also able to determine that I am not a fan of ex-bourbon cask whisky. Unfortunately, everyone makes a version, since bourbon barrels are the cheapest. The reason is that bourbon requires a virgin barrel for every batch, so they have a lot of barrels to get rid of. Port and PX barrels have a much smaller supply, especially PX, since it’s not well known or widely consumed. As a result, Port and PX barrels can cost ten times that of bourbon barrels. This all translates into price, so for your sake, I hope you like bourbon as opposed to my pricy sweet wood. By the way, there is another sweet wood I didn’t get the chance to try: a Sauternes.

On day two in Campbeltown, Adam and Tyler went to the third distillery in town, Glen Scotia. Brenda and I wanted to go biking. Apparently, like taxis, you have to book bikes ahead. The bike shop was a closed warehouse door. So we pivoted and took a bus out to Davaar Island. There’s a spit of land you can walk on to get to the island at low tide. We started walking but decided it was too far. We did take our binoculars and were able to see these black and white birds with bright orange beaks. The Tavies taxi driver told us they were oyster catchers. We bumped into a couple of big lads and their father. They had fishing gear and were headed for the island. We had a “small world” incident that evening for dinner at the Lochside restaurant. They seat you in a room until they are ready for you in the dining room. The two lads and their dad showed up, so we had someone and something to talk about. I love these random travel events.

When I was poking around the internet for Campbeltown, I ran across the island of Arran. I asked Adam if he knew anything about it, and he showed me his collection of Arran whiskies. Doing a bit of research, it became clear that you need a vehicle to tour this island. So I did a search and came up with Kirstin at www.starfishtravel.scot. What a find that was. This is only the second time we have used a private tour company, and we are getting spoiled. Kirstin is professional, has a great personality, and is a consummate whisky expert. It was quite entertaining listening to Adam and Kirstin discuss whisky. The day before pick-up, Kirstin asked if she could bring her black lab on the trip. We love dogs and miss our grand-pup when traveling, so we were very happy to have Roy join us.

We went on a couple of hikes on the island. One gave us the perfect view of the Lowlands transitioning into the Highlands. The other was to some stone circles; Brenda keeps pressing her hand on the stones to go back in time to meet a strapping highlander.

I mentioned Arran has two distilleries; the one in the north is the Arran distillery and has non-peated whisky, and the one in the south is the Lagg distillery and has peated whisky. They are both owned by the same company. Spending two days on the island required us to stay overnight at the Corrie hotel. It was very reasonably priced, cozy, and had good food. The tour ended back in Glasgow.

The next day, Adam, Brenda, and I headed up to Oban; Tyler went home. Oban is a lovely little town right on the water. Unfortunately, this is where we ran into the worst weather of our trip. The rain was coming sideways, and umbrellas were turning into pretzels. This is where I understood why the Scotch invented and consume whisky: it’s the only thing that can warm you from the inside out. Of course, Oban has a distillery called Oban, but it’s pronounced Obin. I was looking for some live music, but it only started at my bedtime. However, we did have some fun at the pub. A couple came in with the cutest little toy poodle (our grand-pup’s breed). They were so friendly once they saw we are dog lovers. The funny part was that this guy looked like a biker or hitman from central casting.

Moving north, we bused up to Fort William. This place worried me; it was difficult to find good, reasonably priced accommodations with a decent location. However, it all worked out fine. So here’s the layout of the town: at the top are the train and bus stations, then the High Street with restaurants and shopping, and then guest houses stretch out across from the loch. If you look on a map, you will see it’s not a real freshwater lake; it’s an extension of the ocean. I only figured this out when I saw a cruise ship one morning on the “lake.” We stayed at Ardlinnhe Cottage, a ten-minute walk to the High Street.

We did three main activities here: the Ben Nevis distillery, the Jacobite Express (also known as the Hogwarts train from Harry Potter), and a hike in Glen Nevis. The distillery had a nice tour at a very historic site, which will be 200 years old in 2025. I didn’t get any sweet wood whisky here, so it wasn’t my favorite.

The train ride was great, and it would have been spectacular if it wasn’t raining. The scenery was the most dramatic, with rocky mountains covered in grass. The gullies at Glenfinnan were stunning, although it was difficult to appreciate because this is where the viaduct is. You get a great view of the viaduct one way, and you switch seats for the other way. What was a bit amazing were the hundreds of people lined up along the hillsides looking to get their picture. You get a couple of hours in Mallaig to grab lunch and go shopping. Of course, there is a wizarding supply store in town for the people who dressed up as wizards on the train. We managed to get a hike in without getting rained on. The highlight was either seeing two highland coos (that’s not a typo, that’s what they call highland cows) or the beer from the local town nearby. Beer is very local in Scotland. The beer I had out in Glencoe you couldn’t find a half-hour away in Fort William. It was the same everywhere. The only place I saw Arran beer was across the water in Campbeltown. When we were up north in Tain, we were getting Orkney beer. By the way, these local brews, usually in a bottle, were fantastic.

The city of Inverness was quite nice with the River Ness running through it. Inverness did not have a distillery in it, but that didn’t stop us from drinking whisky. Adam found a whisky shop called the Malt Room where you can taste a dram and then buy a bottle across the street at the Malt Shop if you like it. So, thinking that I like Port finishes, I tried a dram of Tomatin 14-year-old Port Casks and I liked it, so I bought a bottle (50ml, haha). We went to the highland games to get a bit of local culture. It was great to see the procession of the pipe band and a few sports. I was hoping there would be more interaction with the locals, but that’s my imagination getting carried away. Like most shows, they put the favorite competitions at the end of the day. We were getting tired and bored, so we missed the caber toss, but we did get to see the hammer throw and shot put.

The next day we did another Rabbie’s tour, this one of the historical Outlander sites. They don’t call it that, but knowing the show, it’s pretty easy to spot the Culloden battlefield on the itinerary. The funniest or maybe saddest thing we saw at Culloden was the grave marker of the Fraser clan being cordoned off. Damn disrespectful tourists ruining things for the rest of us. The other main site we visited was Clava Cairns; this was the inspiration for the standing stones in the novel. It was a very interesting site. There were a couple of other stops as well. Camille, our French guide, was excellent. This young lady did her research and had so many interesting stories and facts. This quality of guide is why you want to use Rabbie’s for your day tours. The one thing Inverness offered that was on my list but I couldn’t find anywhere else in Scotland was a bar with live entertainment that didn’t start at 10 p.m. The bar was the Highlander, and the band was great, playing a mix of top 40 and Scottish folk songs all at 7 p.m.

On to our last and maybe best town of Tain. Tain was the smallest (population 3,570) and quaintest town we stayed in. One reason for the fond memories was our accommodations at St. Duthus Guesthouse. The rooms were lovely, and we really liked the fresh fruit for breakfast, but the proprietor, Kim, was such a kind and wonderful person. Adam and I had a whisky tasting booked at Balblair shortly after we checked in. Kim phoned the taxi (only one in town), but she was only able to pick us up, not take us there. So Kim took us herself and refused any kind of payment. She told us to “pay it forward.” Dinner was easy with a three-minute walk back to the train station, where a lovely little restaurant resided. Being this far north, we were getting Orkney beer, which was excellent.

The next day, Brenda and I went to Portmahomack to learn more about the Celtic tribe, the Picts. Adam went to Brora Distillery and had one dram of a 39-year-old whisky that sells for $28,000 a bottle. Apparently, it was exceptionally smooth. Our last day in Tain was at the big boy in town, Glenmorangie. The first place they send you when you arrive is the museum. That is where they tell you how to pronounce their name, and it’s not what we were saying—it rhymes with “orange-y.” One thing about distilleries owned by big corporations (Glenmorangie is owned by Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) is that their facilities are very nice, especially the tasting bar and sales room. Since I was running out of room in my suitcase, I really liked the little three-pack I bought; each was 100ml. I found another Port barrel whisky, and it was in the three-pack.

To finish off the tour, we made our way back to Edinburgh. We had a day to kill, so we all went on a Harry Potter tour and went back to the National Museum.

The least painful way to learn Roman history is The History of Rome podcast.

Link = The History of Rome (podcast) – Wikipedia

Mike Duncan explains the history of Rome from its founding (753BC) to the collapse of the Western Empire in 476.

There are three main periods of Roman history

Early Period or Pre-Republic 753-509BC – myth and Kings

Republic 509-27BC – Rome starts to establish itself as a major power in the Mediterranean

Empire 27BC – 476AD – I’ve listed all the emperors Here .

Before I started down this path of discovery I had no idea what the fall of the Western Empire meant.

I understood the concept of an empire falling, but what was the Western Empire?

The Western Empire was Rome. The name implies another Empire, and there is also an Eastern empire.

In 324 Constantine decided to move the capital to Byzantium. Byzantium was a Greek city under Roman control. It was selected since it juts out into the sea which made it much more defensible than Rome.

Rome was under constant threat from various barbarian tribes. The Eastern Roman empire is now referred to as the Byzantine empire by historians to prevent confusion with the original Western Empire. The Byzantine Empire lasted almost 1000 years until the Ottoman Turks finally beat them in 1453.

The history of the Romans continues in The History of Byzantium. Link = The History of Byzantium | A podcast telling the story of the Roman Empire from 476 AD to 1453

The craziest story from the podcast was the Greek navy was checking out all the little islands checking for enemies after the war. They ran across some people who said they were Roman. It seems crazy to us on the outside but apparently the Byzantines considered themselves Roman and kept calling themselves and their subjects Roman. Apparently it was not uncommon in the 18^th and 19^th centuries for people in Greece to call themselves Roman. Its fun history like this that intrigues me. Its also another example of the Romans impacting us (in this case the Greeks) today.

One of the world’s leading authorities on Roman history is Mary Beard. The one book of hers that I started was pretty hard slogging. However she has an excellent show on Prime called Ultimate Rome: Empire Without Limit .

The Julio-Claudian Dynasty (27 BC – 68 AD) Julius Caesar, who lends his name to Julio, was on his way to becoming an emperor but was killed.

Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD) Established what a Roman emperor should be.

Tiberius (14 AD – 37 AD)

Caligula (37 AD – 41 AD) is a nickname that means “little boots”. His real name is Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. He is considered the worst emperor ever and was diagnosed as mad.  He wore women’s clothes around the palace; he claimed he was going to make his horse consul.

Claudius (41 AD – 54 AD) became an unlikely emperor after Caligula was killed. The old I Claudius on PBS was a great show 35 years ago.

Nero (54 AD – 68 AD

The Year of the Four Emperors (68 – 69 AD)

Galba (68 AD – 69 AD)

Otho (68 – 69 AD)

Vitellius (69 AD)

The Flavian Dynasty (69 AD – 96 AD)

Vespasian (69 AD – 79 AD) commissioned  the Colosseum around A.D. 70-72

Titus (79 AD – 81 AD)

Domitian (81 AD – 96 AD)

The Nerva-Antonine Dynasty (96 AD – 192 AD)

Nerva (96 AD – 98 AD)

Trajan (98 AD – 117 AD)

Hadrian (117 AD – 138 AD) best known for his wall in Britan, was a Spaniard.

Antoninus Pius (138 AD – 161 AD)

Marcus Aurelius (161 AD – 180 AD) & Lucius Verus (161 AD – 169 AD)

Commodus (180 AD – 192 AD)

The Year of the Five Emperors (193 AD – 194 AD)

Pertinax (193 AD)

Didius Julianus (193 AD)

Pescennius Niger (193 AD – 194 AD)

Clodius Albinus (193 AD – 197 AD)

The Severan Dynasty (193 AD – 235 AD)

Septimius Severus (193 AD – 211 AD)

Caracalla (211 AD – 217 AD)

Geta (211 AD)

Macrinus (217 AD – 218 AD)

Diaumenian (218 AD)

Elagabalus (218 AD – 222 AD)

Severus Alexander (222 AD – 235 AD)

The Crisis of the Third Century (235 AD – 284 AD)

Maximinus Thrax (235 AD – 238 AD) known as the only Barbarian emperor

Gordian I (238 AD)

Gordian II (238 AD)

Pupienus (238 AD)

Balbinus (238 AD)

Gordian III (238 AD – 244 AD)

Phillip I (244 AD – 249 AD)

Phillip II (247 AD – 249 AD)

Decius (249 AD – 251 AD)

Herrenius Etruscus (251 AD)

Trebonianus Gallus (251 AD – 253 AD)

Hostilian (251 AD)

Volusianus (251 – 253 AD)

Aemilianus (253 AD)

Sibannacus (253 AD)

Valerian (253 AD – 260 AD)

Gallienus (253 AD – 268 AD)

Saloninus (260 AD)

Claudius Gothicus (268 AD – 270 AD)

Quintillus (270 AD)

Aurelian (270 AD – 275 AD)

Tacitus (275 AD – 276 AD)

Florianus (276 AD)

Probus (276 AD – 282 AD)

Carus (282 AD – 283 AD)

Carinus (283 AD – 285 AD)

Numerian (283 AD – 284 AD)

The Tetrarchy (284 AD – 324 AD) – governing of the Empire was split into East and West with a Senior emperor and a Junior emperor in each. This was done because the Empire was large and cumbersome.

Diocletian (284 AD – 305 AD) reformed the governing structure into a Tetrarchy. The only emperor to voluntarily retired, as opposed to ones who were encouraged at sword point. His retirement home is in Spilt Croatia.

Maximian (286 AD – 305 AD)

Galerius (305 AD – 311 AD)

Constantius I (305 AD – 306 AD)

Severus II (306 AD – 307 AD)

Maxentius (306 AD – 312 AD)

Licinius ( 308 AD – 324 AD)

Maximinus II (310 AD – 313 AD)

Valerius Valens (316 AD – 317 AD)

Martinian (324 AD)

The Constantinian Dynasty (306 AD – 364 AD)

Constantine I (306 AD – 337 AD) adopted Christianity as the state religion. He moved the capital to Byzantium and renamed it Constantinople, modern day Istanbul.

Constantine II (337 AD – 340 AD)

Constans I (337 AD – 350 AD)

Constantius II (337 AD – 361 AD)

Magnentius (350 AD – 353 AD)

Nepotianus (350 AD)

Vetranio (350 AD)

Julian (361 AD – 363 AD)

Jovian (363 AD – 364 AD)

The Valentinian Dynasty (364 AD – 394 AD)

Valentinian I (364 AD – 375 AD)

Valens (364 AD – 378 AD)

Procopius (365 AD – 366 AD)

Gratian (375 AD – 383 AD)

Magnus Maximus (383 AD – 388 AD)

Valentinian II (388 AD – 392 AD)

Eugenius (392 AD – 394 AD)

The Theodosian Dynasty (379 AD – 457 AD)

Theodosius I (379 AD – 395 AD)

Arcadius (395 AD – 408 AD)

Honorius (395 AD – 423 AD)

Constantine III (407 AD – 411 AD)

Theodosius II (408 AD – 450 AD) The double Theodosian Walls of Constantinople were built under his reign

Priscus Attalus (409 AD – 410 AD)

Constantius III (421 AD)

Johannes (423 AD – 425 AD)

Valentinian III (425 AD – 455 AD)

Marcian (450 AD – 457 AD)

Leo I and the Last Emperors in the West (455 AD – 476 AD)

Leo I (457 AD – 474 AD)

Petronius Maximus (455 AD)

Avitus (455 AD – 456 AD)

Majorian (457 AD – 461 AD)

Libius Severus (461 AD – 465 AD)

Anthemius (467 AD – 472 AD)

Olybrius (472 AD)

Glycerius (473 AD – 474 AD)

Julius Nepos (474 AD – 475 AD)

Romulus Augustus (475 AD – 476 AD) the last Western Roman emperor

As I mentioned in the introduction this first empty-nester trip to the Southern Rhone planted the seeds of interest in the Romans. At the time my knowledge of the Romans was primarily based on pop culture like the movie Gladiator. I knew that France was called Gaul and Julius Caesar had conquered Gaul. What I didn’t realize was the degree of  colonization/occupation of Gaul. I now understand that the Roman model of conquest was to keep taking over lands and people, tax them, even enroll them into your armies (Russel Crowe’s gladiator was a general from Spain). As a result there is a treasure trove of sites scattered throughout the Mediterranean and France is one of them.

Probably the most famous Roman site in the area is the most famous Roman aqueduct Pont du Gard. It was built during the first century CE. It was once the 50-kilometre-long water source for the ancient Roman colony of Nemausus. The engineering prowess to build these structures just amazes me. Look at those arches. The most impressive part of these aqueducts is the water has to flow, which means that for 50 kilometers the structure had to slope very gently downhill from the source to the city of Nemausus.

Orange, just north of Avignon, is the location of two Unesco sites. This is where we saw our first Roman theater. It was in great shape.  A theater is a half a circle with the stage in the middle of the flat part. Romans used theatres to present plays. This one was built in 35 BCE.

One of my favorite towns is Arles. Its not too big and is easily walkable with great sites and charm. Arles has its own Amphitheater, just a baby compared to the Coliseum in Rome, but still cute. Since this is the first blog about amphitheaters, I thought I would explain what they are. An amphitheatre is a circle, so two theaters stuck together but with no stage in the middle. Amphi means “around” in Greek. The Romans used amphitheaters for gladiator fights and other entertainment for its citizens.  The exterior structure is in good shape but the interior seating was plundered to build churches. Objects from the arena and the surrounding area are in the excellent Musee Departemental Arles Antique museum. This is where we saw our first mosaic and fell in love with them. The artistry and craftsmanship are stunning.

Nimes has a larger amphitheater but we couldn’t tour it because Adele decided to sing that day. You see this everywhere in Europe, where they hold concerts in Roman amphitheatres and theatres. The Maison Carrée is one of the best preserved Roman temple façades to be found in the territory of the former Roman Empire. There are a couple of other sites in town as well. I think this is probably a good place to see some excellent sites as long as you can get into the arena.

Glanum is the ruins of a Roman town near Saint-Rémy de Provence. You can visit the sanatorium where Van Gogh was recuperating from an ear ache at the same time. What makes Glanum stand out isn’t the big amphitheaters, it is its simplicity. At the top were the temples and baths, then the water flowed down the street under paving stones which the citizens could direct into their house, the sewer ran under the street as well. Ancient plumbing at its best. You can see the layout of the houses. If you squint real hard or drink a bottle of Chateau Neuf de Pape you can almost see people strolling down the street in their togas.

Wow I guess we saw more Roman sites on this trip than I remembered. It definitely made an impression and piqued our interest. In fact upon reflection, I now realize this trip planted the Roman seeds into my brain. This is where Brenda developed her fascination with mosaics.

Roman sites were not on our radar for this trip as it was a wine touring. However that’s the great part of traveling around the Mediterranean, you just trip over these sites. Our first site was Tarragona, just South of Barcelona along the coast. It’s a nice little amphitheater with a dramatic view of the sea. The Roman town was called Tarraco and was a major administrative and mercantile city in Roman Spain. Unfortunately I wasn’t deep into my Roman hobby at the time and didn’t see the aqueduct, forums, cemetery and museum. If you are in Barcelona, its an easy day trip; just do your homework before you go.

 The second site was the aqueduct in Segovia. What is special about this structure is it is in the middle of the city. It is in remarkably good shape for being 2000 years old. The aqueduct was built in the first century AD and was 17km long. The Roman name of the town was Segovia – that’s a first, I’ve seen names that look similar but never the same.