Rome was a bit overwhelming after the more relaxed, smaller Florence. But Rome is an amazing city to visit with so many historical places to see. We had a week but could have used a month to see just the highlights.
We had some excellent advice from our dear friend, Andy who is a classic scholar and has visited Rome many times with his work. Sev, also, took us to many of the important art galleries. We thank both of them for their time and advice to us. Photo of Susie and Sev, to the right.
We started our exploration of Rome with a leisurely stroll to Plaza Navona, the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain with a few Egyptian obelisks along the way. I guess the ancients loved to bring home souvenirs from their travels too. The Pantheon is one of the best preserved of Roman buildings as it was a temple, then later converted to a church. While at the Pantheon we were treated to a concert by a men’s choir singing a cappella while we marveled at the architecture of this 2000 year old building.
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Trevi Fountain sits on the end of a building with magnificant sculptures projected outward toward the square. It is closely surrounded by other buildings so there isn't a lot of room to move and it lived up to its reputation as a busy place. We took our photos, crowds included, and then sought out a pizzeria, out of the rain, for lunch.
One afternoon was dedicated to the Vatican Museum and St Peter’s Basilica. Unfortunately, we got stuck between two tour groups as we negotiated the maze of rooms at the Vatican. We were barely able to stop and take one photo before being hustled along – almost like being in a fast-flowing river with a smooth riverbank. One area which was not so crowded was the immense collection of art at the Vatican with some classic pieces (The School of Athens by Raphael) and some modern art (Soft Monster in Angelic Landscape by Salvador Dali). The Sistine Chapel was lovely as the crowd was respectfully quiet (no photos allowed).
We had seen many churches in our month away but St Peter’s Basilica does take the cake as the grandest, with a capacity to hold 80,000 worshipers.
Before leaving the States, Sev had arranged for us to ‘visit’ Pope Francis during his weekly address to the masses. Sev successfully secured our passes from the Swiss Guard office while we were at Vatican City. Anyone can request tickets by fax ahead of your trip OR If you are in Rome up to 3 days prior to the Papal Audience and you want to attend, and have not requested tickets, you may go to St Peter's Square, and visit the Swiss Guards at the bronze door which is on the right hand side of the colonnade as you look at St. Peter's Basilica. Note bronze door in the photo to the right.
The next morning in St Peter's Square, we joined 60,000 other souls to hear addresses by priests in at least 8 different languages, before the Pope gave a short address and ended with a blessing. The large TV screens along the sides did help to close the distance between us and the tented dias where “Papa Pancho” sat listening to the priests. Many groups had brought flags and banners to wave when they were introduced. We enjoyed watching the youngsters who were very serious and excited about this expedition. Jim opted to wander the square and captured an excellent photo of the Pope while he moved about in his Popemobile.
That same day, we traveled by crowded city bus to the Borghese Gallery to see yet more famous paintings and sculptures in another spectacular mansion. Part of the grounds were designed as a traditional Italian Garden, in guess where, Italy. The attraction of this Gallery is the major collection of Caravaggio's paintings and Bernini's works, not that we knew very much about them but they are amazing pieces of art. Europe is such a treasure trove of information for students who are looking to study particular artists or a specific facet of history, say the hair styles or dress of a specific era – so many examples. But overload for our little brains.
You can’t visit Rome without exploring the Colosseum. As with the Grand Canyon, it looks just like the photographs but being there in person and walking the stairs and hallways does make you feel like you are stepping back in time.
Near the Colosseum is The Forum (meeting place) where the government of the Roman Empire conducted it’s business. It was a hot day for us, so we took our time photographing what remains of the 'Temple of Antoninus and Faustina' and the 'House of the Vestal Virgins. An interesting fact that the Vestal Virgins had special privileges such as being able to own property, vote and write a will which other women did not because they were considered to be the property of their fathers.
Is the fellow to the left checking on the state of the Roman Empire or more likely, Facebook?
While taking a photo (the panoramic below) from the Palatine Hill Overlook, Jim had his pocket picked. He knew right away that his wallet had been taken from a zipped pants pocket but we couldn’t find anyone to tell. A couple of ‘sightseers’ appeared to be part of the gang as they were not acting like tourists and were trying to distract us, in a frantic manner. They had probably passed off the wallet allowing the other culprits to escape. We checked the garbage cans in the respective washrooms close by but no luck. The clerks at the gate were not interested and told us to call the police.
After spending the afternoon, calling the credit card companies, we tried to talk to the police but language was a barrier. They asked if we had a photo of the couple but it was on Jeannie’s camera so difficult to send (realized later we could have used the phone to take a picture of the camera photo to send to them!!!). This definitely put a black cloud on a sunny day but heightened our awareness, even further, in crowded places.
The next day, not wanting to be where the crowds were, we walked over to the Tiber River to see the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, one of the oldest churches in Rome with a display of interesting mosaics. We wandered back thru the Jewish Ghetto with its kosher restaurants and ancient ruins close by.
Attracted by a poster advertising a Claude Monet exhibit, we tracked down the information and squeezed in a visit to the gallery one morning, before we left. We are not art historians but couldn't pass up a chance to see some original Monet pieces from his family's collection: pen and ink sketches of his family, early paintings from London, a few Water Lily pictures and quite a number of later paintings when Monet’s eyesight was failing.
The Monet exhibit was behind the Altare della Patria building (Altar of the Fatherland) at a major intersection in the city. This building is not mentioned very often in the tourist literature but has many derogatory nicknames (wedding cake, dentures, typewriter) as some feel it doesn’t fit the setting near the Roman ruins. It is also known as the Vittore Emmanuel II Monument (the first king of Italy, after reunification in the late 1800s).
The Colosseum and Forum area requires payment to enter but some parts of the same region of the city are free to ponder. You can look over the area of the Roman Forum without paying, from behind the Altar of the Fatherland building. You can walked across the street (Via Dei Fori Imperiali) to see Trajan's Column. The ancient columns in Trajan’s Forum are remnants of the old commercial area of Roma (an early shopping mall). Trajan is seen as “the best ruler” as he supported the building of public works such as aqueducts, bridges, road and expanded the Roman Empire to it’s greatest extent.
Our Rome accommodations were in an AirBnB overlooking Campo de' Fiori, which is a daytime open air market. Each morning at 5:00 AM, the vendors would begin to setup (who needs an alarm clock with the clanging of metal poles and vendors greeting each other). Around 4:00 PM, the stalls were completely taken down and a street sweeper cleaned up the large mess (the sweeper had a distinctive sound too). As night descended, buskers set up so we enjoyed hearing them, during the evenings we stayed 'home'.
When we had a few hours and didn’t want to go far from our apartment, we walked over to the river. The Castel Sant’Angelo (Mausoleum of Hadrian) is an impressive edifice and a great place to ‘people’ watch. We spent one morning touring some courtyards of historical houses which were open to the public for the weekend.
Once away from the busy, noisy traffic Rome has a lot to offer. We were frustrated at not being able to see many of the MUST SEE places mentioned by Andy and travel books. As we neared the end of our Mediterranean adventure, we were beginning to have travel fatigue. Events and interesting spots were beginning to blur together after 7 weeks of travel.
When we started sorting and editing the photos, many of the experiences came back. Writing this blog also helps to secure those memories in our very full brains.
Next blog: CUBA
You can read about our "Lessons Learned in the Mediterranean" on a separate page.