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"]
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[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"]
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