The Canopus - Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli

This was the second day of our short break in Rome. We visited most of the famous sights of the city on a previous holiday several years ago. Our main reason for returning this year was to visit a couple of major archaeological sites close to Rome. One of these was Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli, where we spent today.

Getting there proved to be extraordinarily difficult. The lack of directions from Tivoli rail station to the villa, which is after all a World Heritage Site, is quite astonishing. A full two hours after getting off the train we finally arrived at the site, after an escapade which involved a penalty fare for getting on a bus without tickets, much asking of passers-by for directions , and a lot of walking through streets with no clear idea whether we were going in the right direction.

We weren't in the best of moods by this time, but fortunately the villa proved every bit as fabulous as we had anticipated. For my blip I have chosen this view of some of the sculptures surrounding the long pond known as the Canopus. I particularly love the crocodile made from veined marble.