Rome, Piazza Navona and Castel Sant'Angelo

Rome is filled with pedestrian squares and gathering places. Piazza Navona is one of the most famous and is located over the inner area of a stadium built by the Romans in the first century A.D. The buildings currently surrounding the piazza are located where the outer walls of the stadium stood. Piazza Navona contains three baroque fountains, all large, but smaller than Trevi Fountain.

The main one in the center is called Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi or "Fountain of the Four Rivers." It was designed in 1651 by Bernini. It is located in front of the Baroque church Sant'Agnese in Agone. The obelisk is the "Obelisk of Domination" and the four rivers are from the four continents where the papal authority had spread: Nile (Africa), Danube (Europe), Ganges (Asia), and Rio de la Plata (Americas). Wikipedia has a better closeup of the fountain. 

More pictures of the surrounding buildings, but mostly the church. 

The other two fountains: 

Piazza Navona is also home to Rome's most famous Christmas market. 

Walking back to our apartment from Piazza Navona, we ran into the Castel Sant'Angelo, also known as the Mausoleum of Hadrian. We crossed the Tiber River via the Ponte Sant'Angelo. The bridge itself was constructed in 134AD, and much later Bernini began a project to make ten angels for the bridge, each holding an instrument of the Passion. 

Angel with Lance

Angel with Sponge

The Castel Sant'Angelo is a has changed uses many times. The first part was built between 135AD and 139AD. It was constructed to house the Roman emperor Hadrian's ashes, but subsequent emperors had their ashes put here too until 217AD. In the 400s it was converted into a military fortress.  Eventually, popes converted the fortress into a castle and a covered, fortified corridor was built connecting it to St. Peter's Basilica (1277). If you're an Angels and Demons fan, you know all about this bridge. Sorry, I didn't get any pictures of the bridge. 

The dome in the background belongs to St. Peter's Basilica

The castle is now a museum and is a fun place to visit. 

Dornburg Castles

I'm terribly behind in our travels, and I'm afraid that will only get worse since we have four more trips planned in the next three months (not including the one we are currently finishing). But tonight we are taking it easy and I've decided to take full advantage of the internet we're paying 20 euros for 24 hours for.

At the beginning of September, Jason, Jackie, and I randomly decided to head up to the Dornburg castles on Saturday afternoon. Jackie and I had gone kayaking on the Saale in July and saw these gorgeous castles from the water. We knew we had to go see them up close and ended up picking the perfect day to do it.

There is not a lot of information on these castles in English, but if you want to try out the German wikipedia site you are welcome to do so. The small town has three castles right next to each other, each one in a different style. The Old Castle (Altes Schloss) is the oldest of the three and belongs to the University in Jena now, so it is not open to the public. However, meetings and conferences are held there all the time. Of course, you can visit the outside all you want!

The castle in the middle is the Roccoco Palace and is the newest. It was a built as a hunting lodge for Duke Ernst August in the 1700s. It is open to the public for a small fee.

The last, but not least, castle is the Renaissance castle and was build in the 1500s over a 14th century farm house. It is open to the public, has a small cafe, and certain rooms can be rented out for special events. There were so many people around that day since the weather was gorgeous that I was not able to get a better picture of it. You can barely see a white building on the hill in the picture below. R-L: Renaissance, Rococo, and Old.

The grounds around all three castles are well-kept and simply beautiful! They have a rose festival every year, and you can see why!

Statue of Bacchus