Geeky Girl Engineer – Page 12 – Nature, travel, pets, home renovation, and geekery

Solar Eclipse : The solar eclipse is the main reason I came out west for vacation. I have seen a partial solar eclipse before, but never a total solar eclipse. It was like Continue Reading →

Snorkeling in Alaska : While planning for my vacation in Alaska, I learned that there is a company, appropriately named Snorkel Alaska, that leads snorkeling tours near Ketchikan. If there is a way for Continue Reading →

Carrie Blast Furnaces : I’m in Pittsburgh for the long weekend. Today I took a tour with Rivers of Steel of the Carrie Blast Furnaces. The area is part of the former U.S. Steel Continue Reading →

Nuttallburg : I started exploring New River Gorge National Park today. It is second on my list of things to see in West Virginia after the capitol. The park is really spread Continue Reading →

Bridge Walk : I spent today doing more exploring of New River Gorge National Park, but I started the day by walking across a bridge. The walk across the bridge was under the Continue Reading →

Sirmione, Italy

Posted on February 22, 2020 by geek

Today, my tour group visited Sirmione, which is a little town at the end of a tiny peninsula in Lago di Garda (Lake Garda). There is a well preserved castle there and an archeological site from the Roman era. There are also many hotels and spas in between. Climbing to the top of the tower of Castello di Sirmione provides amazing views of the lake and surrounding area including the mountains to the north. The archeological ruins appear to be of a pleasure villa at the very end of the peninsula, so it seems the area has been used for the same reason since the Romans.

Archaeological site of Grotte di Catullo

Verona, Italy

Posted on February 21, 2020 by geek

Yesterday, my tour group arrived in Verona, and today I had the whole day to explore it. Verona is a lovely, old city. It has remnants of when it was part of the Roman Empire, and it also has Venetian influences, as well as others. The city is the setting for Romeo and Juliet, and it fully embraces it. [It is also named in the title of The Two Gentlemen of Verona and part of its setting, but the city doesn’t seem to care about that.] According to our guide, Romeo and Juliet seems to be a mix of myth and truth. There were two families who lived here named Cappello and Montecchi, and there may have been teenagers from those families who committed suicide after falling in love. Short stories were written about it, and supposedly Shakespeare used those as starting material. Interesting note, Juliet is very popular here, and people write letters to her, and everyone goes to see a balcony that did not exist before Shakespeare that was supposed to be hers. [Juliet having a balcony seems to be partially a translation issue, as in the play, she was probably opening her window shutters.] Anyway, Romeo doesn’t seem to be nearly as popular as Juliet. Hardly anyone writes him letters. Poor Romeo.

Besides Romeo and Juliet, the old part of Verona is lovely to walk around. The Adige River flows around the old part of the city, and walking along it provides lovely views of the city and surrounding area.

Juliet’s house. The balcony on the left is Juliet’s balcony. It was added later, and it is made from a sarcophagus as the artist was trying to show the beginning and end of life.

Adige River with the Roman Theater at the base of the hill in the center

Trieste, Italy

Posted on February 18, 2020 by geek

Today my cruise visited Trieste. Trieste is an interesting city. The more touristy area near the water feels far more like central Europe, especially Austria. This makes sense since the area was part of the Austrian empire until after World War II. Further away from the older part of the city, the city loses much of its charm as it looks like a modern European city.

Our group visited an old church on top of a hill close to the city center where there are some Roman ruins. We also visited a Nazi concentration camp, Risiera di San Sabba. I am not posting any photos of that as the visit was a little overwhelming. The we wandered through parts of the older city center with its beautiful buildings.

Pedestrians walk through some of the older parts of the city center

Pedestrian area near city center with views to surrounding hills

Duino Castle

Posted on February 17, 2020 by geek

Today we were in Sistiana, Italy. In the afternoon, we hiked along the dolomite cliffs to Duino Castle. The hike provided some great views of the bay as well a little exercise. Along the hike, I saw some caterpillars as well as some some nice trees and rocks. The views were outstanding. The castle itself was nice, but I think I preferred the cliff. That is just a personal preference though.

The start of the hike allowed nice views of Sistiana’s bay. The small cruise ship on the left is the ship I am on.

Looking to Duino Castle somewhat near the start of the hike.

Looking down the path from the castle once we already entered the grounds

Looking up the castle’s oval shaped spiral stairway

Caterpillar Conga Line

Posted on February 17, 2020 by geek

While on a hike today in Sistiana, Italy, I saw an entire convention of caterpillars. One group was marching in a conga line on top of a wooden fence. The other group was further down the same length of the wooden fence and were gathered together in a mass. I have never seen anything like it. If anyone can identify these caterpillars and state if this is normal behavior, I would be happy to learn about it.

Aquileia, Italy

Posted on February 17, 2020 by geek

This morning we visited Aquileia, or more precisely the historic basilica there. The original church dates back to the 4th century, and there are some mosaics near the bell tower based that are probably from that era. The main part of the church is from the 11th and 14th centuries. While working on the church, they discovered beautiful mosaics under many more recent floors. Behind the church is the the Crypt of Frescoes with beautifully painted frescoes.

In 2000, they built a glass walkway, so people would not have to walk on the mosaics. The glass walkways were nicely designed and don’t touch the mosaics at all. In the main part of the church, they are supported by the columns. In an underground portion, the glass walkways are supported by steel wires attached to the ceiling.

The basilica from the front door entrance with mosaic floor

Basket of snails mosaic in the crypt of excavations

Glass walkway supported by column and cantilevered from support near wall

Glass walkway at front door spanned over the mosaics

Bale, Croatia

Posted on February 16, 2020 by geek

This afternoon we visited Bale, Croatia, which our tour guide described as a sort of ghost town. The town is old, but it was bombed during World War II and was deserted after that. The government gave good deals to people to come and live in Bale and rebuild the city, but many of the buildings are still just shells with only the exterior walls somewhat existing. Currently it is is being rebuilt and renovated, and utility work was everywhere. It was fascinating to me to see the utility work done on the historic buildings and how some of it is hidden once finished.

Mansion near center of town and the arch is the original entrance to the town

Lots of utility work being done across the town

Artwork painted on old stucco on an exterior wall

One of the bombed buildings that is still a shell

More utility work, the building in the center of the photo is just a shell

Poreč, Croatia

Posted on February 16, 2020 by geek

This morning we visited Poreč, Croatia, a town on the Istrian peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. Some of the architecture is Venetian, and some architecture is Austrian. It was founded by the Romans, although it has been inhabited since pre-historic times, and in the very old section of town, the street names are still the Roman names.

Historic buildings in the old section of Poreč

Venetian architecture at the corner of Cardo Maximus and Decumanus

Rovinj, Croatia

Posted on February 15, 2020 by geek

Today my cruise arrived in Rovinj, Croatia. It is a small town on the Istrian peninsula. The town was originally an island, but eventually the spit between the island and the peninsula was filled to allow the town to grow larger. The original part of town is very old and still feels authentic. Everyone’s laundry hangs in the narrow alleys between the buildings. Parts of the original wall that surrounded the island and the arches that allowed entry are still visible. A top the island’s hill is a church and bell tower, which makes the former island look even more dramatic from afar.

Rovinj, the original section that was originally an island

Buildings in the original part of Rovinj

Passageway with laundry hanging in alley

All alleys are sloped as the former island is a hill

View from the top of the hill looking to the Adriatic

Clear beautiful water of the Adriatic off the former island

A view of the new section of town with many boats in harbor

Pula, Croatia

Posted on February 14, 2020 by geek

My cruise arrived in Pula, Croatia today. After visiting the Roman amphitheater, we walked around a bit, and in the afternoon, some of walked to the highest point in Pula to visit the Venetian fortress. (It is called the Venetian fortress, as it was built when the area was part of the Venetian Republic.