The first time we really thought about Rome this trip was back in Brantomê in France when we had lunch with Cliff and Kim at the fancy pants place. Cliff said something along the lines of Rome being a terrific city, one of his favourites, a city which wasn't the 'best' necessarily at anything, ie not the cleanest nor the prettiest nor with the best food nor with the best statues or art; but rather I suppose a place with 'it all' and then some. Around every corner is something attention grabbing and unique; each could possibly be in a different country. A bronze or marble statue/monument by a famous sculptor; a busy water fountain; an elaborate drinking fountain; an opera house performing age old operas; just a few Roman ruins; a bustling local market; a vast museum; an elaborate church; a quaint italian restaurant/pizzeria; a boutique gelatissarie; a narrow vine covered lane way; a musician too talented to be busking... And the list goes on and on! In essence Rome has been our trips epitome; the tying of many loose ends and I guess the convergence of 3 months worth of disheveled history lessons.
At a glance, our 3 days here took in the following;
1. Pantheon - terrific! Went back again and again and again! A little concerned by gaping hole in roof!
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3. Colisseum - wow! Only 25% original now but impressive nonetheless. Tour guide terrific. Roma card allowed us to skip long long lines.
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4. Vatican City - holy maceroly! Flash joint old Benedict heads! Worth the vows? I'm not so sure! Money, money, money, money!!! Would have cost a fortune to have built! Let alone pay to have decorated etc!
4b. St. Peter's Basilica and dome view - exquisite again. Spent quite some time here; the most of any church yet. Sculptures by Michalengo and a bronze one of St. Peter highlights. View from dome a must.
5. Trevi Fountain - throw your money in and you'll be back so they say. 3000€ per day gets tossed in which is pretty good money; more than enough for it's upkeep I'm guessing. Came here again and again and again also. Massive crowds. Pushy Indian man (of which there were possibly 30) took a good photo of us here on Manda's camera on the hope we'd tip/pay him. You guessed it, he didn't get paid!
6. Palatine Hill - ruins not much to see actually. If my imagination was better it have been good. Guide book we bought a real asset as it had pictures of what it would have looked like. A very handy investment was our Rome guide book.
7. Santa Maria Maggiore - yet another impressive place of worship.
8. Trastevere - suburb just west of the Fiume River; home to more traditional italian fare and some of the best gelato shops! Manda can vouch for this after a scoop of vanilla and cinnamon! The area here, while still close to town, was far slower paced and reasonably priced. Much less touristy! A real gem! Santa Maria church here another one worth seeing; nice mosaics and paintings.
9. Santa Maria in Cosmedin - home to the Mouth of Truth: a huge circular piece of marble, that once served as a manhole. It now has a face and mouth carved into it. Legend has if you lie with your hand in it it will bite it off! The mouth looked pretty dirty from a lot of use so I'm glad I didn't lie and managed to keep my hand!
10. Piazza Venezia - home of the impressive and equally gigantic palace and monument to Emanuele II. A great landmark in an otherwise fairly flat city.
11. Campo de Fiori - the local market with fruit and veg, clothes and nick-naks, oils and vinegars, alcohol (grappa/lemonchello) and jams! Not the biggest or best (Luzern, Switzerland or Sarlat, France our pick to date) but reasonable all the same! Bought lemonchello and an impressive little lemon squeezer gadget here.
12. Piazza Navona - more fountains and beautiful buildings. Street performers here as good as anywhere: 'still life statues', magicians, breakdancers and the how could you ever escape 'Mr good price for you' handbag sellers. Yes, I now consider these pests merely as entertainment. They are great to watch!
13. Mausoleum of Augusto - interesting building under going some renovations. Its across the road from the Ara Pacis which houses some important ancient relic in a weird all glass building but was more memorable for a dip in the fountain causing wet clothes, a dripping map and cooled off weary travelers! Wasn't until we got out we saw the no swimming sign! Oops! Map was promptly dried on dark marble which could have fried an egg! Hot!
14. Piazza del Popolo - home of the twin churches and anther Egyptian obelisk (of which there must be a least 4 in town). The mirror image piazza was well worth the long walk. Having to return 2 days later along the same long hot walk to go to clothing shop H&M not so appreciated! It was a necessity however as Manda ended up with the wrong size togs in Florence H&M so we had to swap them before Greece!
15. Piazza delta Repubblica - another fountain and buildings!
Roma Card for €25 got us 3 days public transport and included entry to 2 museums (Vatican don't accept it) so was reasonable value. Funnily enough, despite the fact we had free public transport, we actually ended up doing a load of walking as sometimes the distances were deceiving on the map or the the metro had stopped for the day (9pm last trip!) so all the pizza, pasta, ice cream, wine, beer and antipasto plates were walked off a few times over!
Had a terrific meal here on our last night at a smaller restaurant with a great chardonnay from a winery named Castle Del Giglio, an antipasto plate (duck bacon, preserved meats and the quintessential local salami of foal and venison!) and homemade/handmade tortalini! Not bad. Waiters were the best we've had to date but no tip from the Aussie tightbutts! The other noteworthy gastronomic experience was Manda's ice-cream with vanilla and cinnamon; not my cup of tea but she thought it was magic! Happy wife happy life right?!
Indifferent fortune seems to constantly be following us and Rome was no different. Our 4 star hotel (Hotel Commodore) was really of 2 star standard (probably should have guessed from the price!); the 1st room we were taken to reeked of cigarettes (yes, it was non smoking?! So we were moved to a more pleasant room) then the cleaning lady did a great job but twice forgot to leave any towels (and reception, despite us calling forgot to bring towels to us?! The embarrassed reception man said they were busy when I arrived questioning him as to where they were). Otherwise it was ok!
Our Roma pass didn't work on the public transport; when scanned it made an ear piercing buzz to let everyone within 20m know we were dodgy! Hence we ended up traveling without a validated ticket! Highly illegal.
Had planned on going to Vatican City on Sunday but didn't as had read it was closed on Sundays. Had we read on further we'd have known it is open with FREE admission on the last Sunday of the month... A potential saving of 15€pp. Made then worse by having to line up the day after for 2 and a bit hours (9 to 11.15am) in the sun to get in to the ticket office! We assume the free Sundays would probably be quite as most people like us are unaware!?! Was worth the wait however as the Sistine Chapel was something else!
Then Aegean Airways brought our flight to Athens forward by 90 minutes and notified Manda by email 90 minutes prior to departure and we didn't get email until within an hour of departure purely by chance (just made check in... So close... So hot sweaty and cranky! Train to airport took 30 minutes...)
Such is travel I guess: always be prepared for the unusual and unexpected!
Rome may not be the 'best' at anyone thing but it's sure as hell a terrific city more than enough to offer your average holiday traveller looking to fill in 3 days!
At a glance, our 3 days here took in the following;
1. Pantheon - terrific! Went back again and again and again! A little concerned by gaping hole in roof!
2. Piazza di Spagna - Spanish steps - crowded, like everything else in Rome. Had fun people watching... Police kept shewing away darkies selling sun umbrellas, flowers, hats etc and like flies they kept coming back! Amusement for hours!
4. Vatican City - holy maceroly! Flash joint old Benedict heads! Worth the vows? I'm not so sure! Money, money, money, money!!! Would have cost a fortune to have built! Let alone pay to have decorated etc!
4a. Sistine Chapel and Vatican museum - chapel exquisite. Museum worthy of a look too. Loads of sculptures, catholic paraphernalia, mosaics, tapestries, paintings and wood carving. Line took 2 hours to get through. Arrrrgh!
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| No photos in Sistine Chapel - taken from guidebook! It was a sight to behold... worth the wait |
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| One of the elaborate hallway endings walking through the museum |
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| View from St Peter's Cathedral dome over the square |
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| One of the amazing mosiacs in the dome of the cathedral |
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| Crowd at the fountain |
6. Palatine Hill - ruins not much to see actually. If my imagination was better it have been good. Guide book we bought a real asset as it had pictures of what it would have looked like. A very handy investment was our Rome guide book.
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| The now sparce Palatine Hill |
7. Santa Maria Maggiore - yet another impressive place of worship.
8. Trastevere - suburb just west of the Fiume River; home to more traditional italian fare and some of the best gelato shops! Manda can vouch for this after a scoop of vanilla and cinnamon! The area here, while still close to town, was far slower paced and reasonably priced. Much less touristy! A real gem! Santa Maria church here another one worth seeing; nice mosaics and paintings.
9. Santa Maria in Cosmedin - home to the Mouth of Truth: a huge circular piece of marble, that once served as a manhole. It now has a face and mouth carved into it. Legend has if you lie with your hand in it it will bite it off! The mouth looked pretty dirty from a lot of use so I'm glad I didn't lie and managed to keep my hand!
10. Piazza Venezia - home of the impressive and equally gigantic palace and monument to Emanuele II. A great landmark in an otherwise fairly flat city.
11. Campo de Fiori - the local market with fruit and veg, clothes and nick-naks, oils and vinegars, alcohol (grappa/lemonchello) and jams! Not the biggest or best (Luzern, Switzerland or Sarlat, France our pick to date) but reasonable all the same! Bought lemonchello and an impressive little lemon squeezer gadget here.
12. Piazza Navona - more fountains and beautiful buildings. Street performers here as good as anywhere: 'still life statues', magicians, breakdancers and the how could you ever escape 'Mr good price for you' handbag sellers. Yes, I now consider these pests merely as entertainment. They are great to watch!
13. Mausoleum of Augusto - interesting building under going some renovations. Its across the road from the Ara Pacis which houses some important ancient relic in a weird all glass building but was more memorable for a dip in the fountain causing wet clothes, a dripping map and cooled off weary travelers! Wasn't until we got out we saw the no swimming sign! Oops! Map was promptly dried on dark marble which could have fried an egg! Hot!
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| Tut tut Manda |
14. Piazza del Popolo - home of the twin churches and anther Egyptian obelisk (of which there must be a least 4 in town). The mirror image piazza was well worth the long walk. Having to return 2 days later along the same long hot walk to go to clothing shop H&M not so appreciated! It was a necessity however as Manda ended up with the wrong size togs in Florence H&M so we had to swap them before Greece!
15. Piazza delta Repubblica - another fountain and buildings!
Roma Card for €25 got us 3 days public transport and included entry to 2 museums (Vatican don't accept it) so was reasonable value. Funnily enough, despite the fact we had free public transport, we actually ended up doing a load of walking as sometimes the distances were deceiving on the map or the the metro had stopped for the day (9pm last trip!) so all the pizza, pasta, ice cream, wine, beer and antipasto plates were walked off a few times over!
Had a terrific meal here on our last night at a smaller restaurant with a great chardonnay from a winery named Castle Del Giglio, an antipasto plate (duck bacon, preserved meats and the quintessential local salami of foal and venison!) and homemade/handmade tortalini! Not bad. Waiters were the best we've had to date but no tip from the Aussie tightbutts! The other noteworthy gastronomic experience was Manda's ice-cream with vanilla and cinnamon; not my cup of tea but she thought it was magic! Happy wife happy life right?!
 |
| Castle Del Giglio! that one is for you Lizzard! |
Indifferent fortune seems to constantly be following us and Rome was no different. Our 4 star hotel (Hotel Commodore) was really of 2 star standard (probably should have guessed from the price!); the 1st room we were taken to reeked of cigarettes (yes, it was non smoking?! So we were moved to a more pleasant room) then the cleaning lady did a great job but twice forgot to leave any towels (and reception, despite us calling forgot to bring towels to us?! The embarrassed reception man said they were busy when I arrived questioning him as to where they were). Otherwise it was ok!
Our Roma pass didn't work on the public transport; when scanned it made an ear piercing buzz to let everyone within 20m know we were dodgy! Hence we ended up traveling without a validated ticket! Highly illegal.
Had planned on going to Vatican City on Sunday but didn't as had read it was closed on Sundays. Had we read on further we'd have known it is open with FREE admission on the last Sunday of the month... A potential saving of 15€pp. Made then worse by having to line up the day after for 2 and a bit hours (9 to 11.15am) in the sun to get in to the ticket office! We assume the free Sundays would probably be quite as most people like us are unaware!?! Was worth the wait however as the Sistine Chapel was something else!
Then Aegean Airways brought our flight to Athens forward by 90 minutes and notified Manda by email 90 minutes prior to departure and we didn't get email until within an hour of departure purely by chance (just made check in... So close... So hot sweaty and cranky! Train to airport took 30 minutes...)
Such is travel I guess: always be prepared for the unusual and unexpected!
Rome may not be the 'best' at anyone thing but it's sure as hell a terrific city more than enough to offer your average holiday traveller looking to fill in 3 days!
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| Love Brandy! (a shop in Rome called Brandy!) |
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