Holiday instalment #10- Rome - the ancient City

Back again...

Rome is a city of so many contrasts.  Parts of the city are SO old - over 10 centuries BC... can you imagine that!   We did a walking tour around the oldest parts of the city... parts that are still being excavated.  Totally mind blowing... to think I was walking on the same paths that Julius Caesar, Mark Antony and all those other famous Roman's  walked on... yes some of the paths we walked were the original stones....

 We walked through the old city, saw a small stadium where there would have been sporting events, saw the forum where the senate sat, and the final photo shows the shrine where Julius Caesar's body was cremated.   Following on from the ancient city we arrived at the Colosseum.  This is a stunning piece of architecture.  For it's size and the time it was built ( 72AD) it took only about 6-8 years to build, mostly with the assistance of the slaves captured during the Roman conquests.  It was partially destroyed in the middle ages by devastating earthquakes....

You could almost see the gladiators and the wild animals... the atmosphere was incredible.  I thoroughly enjoyed this tour we did... having a great guide helped as she gave us some insight into the lives of the ancient ones.  We did have a few minutes of rain while we were walking.... some thunder as well.... but within 10 minutes it was  all over.

My next instalment will show you some more ruins and another Italian city - Naples and Pompeii.   See you then....

Holiday instalment #9 - Rome part 2

More from Rome

Monday saw us off on the Metro over to the Vatican City again.... this time to visit the Museum and the Sistine Chapel.  - together with what seem hundreds and thousands of other tourists....   we queued for one hour to get into the museum... standing in the hot sun for part of the time.  The water sellers were doing a roaring trade...
Still it was worth it..... the treasures on the way to the Sistine Chapel are stunning... as were the Raphael rooms.... his paintings nearly rival Michelangleo's.  The mosaics on the floor also took my eye.  And then the Sistine Chapel - it was amazing.  It was packed shoulder to shoulder with everyone's turned upwards. 

You weren't allowed to take photos in the Sistine chapel - but is even more incredible than photos show.  We spend a good 30 mins just gazing at it all....

Later in the day we visited Piazza de Papolo - where there are twin churches on one side of the square.   Along one of the other sides are steps up to a terrace and the Pinician Hill where there are lovely gardens.  From the terrace there is a superb view of the city

Managed to score a very cheap knock off Louis Vuitton  handbag for 25Euro.  The guy wanted 80 Euro but Peter only had 25 in his wallet so bargain and got it... It is leather but I'm sure it's not the real version... Looks good though!!!!

As you can see, it was a lovely sunny day.... by 10pm it was still around 24 degrees C... I totally enjoyed the Rome weather.

The next morning I did a lot of window shopping down the street with all the famous shops - Prada, Versace, Chanel etc.  All outside my price range, but oh so lovely to dream.  The day was amazingly hot and humid... at 1pm it hit 32 degrees C, but cooled down shortly after to around 29 degrees.  Which was just as well, as we did a walking tour around Ancient Rome.......

But that's for the next episode... so till tomorrow.... Ciao

Holiday instalment #8 - Rome part 1

Another amazing city... an other amazing 6 days....
We arrived into Rome mid afternoon on a Saturday and once again had an adventure finding our hotel..... We had booked into boutique hotels on this trip, so trying to find them was certainly part of the fun.  We were staying at the Garda in Via Lomardia.   Our travel agent told us it was near the Spanish Steps so we took the Metro to that stop... it gets you to the bottom of the Spanish Steps .... and to get to our hotel you needed to be at the top!!!!  There was no way we were carrying the cases up those stairs.... so a good walk up hill ( about 1/2 kilometre) we found it....

We walked back to the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain that afternoon - totally amazing... such tourist spots. Plus the fountain at Piazza Barberini.  We visited a number of times over the days we were there. 

Sunday we took the Hop on Hop off bus around the city.  A great way to get orientated.  We hopped off at he Piazza Novena and walked to the Pantheon... so much bigger and better than the one in Paris..  Totally incredible.  The centre dome is a huge hole and round the edge are amazing chapels.

 We then walked along the river Tiber and made our way to the Vatican City and visited St Peter's Cathedral.  The square was much smaller than I thought it would be, but the cathedral was so special.  Being Catholics, going to St Peter is like a pilgrimage... and to make it even more special, 4 pm Mass was about to be held at the High Altar.  We decided to go....It was in Italian so I couldn't understand the sermon, but knew what to do, when and took Holy Communion.  Very very emotional for me.  

So the start to our stay in Rome was great... plus the weather was perfect... I even got a touch of colour on my shoulders and face.... much much warmer than England or France. 

Come back tomorrow for another episode of the Turley's tour of Europe.