Final days in Rome

May 15, 2019 / edebock / 2 Comments

After two very intensive days in Rome, we decided that days three and four should be a bit more laid back and relaxing. We were able to manage that without sacrificing any of the things we most wanted to see and do.

Our third morning was spent exploring Castel Sant’Angelo, originally commissioned by Roman emperor, Hadrian, in the first century AD as a mausoleum to house his remains and those of his descendants. Unlike other Roman monuments, the mausoleum never fell into disrepair. Over the centuries, in addition to serving as a tomb, it has been used as an impregnable fortress, a prison, a magnificent Renaissance dwelling, and now a national museum.

Beginning in the 14th century, the popes converted it into a castle. It was eventually connected to St. Peter’s Basilica by a covered fortified corridor and the fortress was used as a refuge by Pope Clement VII for several months during a time of siege. It owes its present name to a medieval legend. In the year 590, the Archangel Michael is said to have appeared there before Pope Gregory the Great to announce the end of a plague.

Once inside, we felt as if we’d taken a huge step back in time.

I loved the statues of the Archangel Michael as a strong warrior. The first one shown here is inside the castle walls and the bronze one is on the pinnacle.

From the top, we had amazing views like this one with St. Peter’s Basilica in the centre.

We could see that there was a storm moving in though and sure enough, before we got back down to ground level, it hit with a vengeance! We sat under cover and ate our lunch while lightning flashed, thunder rumbled, and rain poured down. Thankfully, it blew over and we were able to wait it out.

Leaving the castle, we made our way across the famed Ponte Sant’Angelo or Bridge of Angels, completed in 134 AD by Emperor Hadrian to span the Tiber and connect the city centre to his newly constructed mausoleum.

We eventually made our way back to the Church of Sant’Agnese in Agone on Piazza Navona for a free concert. There we listened to two choirs sing entirely a cappella. We couldn’t understand the words, of course, but the acoustics in the 17th century church were amazing and the voices blended beautifully.

We started our final day in Rome at Villa Borghese, a huge public park. It was a peaceful spot away from the usual crowds of tourists, but after wandering a bit, we decided to move on.

At nearby Piazza del Popolo we climbed up to the Pincio Terrace for a beautiful view of the piazza and Rome itself.

A visit to Rome wouldn’t be complete without sitting on the famous Spanish Steps. This 135 step staircase was opened in 1735 to link the Spanish Embassy near the bottom of the steps with the Trinita del Monti, the late Renaissance church at the top. They were made particularly popular by the 1953 movie, Roman Holiday, starring Audrey Hepburn. It was a great place to sit for awhile soaking up the sun, watching the world go by, and treasuring our final moments in Rome.

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Second day in Rome

May 14, 2019July 6, 2019 / edebock / 1 Comment

Our second day in Rome was every bit as intense as the first. We started with an easy 20 minute walk from our guest house to the Colisseum, the largest amphitheatre built during the Roman Empire and definitely a highlight of any first time visit to Rome.

We purchased a two part tour that included first the Colosseum and then the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. In both cases, we had plenty of time to explore on our own after the formal tour was over and both were very informative.

The Colosseum has suffered a great deal of damage over it’s two thousand year history and yet it’s still hugely impressive. It’s sheer size is quite overwhelming! Coming from a part of the world that’s only been settled for a little over a century, it’s hard for us to wrap our heads around the fact that we are seeing and walking in structures that are so very ancient!

Our tour took us down to the arena floor level where gladiators once fought!

The Roman Forum and most of the ruins on Palatine Hill, the most central of Rome’s seven hills and the area where Romulus supposedly founded the city in 753 BC, have not survived as well as the Colosseum, but to those of us with an interest in history and archaeology, they are fascinating. Here, the likes of Julius Caesar lived and walked! These ruins were once palatial palaces, basilicas, banqueting halls, and places of government.

Once we left the Palatine Hill area, we continued to walk through and by other ruins including the Forum of Trajan, the last imperial forum built in Rome.

As we continued walking (yes, we’ve been walking miles every day!) we came upon the enormous white structure topped with bronze chariots that we’d previously been by on the bus and that is visible from practically every viewpoint in the city. Always curious, we decided to find out what it was and whether or not we could go inside. The Vittorio Emanuele II Monument, also known as the Altar of the Fatherland, is national monument or war memorial and we were welcome to enter.

A quick look around inside showed us room after room of Italian regimental flags in glass cases, all looking very much alike to us. I’m sure there was more than that to see, but it quickly became apparent to us that it wasn’t a place that held much interest for us, so we exited and continued to explore.

We ended our day on a fun note with a visit to the Mouth of Truth outside the entrance to the Santa Maria in Cosmedin church. Made famous by the 1953 movie, Roman Holiday, with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, legend has it that the massive stone figure will bite off the hands of liars. It isn’t known how or when this belief originated, but tourists like ourselves line up to pop our hands in the mouth and have our photos taken!

Thankfully, Richard and I both walked away with our hands!

First day in Rome

May 13, 2019May 14, 2019 / edebock / 14 Comments

If you can’t handle crowds, especially crowds of tourists, Rome is not the place for you! Our first two days here were intensive; jam packed with must-do, must-see places that we’d only heard of and dreamed of until now. Yes, there were crowds, but everyone was happy to be there and for the most part, we managed to avoid the incredibly long line ups by arranging “skip the line” passes in advance.

Early on our first morning, we headed to the Vatican City, in reality a separate country inside Rome! We took a tour of the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel which was perhaps a bit more hurried than we would have liked, but we learned a lot more and navigated the crowds much more easily than if we had tried to do it on our own. From late April until October, more than 20 000 people pass through the museum every day, six days a week!

Here’s an early morning look at St. Peter’s Square with the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in the centre and a 4000+ year old Egyptian obelisk that was brought to Rome by Caligula in 37 AD on the left.

The Vatican Museum houses a massive number of paintings, sculptures, tapestries and other works of art collected by popes throughout the centuries. The sheer size of the collection is really quite overwhelming. Sculpture is probably my favourite art form, so that’s mostly what my camera captured.

The floors and especially the ceilings throughout the enormous museum building are works of art in their own right. Imagine the work that went into a ceiling like this one when this is only a tiny portion of it!

Unfortunately, taking photographs isn’t allowed inside the Sistine Chapel where we gazed in amazement at Michelangelo’s ceiling, his Last Judgement, and the frescos lining the walls.

After our tour, we made our way into St. Peter’s Basilica, the world’s largest church and what is regarded as one of the Roman Catholic Church’s holiest shrines. My photos don’t really do it justice, but here’s one to give you an idea of the immense size and ornateness of the interior.

After leaving the Vatican, we took a Hop On, Hop Off bus around it’s route to get a better idea of the layout of the city. We had 72 hour passes that allowed us to ride it as often as we wanted which was handy. While we did use the metro and city buses as well, we sometimes found the Hop On, Hop Off to be the best way to get where we wanted to go. Since arriving in Europe, I’ve been extremely grateful for our year in Japan as it really prepared these Alberta prairie hicks for things like big city metro systems!

Our first day in Rome also included a visit to the Basilica of St John Lateran, the oldest and largest cathedral in Rome and the official seat of the Bishop of Rome, the pope. Less visited by tourists, it was was a more peaceful and relaxing place to visit, especially the 13th century cloister.

The nave of the basilica is lined with statues of saints, so in honour of our oldest son and our oldest and youngest grandsons who all have saint names, here from left to right, are Matthew, Andrew, and Simon.

Next on our busy first day agenda was the famous Trevi Fountain, the world’s largest Baroque fountain. According to legend, if you toss a coin into the fountain, you’ll return to Rome someday, so of course we had to do that! The vast sum of money that is collected goes to charity. We also enjoyed our first Italian gelato at the fountain.

A short walk took us from the Trevi Fountain to the Pantheon. Once a temple to the gods of ancient Rome, it was later turned into a church.

Continuing on, we ended our day of exploration at Piazza Navona. One the prettiest and most popular of Rome’s many plazas, it boasts three ornate fountains and is always a happening place.

Just in case we hadn’t visited enough churches that day, we also peeked into the Church of Sant’Agnese in Agone on the edge of the piazza! While our first day in Rome focused mainly on churches, the next was all about ancient Rome. That will have to wait for another blog post on another day though!