Ancient Rome (Sunday 15th October 2017)

Another beautiful day dawned in Rome. Judging by the early morning banter on the Smith Family WhatsApp group it was a beautiful on the other side of the world too. Breakfast was again down in Piazza del Biscone where it was fresh but warming up quickly. Despite that, the heaters were on under the umbrellas! To our surprise the market was on once again in the neighbouring piazza. A visit to Frommagerie to try a couple of different cheeses for lunch, the green grocer for a punnet of cherry tomatoes and the smallgoods vendor for some prosciutto.
Today was about visiting the ancient Roman sites. Our accommodation is in a great location no more than 15-20 minute walk from just all the main attractions.

First cab off the rank was the Pantheon. We arrived at about 11:00 to a very long line. Emily wasn’t keen to spend time in a line at the Pantheon so we took a few photos, wandered around the piazza for a short while and then left. By the time we headed off the line was almost gone. We must have arrived just before opening time. Kerry and I will go back for a look in the next day or two.

Always looking for more streets to explore we took the very long way to get to the Colosseum. Through the streets we went down to the Tiber for a cool breeze. The day was now getting quite warm, probably high-twenties and clear blue, sunny sky. The shady plane trees lining the Tiber made for a very pleasant walk. The first thing we saw resembling a Roman ruin made us take a left turn away from the river. The plan was to enter the Roman Forum at the far corner and than cut across it to the Colosseum. Good plan. It was never gonna work. The only access to Forum is via a place near the Colosseum. Bugger. Anyway, we walked past Circus Maximus, which is a very large but disappointingly neglected arena where once chariot races were held.

Along the walls surrounding the Forum we walked past a big fresh produce market. At many places there were opportunities for good photographs into the Forum which suited me perfectly. Up a steep road we walked to a vantage point just behind the Vittorio Emanuele monument (aka the Wedding Cake) that gave a fantastic panoramic view of the Forum’s ruins. A grand, steep staircase took us back to ground-level and the long walk up to the Colosseum by Via dei Fori Imperiali. The barricades setup for the work on a new branch of the Rome Metro somewhat spoiled the iconic view. We’ll go back tomorrow to see if we can get a better pic.

We found a seat in the shade of the Colosseum to eat our lunch. Once again, lining up to enter the monument was not on our list so we passed that up and headed for the Trastevere area of Rome across the river. We retraced our steps back to the Wedding Cake and then hit the back-streets under Emily’s navigation. At the river we crossed via Isola Tiberina, a small island in the middle of the Tiber, and wandered through the Trastevere in search of a bar. It was now 30C and very warm. Shade was your friend! Back near the Colosseum we’d even bought a bottle of cold water from a tout. By the way, Rome has been overrun by touts selling all sorts of things on the streets. One can hardly walk a straight line in the popular tourist spots. I guess they’ve got a right to earn a living but it is just so over the top it spoils the experience. All they’re selling is just rubbish, but I suppose there must be enough people out there who find value in buying it for them to keep selling it.

A little bar with a raised wooden verandah is a little piazza had a table spare so we grabbed it and settled in for a long rest. The beers went down very well as did the sparling mineral water and the cappuccino. The legs really enjoyed the rest too. An hour later we raised our weary bodies to our feet and picked our way through the lanes back to the first river crossing we found at Ponte Sisto. 

From there is was just a short walk back to our piazza. Emily packed her back-pack and we went down to find a cab to take her to an airport train at Rome Termini. A free (available) taxi appeared in out square before we got to far so we said our good-byes and off she went. As I write she’s just landed in Paris and will soon be home. It’s been simply brilliant to have her share the Rome part of our journey with us. Rome, like Paris and London in 2013, was one of the cities we wanted to show her. She loved her “Roman Holiday” and is now very keen to see more of Italia.

In an effort to lessen the disappointment at having to let her go we got a gelati from a nearby store. It didn’t make any difference, but it was worth a try. We ate the gelati investigating some nearby lane and wound up in Campo de’ Fiori coming in from the other side. The council were cleaning after the market and the restaurants were starting to get into full swing. A chap we walked past convinced us to eat at his place just off the square, so we did. We’d decided to have an early dinner so we were on the hunt anyway. As we were his first customers for the night he gave a complementary glass of champagne. We has great view of the square be we were far enough away from the hustle and bustle and the noise of the council street-sweeper. The food was good and the price was good too. By the time we’d finished we’d been joined by a few more diners.

Walking back across the piazza we stopped to watch and listen to a duo on cello and classical guitar. They were very talented and very much appreciated by the growing crowd of onlookers. The cellist’s André Rieu-like style with the bow certainly helped attract the crowd. After enjoying a couple of tunes we walked the 50m back to our apartment building and retired for an early night.