Benassini-Lyons Travels

Everyone knows the Colossus of Rhodes. Or, at least, they know the name and something-something wonder of the world. The story I always heard was that the statue stood astride the ancient harbor entrance in Rhodes, and that ships could pass underneath. The true story is a bit more involved.  It was one of the "Seven Wonders"--along with the Great Pyramid, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Mausoleum at Helicarnassus, and the Statue of Zeus in Olympia. So most of these are from the classical era of Greece, give or take a century or two, except for the Great Pyramid which sneaks in there because, I don't know, it's the Pyramid I guess.  Anyway, back to Rhodes. Alexander nominally conquered Rhodes when he defeated the Persians, but like most of his empire it fell into dispute after his death. Most of Greece landed with Antigonus I, Alexander's famous one-eyed general, and his son Demetrius. Rhodes chose...

By now our fair readers have learned that I post in (mostly) date order and fall way way behind (posting back to our September 4 travel-day and today is.. Oct 24) while Scott posts color commentary fairly regularly. We both do what we do well and that is the way it is!   With that intro, I give you.. Tuscany...  Pisa You are lucky, I already posted about our best 24-hours yet and our excellent two nights in a hotel that was located a 40-second walk from the Leaning Tower of Pisa (literally, the hotel had an awesome promo running in the tiny lobby showing a stylish couple strolling from the hotel door to the Leaning Tower while a timer clicked to 40 seconds, NOT fake advertising).   Florence Our first train ride in Italy, train from Pisa to Florence, was very easy, we just had to get out of the Scotland-train mindset where there is sort of plenty of room; these trains are full and you’ve got to find a seat and claim it without much indecision.   We were so...