Rome in Ruins

They say you need a whole lifetime to see everything in Rome. That may be true, but we stayed for a whole week and managed to see enough to satisfy us… At least for now.

For Italy we had loose schedules created. For Rome in particular we used the website Visit A City to help create a 7 day schedule. The website creates daily schedules based on distances and opening/closing times. Instead of consulting 394 different websites, we were able to just use this one to create an appropriate schedule for us.

Our adventure started mid day when we met our AirBnB host in Trastevere. Normally we do not have anything of note to say about our hosts, but this guy went above and beyond. As you may remember, our first stop once we get settled is to go buy groceries. At our new home in Trastevere, our host had already purchased groceries for us. It was amazing how thoughtful he was to stock the cupboard for the week. We still went to the store, but fresh pasta demands that kind of trip.

Once settled, we raced on to complete our to-do list of the day (as determined by our Visit A City schedule). Our first steps in Rome were to a church naturally. We made a visit to Santa Sabine. This church is extremely old and also provides an amazing view of Rome.

The next stop on the list was a walk to the Baths of Caracalla. These Roman baths are some of the largest in Rome. The baths gave us beautiful views of mosaic floors. Most of the designs I would want in my own home. Clay was beside himself. It never gets old looking at Roman mosaics and Clay sought them out in most all the countries we visited. You may remember that we had a look at Morocco mosaics. (We also made a trip in Montenegro to see them. Whenever we get the blog caught up, you will get to see those.)

Besides the mosaics, the sheer size of the bath house structure was amazing. It still baffles me how structures of this size were created and how long they have stood.

After our visit to the baths we took a walk to visit a pyramid from year 12 BC. So there is that, just hanging out at an intersection. It was a little bizarre to see in the city.

We then headed on to a better view of the city in time for sunset. While on our walk we noticed a line of people at the front door of a building. People were queuing up to the door and taking a peek through the door’s keyhole. After taking a look, most giggled to their comrades or took pictures through the hole and then went on their way. I (Elizabeth), ever afraid of missing out, had to know what everyone was getting a gander of. Clay, ever the one with little patience, decided to keep walking to the sunset viewpoint. It took me about 30 mins or so to get to the keyhole. I had no idea what to expect when I took a peek. As I approached I had only a few thoughts of what it could be:

1. Something that was going to scare me. No one had peeked and jumped, but I was still slightly afraid.
2. A beautiful statue. Italy is covered in beautiful works of art. I thought it may be just a marble statue in a garden and people are only allowed to view it through the keyhole. Clay  joked that it was an enlarged version of The David’s most prized area.
3. At this point I should say that I was convinced there was a garden inside. The question for me was what was in the garden. I finally settled on a quite group of animals hanging out in a garden behind the door.

As you might have guessed, all my hypothesis were wrong. Instead behind the keyhole was… Well I guess you are just going to have to see for yourself. It would be a pity to spoil such a surprise.

I did share with Clay what I saw behind the keyhole. He will probably tell you if you buy him a good beer or BBQ dinner.

We ended our day at Eatly to buy some fresh pasta. Since we had been in Italy a while and had devoured several meals for “inspiration”, we were ready to try our hand at cooking fresh pasta on our own. Clay successfully made a few pasta dishes for us to enjoy as we booked tours for our stay in Rome. Word to the wise: It may not always be better to plan ahead, but it definitely would be less stressful.

The next morning we started with a free walking tour around the city. As usual the tour was a great introduction to Rome. We got to see our first Vatican building (one of the few outside Vatican City), Trajan’s Column, the Spanish Steps (closed for renovations), the Trevi Fountain, and the Pantheon. It was a lot to see before lunch, but I think that can sum up Rome.

 

In the afternoon we went to the Borghese Gallery. We booked a tour of the gallery the night before so we weren’t exactly sure what we were getting into. The gallery is a smallish collection of impressive art. There were mosaics, marble statues, and traditional paintings. Two of the more memorable pieces we saw were Bernini statues. One statue titled Apollo and Daphne, although only one piece, told the whole myth of Apollo and Daphne. Our guide did an excellent job telling us the story while also walking us around the statue as it played out. The second statue by Bernini is The Rape of Proserpina. This is so detailed that you have to stare at it for several minutes before you accept that it is only marble.

We ended our stay at the gallery by strolling through the gardens. We only saw a small part of the gardens. It is worth sticking around the gardens for a bit. We didn’t get to see near enough of it.

After our walk through the gardens, Clay was determine to see the Colosseum. I wanted to see it too, so we made the  forty minute trek across town to get a good look at what we would be touring the following morning.

For our dinner we bucked tradition and made reservations at a more modern restaurant. We were treated to an array of wonderful dishes. Our prix fixe meal was for seven courses, but those seven multiplied to 12 and we left with our stomachs busting at the seams.

The next day we went back to the Colosseum for a proper tour of the place. This tour was with Context. We highly recommend this company. Although their tours are on the pricey side, it is basically private. Our tour group consisted of four people. The tour guide (an archaeologist who actually worked on site at the Roman Forum), us and one other tourist.

Our guide’s love for Roman history was contagious. He first took us to the Colosseum where we learned that it’s actually Flavian’s Amphitheater. There are a lot of Colosseums, but there is only one Flavian’s Amphitheater. In our small group of four, we (I mean Clay) had the opportunity to ask all the questions we wanted. Clay could not have been happier with this arrangement.

After all of Clay’s questions were answered and we got a good look around the amphitheater we headed out to the Roman Forum. This ancient plaza played host to many of the government buildings at the time. The large size of the plaza is difficult to take in. In some areas you have a full front of a building, in others you have just the rough blueprint from the foundation stones. There are rouge columns with ornate capitals here and there. It really is an impressive sight to explore.

After our usual tour ended, our guide walked us to the area we wanted to eat lunch in. He also stopped into a church that we thought might be interesting. Again the tour company and our guide were great and went above and beyond.

We later visited the Capitoline Museum. Although the museum was great, we mainly were there for another view of the Roman Forum.

After all the touring we headed back to Trastevere and stopped at a fresh pasta shop to buy provisions for dinner. This shop was owned by two sisters from Sardinia. We would learn on another tour that the brothers of the sisters own the restaurant across the street. Although our own Sardinian, Rachele, was back home we were always reminded of her.