Rome - Day 4

Our 4th day was a little bit overcast, but still very warm and we headed out walking in the direction of the town centre. This took us past Trajan's Column, which had remained standing on the spot since Trajan was around over 1500 years ago. I'd seen a plaster cast of the whole thing in the V&A museum before and it's unreasonably massive up close.

[caption id="attachment_754" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="Trajan's Column"][/caption]

This was all just part of the journey as we made our way through the morning traffic of Rome. As we went by the very busy intersection next to the "Giant's Typewriter" monument we noticed that there were no traffic signals directing the mass of traffic, but instead a pair of traffic officers performing a very intricate dance were keeping the cars in check.



We soon reach our destination: The Campo di Fiori market (meaning Meadow of Flowers) which holds a small but lively little market. It could hardly stand up to the very amazing London street markets, but it had a very exclusively Italian flavour to it, so it was interesting to us. For example, the sun-dried tomatoes and spices:



The strange vegetables:



And the very colourful displays:



When we were finished with the market, we took to the warren of streets around it and soon came to the Saint Maria Dell'Orazione E Morte with the very striking winged skulls decorating the façade. The Santa Maria was built by a confraternity that assumed responsibility for interring abandoned corpses in Rome (wikipedia).



After this we went into the Galleria Spada, which is an odd curation of 5 rooms of collected and patronised art by a couple of monks. One of the oddest features of their villa is pictured below. The collonaded hall appears to stretch off into the distance, but in reality is only a few metres deep.



From this gallery we headed through the Piazza Navona again and past the below, which I can't recall the location of at present.



We then arrived at the ancient and impressive façade of the Pantheon. This temple is still standing from ancient times and had at some point been re-dedicated towards Catholicism instead of its original pagan roots.



On the inside of the circular internal chamber is a high domed ceiling with the oculus (or eye) at the apex. This allows natural light into the place, which does an amazing job of illuminating the temple.



Around the floor of the place are the usual assortment of chapels and statues and artwork, only the place gives away a lot more of the contradictions of christian worship than I think they intended. Surely, each of these chapels was once dedicated to a different Roman god, now converted into areas of worship for saints and other idols. How can the very same building used for the fervent worship of make-believe gods be converted into one for the use of the single "true" god? It really does defy belief. Still, the artwork and the statues are beyond breathtaking and instil a deep respect for the abilities of mankind to create these wonders.



One thing that is very hard to find in Rome is a public toilet, so we began our search for a Mcdonald's, the public toilet of the world. With our quarry within our sights we headed through the below little compound. It's nothing special, just the place that some people live in I guess.



Feeling relieved and ready to continue, we did so by returning to the Trevi Fountain during the daylight hours. It is a very large and imposing water feature built into the side of a building and it really does draw the crowds. I would like to think of a fountain as a place of calm reflection and tranquillity where one can listen to the cascade of water and relax, but that's a bit hard here.



Next up was the Spanish Steps, which also seems to draw the crowds. I have to assume it's some name familiarity thing, because there's not much too them. All of Rome is so amazing that trying to draw one part aside and call it a 'must-see' puts it under a lot of pressure, understandably.



One of the most emotional parts of the journey was going to the Keats-Shelley museum in the building right next to the steps. Given the number of people milling around it, I would have expected more people inside the few small rooms where the poet, Keats, spent his last days. It was chilling to look around the small room that Keats called his own as he tried in vain to recover from the TB that took his life at the age of only 24.



Climbing to the top of the steps, we wandered along the plateau at the top of the hill with a view of the rooftops of the city. We continued on until we reached a platform overlooking the Piazza del Popolo.



Right across from this, at the top of the hill, was a garden that held a very curious and operational water clock.



When we had finished at the top, we made our way down to the Santa Maria del Popolo, another magnificent church on the edge of the Piazza. I love the morbid imagery of some of the sculptures, but even the most graceful and holy of them have an artistry that I can't even comprehend.



Heading out onto the square, we were met with the view of two smaller churches that had been built to almost mirror each other. Note that this is 3 major churches clustered around just one square. It's a bit extreme.



After this busy and tiring day, we dragged ourselves all the way back through town to stop at a small restaurant down a side street that looked good. We ordered a carafe each of house wine and started with fried, meat-stuffed olives and a fried risotto.



For our primi course we had the lasagne:



And for a main I had the lamb and potatoes and Kristen had the pork chop.



This was rounded off nicely by a chocolate cake and an expresso.

Rome - Day 3

Our 3rd day in Rome begins with our first mistake and a travel warning. Do not sit down at any place where you have not seen the menu and prices first. After encountering very reasonable prices up to this point so far, we did not expect being charged 6 Euros (NZ$10.40) for a coffee. We chalked that one up to experience and moved on.



We went into the Saint Maria Maggiore Basilica finally (a basilica is just a big church, I guess). This is the one that was just down the street from our place. It's actually considered to be an exclave of the Vatican City, even though it is squarely inside Italy, which is something I wasn't aware of at the time. The ceiling is a brilliant, shining gold and there is a sort of chamber set in the floor before the altar which holds a golden relic of some sort, with a very charming sculpture of a supplicant monk facing it.





Our next stop was a small, unassuming church down a side street - Basilica di Santa Prassede. We actually walked past it on the first day and didn't notice a thing until I saw it was recommended in our guide book. The inside was very beautiful. Every one of these churches is beautiful, but this one's main feature was the incredible, medieval golden mosaics.





After being side-tracked by these churches (and believe me, it's very easy to do) we headed down towards the ruins of the ancient Roman Forum. These ruins occupy an excavated dent in the ground overlooked by the Colosseum and several churches. It always confuses me how the course of time buries these ruins so deeply that they have to be dug up. It's a sad fact that a lot of the old temples had their intact columns removed for use in other churches throughout history, so the ones now standing are just repaired and replaced at a later time. Also quite a lot of damage was done by the Vandals in the 5th century when they sacked Rome.

Despite all this, there's an indescribable feeling when wandering down the uneven paved streets. I felt as if those stones had been waiting for me my whole life, ever since I first picked up an illustrated history book on the Romans as a child. It was eerie to rest for a moment against an old foundation stone and imagine a toga wearing Roman politician having stood in that very same spot almost 2000 years before.



[caption id="attachment_735" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="The Temple of Saturn"][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_737" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="This building was MASSIVE. See how small I am? Basilica of Maxentius"][/caption]

The admission for the Forum could also be used to gain entrance to the Colosseum, which meant we were able to walk right past the long queue of people waiting to buy tickets and go straight in. The Colosseum has a certain charm that's hard to pin down. I don't think it's possible to walk around the sides of the arena and not imagine what it was like to be there during the height of the Roman Empire. It has seen better days and certainly isn't as big as the stadiums built today, but somehow the Roman's built the whole thing out of rocks, so that's to their credit I suppose. Yes, it's a bit run down - bit it's those very stones upon which the blood of gladiators was spilled all those years ago.





We were beginning to get a bit hungry after this, so we sat down at a restaurant that had a perfect view of the Colosseum and ordered up a couple of pizzas. I had the anchovy and Kristen had the ham and mushroom.



The final part of our ancient Rome tour was to see the Palatine hill, where the Caesars had their palaces. From the top of the hill, we could see more ruins of buildings that had once been the most magnificent in all the world, as well as a spectacular view over the modern city of Rome. Whilst at the top of the hill, we realised that all this walking had taken its toll on us and we were becoming dehydrated. Fortunately, there are working fountains with drinkable water all over Rome and we were able to refill our water bottle and move on happily.



Onwards to the Monument of Vittorio Emanuele II (otherwise known as the giant typewriter) which is an over-the-top brilliant, white monument to Italy's very brief period of monarchy after the reunification in 1870. I don't think it's a point of pride to the Italians and I've never seen it in a brochure before, but it certainly is big. It's honestly bigger than you possibly think it is, even if you're looking at the picture below. It's like a temple for giants.



With the sun starting to set and our legs spent from a very long day of walking around, we rested on the steps of a church towards the centre of town, the Gesù. We realised that the place was still open and so went inside and sat down on the slightly more comfortable pews. It just so happened that at the moment we went in, the sunlight was coming through the small window at the far end of the nave and shining onto the sunburst over the altar, representing god (IHS). Meanwhile, the St. Ignatius Chapel to the left of the main altar is an utterly ridiculous display of gold and lapis lazuli sculpture, with a piece called 'Faith defeats Idolatry'. I have to believe they were going for irony there.



[caption id="attachment_744" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="St. Ignatius Chapel"][/caption]

Leaving this behind, we approached the Teatro Argentina, which is an excavated area containing the bases of old temples. Situated as it is amongst buildings and streets of the inner city of Rome, I have to wonder what else lies buried beneath the ground. It seems like if one were to just pick a spot and dig there, all sorts of ruins would appear.

However, this area also doubles as a cat sanctuary. And sure enough, looking over the toppled pillars, we were able to spot a dozen cats lazing about. An elderly gentleman came by with a couple cans of cat food and started feeding a few of the cats while we were there.



We arrived at the Piazza Navona as the light started to fade. This is a large ovular oblong plaza with a large fountain in the centre and another one at each end. Off the top of my head (and wikipedia), the centre one was designed by Bernini and represents the four great rivers - The Nile, Danube, Ganges and La Plata. All around the square, buskers and artists have set themselves up, selling on original and copy artworks to the tourists.



We had dinner at little trattoria nearby and it was quite possibly the best food we had the entire time we were there. It was also the least expensive meal we had too. Nothing beats a big carafe of wine with dinner and the house wine really did go down well.

[caption id="attachment_747" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="antipasti and pesto rigatoni"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_748" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="Meatballs and roast veal with potatoes"][/caption]

Rome - Day 2

Our first full day in Rome began with a trip down to the metro to catch the underground train towards the Vatican city. The Metro station at Termini is a huge mess at the moment due to renovation, but the trains are comfortable enough. We disembarked just North of the Vatican and headed towards it. We stopped in for a coffee and a cannoli at a café where the patrons all stand at a counter as there are no seats in the place. It was amazingly cheap and one of those authentic experiences I love to collect in foreign countries.



After this, we made it to the queue for the Vatican Museum, which was a few hundred metres long and took about half an hour to get to the front of. There's airport style security there and the entry fee is 15 Euros, but this is understandable once inside the museum. I had previously thought that the London museums were the best in the world, but this one put them to shame.



The buildings are the old Papal palaces converted to contain endless corridors of paintings and statues and tapestries. Every building surface from the tiled floors to the painted ceilings is a work of art as well.

[caption id="attachment_692" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="The Last Supper tapestry"][/caption]

 



 

 

 

 

 



After the first gallery, we emerged out into a sunny courtyard.



 



 

This was followed by a section of the museum dedicated to statues from Rome, Greece and Egypt. The number of statues on display is overwhelming and include some of the most famous pieces of statuary in existence.

[caption id="attachment_697" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="Laocoön"][/caption]

 



The ceilings of nearly every chamber were intricately painted and works of art in their own right.



 



 



 



 

As we made our way through the rooms, we came to a section where the walls had been painted by Raphael.





 

And then there came the Sistine Chapel, with the incredible ceiling painted by Michaelangelo. Unfortunately there was no photography allowed in this room, but we did continue on our tour after a good 20 minutes staring up at the ceiling.





 



At last we came to the exit staircase after spending a good few hours in the museum. We could have stayed longer, but had to put an end to it at some stage.



After the museum, we headed around to St Peter's Plaza in front of the basilica of the same name where the Pope appears to his people. It's the head church of the catholic religion and is therefore full of the opulence and power of over a thousand years of Catholicism.







Inside the cathedral, it's hard to comprehend the size and scale of everything. The mind rebels and starts to imagine the scale of everything is nearer. The same happens in photographs. Luckily I have some which have people in them to use as a reference point.



 



 



 



We climbed to the top of the basilica and looked out over the city after climbing the treacherous steps on the inside of the main dome.



 



 



Following this, we wandered back into town and through the old part of the city in search of a dinner befitting the crazy day we'd just experienced. We crossed over the River Tiber by bridge and looked back at the Castle of Saint Angelo.

Continuing on, we wound our way through the narrow streets until we found an alright looking little restaurant. By this point we had not eaten anything all day so we were ravenous.



 



 

[caption id="attachment_723" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="Bruscetta and Deep fried courgette flower with anchovies"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_724" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="Pesto spaghetti and olive oil and chilli flake spaghetti."][/caption]

Sated, we headed back to our room on foot. I opted for the scenic route and took us by the Piazza Navona, the Pantheon and the Trevi fountain, which we visted in more depth later on.