When in Rome

     After our wonderful day in Lecce, we were transported to the city of Brindisi to catch our flights.  This meant saying good-bye to two of our couples, who had other travel plans.  Five of us would go on to a post-trip in Rome.

We Are Cyclists...Not Walkers

     Upon arriving at our hotel in Rome, our VBT rep sat us down in the hotel salon, gave us maps, and started talking very rapidly about things to do, etc.  The five of us just stared at her like deer in headlights.  Finally, I told her that she needed to slow down, that we had just spent over a week in Puglia, where life is a lot slower, and we needed to acclimate to the big city. She apologized.  Then she slowed it down a bit.  Our hotel was within walking distance of the Vatican, and half a block from the Tiber River.  So, we were in a pretty good location for seeing things.

I call this the Red Empress Room.  This was my home while in Rome.

I could not use the internet while in my room, but there was Wifi in the salon, which at any given time
one could find several hotel patrons checking smart phones, iPads, and netbooks.  Aww - we are
tied to technology now!

The Tiber River, named for the emperor, Tiberius.

     One couple had plans to meet a friend who lived in Rome.  I had already booked a walking tour in the evening.  The other couple opted to join me.  We walked over to the Piazza Porto de Ripetta to meet our guide, Nicola - who turned out to be a delightful British woman living in Rome.  While waiting for Nicola, we discussed things to see.  This couple had been to Rome before.  I knew I wanted to see the Vatican, and the Forum.  We discussed the obvious tourist places, Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps.  I really wasn't interested in trying to find time for them, and it helped when they told me that both were not that big of a deal, and that my plans were much better!  I only had two full days, and I knew what I wanted to see.

Watching as Romans and tourist cool off in the fountain at Piazza Porto de Ripetta

   As we walked south on Via di Ripetta, Nicola would point out interesting things, and give us a lot of history of the area where we were.  At one point, she stopped us, and pointed out the Spanish Steps.  Using the zoom on my camera, I got the following picture - now I have seen them!

 

 

Rome cityscape

This was the interior courtyard of an apartment building.  The gate was closed so I had to put my hand through
the bars to get the shot. 

This courtyard was open, and we sorta wondered in.  This was an apartment was assigned for
priests.  Like a big dormitory.  We learned this from one of the priests coming in when Nicola talked to
him. 

Dragons are symbols for the Vatican!  This will be found on some Vatican owned buildings.

Not sure where I took this picture.

These paintings can be found on buildings all over Rome,.

 

    We headed towards the Pantheon.  The pantheon, which has been standing nearly 2,000 years, was built by the emperor Hadrian in 120 A.D. over another temple that had been built by Marcus Agrippa in 27 B.C.  Pantheon is from the Greek  Pan (all) and Theos (god) - a temple dedicated to the various Roman gods - which were really Greek gods with different names.  The only god who has the same name in both Greek and Roman rites is Apollo. This was a place of worship.

 

      Then Constantine made Christianity the state religion.  So, the Pantheon was turned into a Christian church in 608 A.D. While not a place of worship now - too many tourists - several notable people are interred here including Italian kings Vittorio Emanuele II, and Umberto I.  The tomb of Renaissance artist Raphael is also in the Pantheon.  In the book and movie Angels and Demons, the characters go on a search for the Illuminati Church, and part of the movie was filmed in the Pantheon.  The movie and book state that Raphael was originally buried in the Pantheon, but moved to another church.  No, he is still in the Pantheon.

 



Interior of the Pantheon complete with tourists.

The largest unreinforced concrete dome ever built. The oculus, and opening at the top, is almost 9
meters in diameter.

Raphael's tomb

Bust of Raphael

 

    Outside of the Pantheon is the Piazza  della Minerva, which is a fascinating place. In the center is a massive sculpture/water fountain called Elefantino by Gianlorenzo Bernini - a Renaissance artist. The fountain contains an elephant sculpture.

 

Bernini's fountain with a pink granite Egyptian obelisk.

The Obelisk is Egyptian, but the Cross was added much later.

 

 

 

  Atop this fountain is an Egyptian obelisk from the 6th century B.C.  Rome has 14 Egyptian obelisks courtesy of plundering over the years, starting with Julius Caesar.  Egypt would like them back, and Italy will not be giving them up. 

 

Novice nuns enjoy a bit of time out of the convent.

I love this painting on a blue building in Piazza della Minerva

 

    From the Pantheon, we walked to the Piazza Navonna.  Built  on the ruins of an arena built in 86 A.D. by the emperor Domitian, it was basically covered over in the 15th century and for almost three hundred years was the city's main market place.  There are three huge fountains in the piazza, with Bernini's Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of Four Rivers - I translated that on my own!) being the most obvious. Depicting Catholic might, four rivers, the Nile, Ganges, Danube, and Plate are depicted, along with a horse, palm tree, and a lion.  Atop is another obelisk, courtesy (not really) of Egypt!

 

I love this snake!
 

Detail from a building in Piazza Navonna

    Today Piazza Navonna is filled with artists selling their wares.  I visited the piazza two days later to buy a few Christmas presents.  Also in the piazza is the Palazzo Pamphilj, a palace built for Pope Innocent X, and now the home to the Brazilian embassy, from which pretty Brazilians can be seen on the balconies surveying the goings on in the piazza.

 

 

 

     From the Piazza Navonna we headed to the Area Sacra  which holds the temple complex where Julius Caesar was killed on March 15th - the Ides of March.  Some archaeology work still goes on, but the complex is now Rome's cat sanctuary, where a variety of kitties live among the ruins!

 

Kitties among the ruins

 

 

    We had planned on going on to the Jewish Quarter, but the gentlemen in our group stopped and said he was done for the day, and then stated "We are cyclists, not walkers!"  I was secretly thrilled, because my feet were killing me!  To walk the cobbled streets in much of Rome you need Sketchers, or similar shoes.  I had brought Birkenstocks and my bike shoes.  There was a sandwich shop nearby, so I got one, and hopped in a cab for the hotel.  Taxis in Rome are incredibly cheap!