when the moon hits your eye like a giant piece of ice it's...a roma...

---

After a 2 hour flight, a 1 hour train ride, a 20 minute subway trip and a 30 minute metro journey … we finally reached our campsite in the northern suburbs of Roma. As it was May the 1st, an important labour day holiday throughout Europe, every cheap bed remotely close to the city was fully booked out. It was not a bad alternative however, as the staff were friendly, it was super cheap and it offered a welcoming retreat from the tourist mecca that Rome has now become.

I guess we didn’t really know what to expect in Rome. With such monumental attractions as the Colosseum and the Vatican City we should have expected the phenomenal hordes of tourists lining up for hours just to even pass through the security barriers; or the 6 dollar price tag for a ‘cheap’ bottle of water; or the tourist-orientated trattorias whose waiters usher you inside in a friendly matter then treat you like dirt once you’ve ordered.

The 3 hour wait to see the Colosseum was well worth it; it’s amazing that a structure despite being in such ruin and collapse can still withstand the thousands of visitors it receives each day. There is not much left of it; the seats and grandstands have all withered away over the centuries and you need to focus hard to imagine the blood-and-gore battles the stadium once displayed. Outside, the modern-day Romans dressed in ancient Roman gladiator outfits and the scores of touts offering “cheap genuine tours” has turned this historical attraction into a bit of a farce, and in hindsight pre-empted the rest of our experience of Roma.

Our original intention was to beat the summer crowds by travelling through Europe in early spring, but I think the public holiday crowds are bigger than both combined. We went early one morning to see the Spanish Steps - but all we could see were Sitting Tourists. On every single square inch of the steps. Same with the Fontana di Trevi. The Pantheon was surprisingly less overfilled with gawkers and hawkers, and to experience this building without all the fuss, the interior of the room beneath the dome flooded with natural daylight was surreal.

Rome is a beautiful city, perhaps less romantic and picturesque than we had anticipated, but if you look past the crowds and the commercialism (like I guess you must do with all cities of this stature) there is definitely worth beneath its surface.

---

Photos

spanish steps
ala sitting tourists

Comments

[amy]

damn, i missed out on the pantheon because it was closed. doh! and i noticed that pic of the boy's undies... naughty boys!! ;) xoxoxo

[sara supercunt.]

jealous. looks amazing.