Rome, the Eternal City
After Firenze, I was off to Rome, the Eternal City. The city that I thought was one big tourist trap, but trap or not, I wanted to go see the Colosseum. And then the city surprised me. A lot!
Rome Schmome
Rome schmome. I only went there to go see the Colosseum and the Appian Way. As for the rest of the sites of the ‘trap’, if I saw them great, if not, toughies. And then I set foot in Rome….
A cloud explosion🌧
My first afternoon there got off to a rocky start, or should I say rainy. I was not there an hour before a cloud exploded all over me. I was wet like a dog. Not even my rain jacket and umbrella could keep me sort off dry. Not knowing where to escape to, I perched on a windowsill while trying to keep all my parts in my newly constructed ‘tent’. This I made with my shocking yellow jacket and my equally shocking pink umbrella. And there I waited out the cloud explosion. I must have made quite the picture , literally, because when I emerged, I saw a photographer taking pictures of my shocking mess against the very grey background.
Uncultured pasta making
Surviving the flood I went to a pasta making class where they were shocked that I wanted juice instead of wine. What an uncultured idiot tourist! After eating almost my weight in Italian cuisine I set of again to see which of the tourist traps were on my way as I wandered around.
Fontana di Trevi
I came upon the Fontana di Trevi. It is huge! I could not even get the whole thing in one picture on my ‘mik en druk’. And speaking about ‘druk’. People were standing there, shoulder to shoulder throwing money into the fountain. I have heard that about 3000 euros worth of coins get fished from the fountain each night. And don’t think you can get your share of that. Police with whistles are very eager to blow those shrill things when you get too near the edge. And I don’t think that they will have any qualms about tackling you either. So no pocket money from the fountain.
Piazza di Spagna (and no, it is not ‘spag-na’ it is more like ‘span-ja’, more Afrikaans-ish and less weird English-ish)
I shuffled out and made my way to the next sound of a crowd which lead me to the Spanish steps (at the square ‘di Spagna). Again, a throng of tourist hung out there. I pushed my way up the steps and down again, and decided to come back very early the day when I leave. I just wanted to see these attractions without people camouflaging it.
When you wish upon a star*🌟
Then I just wandered around and made the best discovery of the day. A Pinocchio shop complete with a ‘Geppetto’ carving puppets at his workbench. I was thrilled like a little kid in a candy store! I had actually forgotten that Pinocchio was an Italian creation. Most people will probably just shake their heads because I was in Rome and got all excited about a puppet store. What can I say? Small minds maybe, or just me finding a thrill in the small things? Anyway, this was the highlight of my day.
*‘When you wish upon a star’ was the soundtrack to the movie and then became the track for Disney.
Realy old time Rome
The next day early was Sunday and free entrance day at the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. I found these historic places worth their own post and will write about them shortly. The Forum especially was spectacular and such an unexpected delight for me. I can only say, that If you only have limited time, skip all the rest of the touristic things and go straight there. But then again, interests differ. So the next person might not find it as amazing as I did.
I tore myself away from the Forum after lunch to go to the Via Appia Antica or the Appian Way. This super old road once took the Apostle Paul to Rome. If you can’t walk in someone’s shoes, you might as well try walking on the road that he did. Someone once told me that going to Jerusalem is like seeing the Bible in 3D. I just wanted to see some of that 3D in Rome’s Appian way, but I never got there!
What a bummer. It is not such a big tourist attraction as the obvious ones, it is therefore not as well explained. I could only find one website explaining how to get there, but by the time that I made it to Rome, that site was old news and I could not find the stupid bus that goes there. At least I got some ‘3D’ at the other old sights.
Some of the other architectural wonders- there are so many!
After this wasted time searching for the bus, I decided to go back to the centre so to speak, and go look at some other amazing things. By this time, I was sold on Rome and wished that I had more days to spend here. So, I tried making the most of the day that I had left.
There are architectural wonders everywhere dating back to a time loooooong ago which still stands today. You cannot not be in awe of all that was achieved by these old civilisations without the degrees and machines and what-not that we have today.
Pantheon
One of these things is the Pantheon. This building is famous for the hole in the roof. That is putting it rather plainly. The dome has a large hole in it, so designed to let light in. And it works brilliantly. You cannot believe how light it is inside, all because of the hole-in-the-dome design. You just stand there and gape and this monstrous building with the giant ‘lighting’ in the dome. Add to that that it is still apparently the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome.
Column of Marcus Aurelius
I also stumbled upon the Column of Marcus Aurelius (yes, the dude from Gladiator). Now I know that columns and obelisks are a big no-no for a lot of people, but I am not going to step into that jam. I just admired the work that went into making that column. What makes it interesting is the spiral of carvings. How long did it take to carve out the stories that make up the column? A lot of man-hours and skill went into this column that is big enough to enclose a staircase. Can you believe it!? It does not look that big from the outside. It is however closed, so I will never get drunk from spiralling up to the top and then down again.
St. Peter’s Basilica.
The day that I left the Eternal city, I went out just after 5 am hoping to catch some of the famous sites without people. I did get to see the sites un-infested by people, although, I kid you not, a few other people had the same idea as me. I saw the Spanish steps and the Trevi Fountain in all its own glory and then went out to St Peter’s which opens early as well.
No lines. Almost instant entry. Security is tight, even the nuns were scanned for ‘contraband’. Apparently, you can’t trust anyone these days.
This church is too big to describe and pictures don’t do it justice. I took a few pictures but in no way can they convey the enormity that is this famous church. It is just too big. I tried sitting on the floor to take a bigger picture but was quickly charged by security for doing this. Why bums on the floor are not allowed but pictures are, I will not understand. My but was actually way cleaner than my shoes were after all the kilometres that stuck to the soles. You can see I am making lite of a big thing as there really is no way to describe what you see there except ‘enormous‘, and you can put a picture of enormous in your head.
Pondering…..💭💭
I do find it ironic that this massive church is dedicated to Peter who is supposedly buried there. The irony of the matter for me is this: he chose to be crucified upside down as he did not see himself to worthy to die as Jesus did. He did not see himself worthy, and yet the world’s biggest church is named for him and millions of people flock to see the Basilica. Is that not the opposite of what he wanted?
Is it not ironic that the biggest church in the world is called the Saint Peters Basilica and not Jesus’s Basilica? I also pondered the churches/cathedrals/basilicas that I have come across in Europe. Most of them are tourist attractions with long ques of people wanting to tick it off their list of things to see. And I know that the architecture plays a big role, but my question is this: Do these people wanting to see the inside of churches actually go to church? Are they believers or just tourists? How is it that buildings became better than services? These are the things that I pondered as I walked through the world’s biggest church.
There is something about Rome
I walked along the Tiber river with its big old trees. There is just a more ‘alive’ feeling here compared to the other more claustrophobic and treeless cities. And then I am not even talking about Naples. O my word!! You can’t even name these 2 cities in the same sentence for all their differences. And after visiting Rome first, don’t go to Napoli. If you have to go there, rather go there first so that you don’t have the high expectations that Rome sets. (I will follow up on this a few posts later).
This was a big mouthful and I left out the Colosseum and the Forum! What can I say? Rome had my mind spinning. So, my take on Rome is this. There may be tourist traps, but it was by far my favourite city to visit in Italy. I just wish that I knew that I would love exploring there that much and would have booked more time there. Hindsight vision is always 20/20 they say. And in this case that is true. If I had known what I know now, I should have scrapped the whole Cinque Terre excursion and easily have gained 2 extra days to explore what I think is the most interesting city in Italy.But that is just me.
And if ever you want to read over my notes to maybe plan your trip, save these on Pinterest. (or any of the photos in the post, just hover and Pin)
