Home to Rome then Bari

31 August 2017

10:30pm and ready to go

Home to Rome – a long but thankfully uneventful flight from Brisbane to Rome via Singapore and Dubai led us to our accommodation along an old cobble stoned street in Rome just 150 metres from the Trevi Fountain yet in a quiet location.

Our room in Rome

Front door to Trevi Rome Suites

Courtyard sculptures our place

Cobblestone street 

Taking 32 hours door to door to get here our room at the Trevi Rome Suites was very good and even better was the shower and a bed where lying straight for the first time in two days was a delight.

Trevi Fountain

Breakfast in the room the next day reminded us of the different cultural norms across the world. Nutella on crispy dry bread, croissants and jam, cheese with cheese, really awful coffee – all the things that we experienced last time we were in Italy. Away early we wandered the streets of Rome vaguely heading in the direction of the Colosseum before the maddening crowds erupt onto the streets like a disturbed ants nest. We went straight to the Trevi Fountain where, with only 10 other people, we marvelled at the masterpiece. Later in the day people stand 10 deep all around it holding cameras high above their heads just to get a photo. The fountain is guarded by three levels of security plus crowd controllers with whistles to stop people doing the wrong thing i.e. touching the water.  People stand with their backs to the fountain and throw in coins. At night the coins are collected and given to a local charity. 3000 Euro a day is collected.

Studying the map

Part of the Forum

Moving on, a chance right turn down a little alley led us into the middle of the Roman Forum that dates back to 29BC. A long series of wow experiences followed as we read the information boards and we marvelled at the history laid before us.

We then came across the Colosseum, which isn’t hard to miss, as firstly it’s big and secondly there are people everywhere.

Walking all around it we were astounded at the grand scale of the near 2000 year old arena that held 65000 people and was started in 72AD and built in just 8 years.

A walk back through other parts of the Roman Forum took us into the old part of the city and eventually along the cobble stoned street to our accommodation for morning tea and reflection on a mind-blowing first morning introduction to this amazing city.

Another part of the forum

Back out for the afternoon we visited the Pantheon (126AD) previously a Roman temple and now a church.

Inside the Pantheon

 
Further wanderings took us to the Fountain of the Four Rivers, past the Altar of the Fatherland – a ridiculously expensive (30 million lire) self-funded monument of Victor Emmanuel II – that is much disliked by the Italians before returning home.

Fountain of the Four Rivers

Well that wasn’t a bad first day to our trip. After a quick pizza and some local wine we fell into bed with all the sights and sounds of Rome still swirling in our heads.

Day 2 in Rome – the theme for the day was to head towards the Vatican to primarily work out where tomorrow’s Vatican tour starts from and then to see what we might see.

Altar of the Fatherland

We found the tour starting point well enough and skirted Vatican City in the process. Armed military and police are everywhere protecting this big part of history in Rome.

Tiber River - Rome

A large round castle/church looking thing loomed nearby on the banks of the Tiber River so we went for a stickybeak. This turned out to be fortuitous as it did look interesting, the queue to get in had just disappeared so we thought we would spend the 11 euro each to have a look inside. Arriving at the ticket office we discovered it was the first Sunday of the month so that meant entry was free. The building we were in was the Castle St Angelo, the Mausoleum of Hadrian (134 AD). It has a chequered history being a military fortress, papal fortress, residence and prison and today a big pile of rocks that tourists pay to walk around in except on the first Sunday of the month.   It also had amazing 360 degree views of Rome, St Peter's and surrounding hills from the upper terrace.

Castle St Angelo 

Castle St Angelo

Top secret Italian military establishment - cannonballs ready to fire

Hadrian's Tomb

The streets of Rome continued to amaze us as we checked out the main train station for our upcoming trip to Bari after which we stumbled across enormous Roman baths and museum that, on the outside, had enormous Roman columns and stone coffins just sitting in the park.

 












Dinner was had down a little cobblestone alley in the alley under the stars. A lovely Japanese couple were later seated beside us so we had one of those enjoyable conversations with people from another culture that had little common language except for smiles and broken English. Wherever you dine in Italy, you will have neighbours seated quite close by.  On the way back to our accommodation we visited the Trevi Fountain, this time at night. The crowds were down a little but security remained tight. The end of day two.

  

Day 3 - Vatican Tour. Leaving under the dawning skies of Rome we walked for 40 minutes to the meeting point for the tour arriving at 7:10am.

Near the start of the queue at the Vatican?

Hall of Maps - Vatican

We had booked the tour that first goes straight to the Sistine Chapel before the crowds arrive. We quickly passed through corridors of untold wealth and beauty knowing we were later to return. We entered the Sistine Chapel and spent 30 minutes in there with relatively few others - we could even get a seat along the sides. I have to say it was somewhat underwhelming, not a thing of stunning beauty but Michelangelo did a good job on his first fresco given he was primarily a sculptor. All photos are banned for copyright reasons.

Next we were back into those corridors I mentioned earlier. The corridor of maps being the most beautiful. Priceless statues and relics filled all the courtyards and buildings. The place is truly amazing and the tour we went on was excellent and quite special. We even went back into the Sistine Chapel a second time - it was packed.

The last part of the tour was through St Peter's Basilica, a truly stunning building. The catacombs beneath St Peter's were open by sheer chance so we took the opportunity to walk through where a number of Popes are entombed. At the end of the tour we were spat out in St Peter's Square where the queues to get in went for over 500 meters! It could have been for the women's toilet, not sure.

St Peter's Basilica

The Vatican's Swiss guards

St Peter's Square

The last three days caught up with us so we spent a lazy afternoon in our room and around the streets nearby.

The Spanish Steps

Next day we were booked on an almost  four hour Colosseum tour in the afternoon so we filled the morning visiting and climbing the Spanish Steps and stumbling across the Mausoleum of Augustus - his tomb of 28BC. It was closed to the public but we could get a slight glimpse into this enormous ancient structure. Beside this was a church so we peeked in, were impressed so we walked in and were stunned by the sheer beauty and opulence of the San Carlo al Corso Church built in 900AD.

Mausaleum of Augustus

A parishioner of San Carlo al Corso Church

After lunch we headed off to the Colosseum to meet our tour guide. We had opted for the VIP tour which had just 12 people on it with the guide being an American who is a Professor of Archaeology in Rome and who guides to fill in time between grants and teaching. We first went into and around the Forum which was just mind blowing. Such a huge concentration of 2000 year old buildings that could be touched and walked through - unbelievable.  

The actual palace of 12 Vestal Virgins - only one left

1802 year old original doors - Roman Forum

A private colosseum

The Colosseum

Next it was on to the Colosseum where we had a very special and privileged walk under the floor of the Colosseum into where the gladiators and the wild and exotic animals entered the arena through a myriad of disguised trap doors. We stood beside the cages where the animals were housed and walked where the losing gladiators exited. We stood beside a reconstructed trap door pulley system that delivered animals and people into the arena. Just 24 of us were allowed into this area and we spent an hour being shown how this incredible building was operated from below. Next we climbed to the very top of the arena where again just 24 of us were allowed to view into the Colosseum from its highest point. This was a wonderful experience for both of us.

Where the gladiators waited under the arena

The gladiator tunnel

Pulley system to open wild animal trap doors

Animal cages under the arena floor

Top of picture is where we were under arena floor

Well, for us, that was Rome done and dusted. Despite the crowds it was certainly worth the visit. The center of the city is like an open air museum with so much archaeology just lying around. A lot of it is free to see with good information boards in most places.

Next stop Bari.

Bye for now

JeffnJulie