Blogs from Rome, Lazio, Italy, Europe - page 6

Day 2 : Saturday 7 September : Rome and the Colosseum Off on our first real adventure. Graham’s leading the way. First stop (one of many, as it appears all roads lead to) Piazza Navona. Onto the Pantheon (free), a former Rome temple built in 125AD. The place is alive with so many people. Its magnificent inside and has a hole in its roof (intentionally). Onto Piazza Venezia and the monument (free) (Alter of the Fatherland). This is huge and you get a good view of some of the archaeological sites that are around, including the Colosseum, Teatro Marcello and Trajan’s Market. Walked over to Trajan’s Market to have a better look and then wandered on to find Mercato Monti, so wasn’t worth it, but an interesting part of town with the BEST pizza ever €13…so ... read more

A great sleep in a Hotel 2 blocks over from Termini Stazione so then we were able to shoot out & grab some city transport tickets & some train tickets we will need while in Sicily. Also easy for us to catch the tram out to Mirti where we now stop for 4 nights. Met our lovely host Joseph who lives right next door & then we shot out to the Simply supermarket arriving back armed with the Italian essentials: mozarella, tortillas, tomatoes, capsicum, lettuce, salami, lasagna, fresh beans, grapes & of course some bottled grapes... We are on the top floor & the bed has a memory mattress....i've got a thing about beds at the moment.. The weather is warm enough to constantly seek the shade. Of course NZ has verandas outside all shopping areas ... read more

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We all had a slow start and about 10am we went for a walk to find the daily markets in Piazza di San Cosimato. It is only a small market but the fruit and vegetables were beautiful, both in terms of looks and freshness. We could smell the aroma of fresh peaches before we even saw them. Breakfast was in the Caffe di Marzio on the Piazza di Santa Maria, with a view of the Basilica di Santa Maria in Trestavere. After a rest during the heat of the day, we went for a walk at 2pm to find the meeting point for tomorrow’s Colosseum tour. We crossed the Tiber on Ponte Garibaldi, where we had a great view of Isola Tiberina (a tiny island in the middle of the river). We walked past some spectacular ... read more

And back to Italy. First stop Verona where we headed out to the Arena Di Verona, a Roman amphitheatre which is used during the summer months to host Opera. Tonight it was La Traviata a tragic love story ( aren’t they all?) set in France. Starting at 9pm it finished just after midnight! As an open air venue it was brilliant and we had terrific seats which were head on to the stage. The singing and the music were not miked and the acoustics in the arena really worked well. The stage setting was also fantastic and in a similar venue (and to a different opera) I could be persuaded to go again, although I don’t think I will ever be an opera convert. I still prefer a good film or musical with a decent story ... read more