A weekend walking in Rome

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It was a rather long and painful journey to Rome on Friday evening. We arrived at our B&B just after midnight after a near 1hr delay departing Heathrow. Rather than heading out to enjoy some local fare we decided to retire and get a good night’s sleep. The next morning we set off in light showers, but by noon it was bright blue skies and heading for 26 ... nice. Given both Scott and I had been to Rome before it was a good opportunity to just wander around. I think we ended up walking near on 20kms over the duration of the weekend. We meandered through the beautiful streets past the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona and finally along Via del Coronari. The via was delightful full of alley ways, little art shops and a lovely coffee cafe. This is where we paused for one of many coffees during the day. We were soon at the River Tibre. It was a lot dirtier than expected; it looks like they are trying to do something along the banks. However, they have a lot of work to do to make people want to leave the lovely table lined piazzas around the city. After a bit more wandering around the colourful streets we settled into a local pizzeria for lunch. The pizza was excellent, lovely thin base and great mozzarella.
After a bit of people watching, including watching the preparation for some kind of dance performance, in Piazza Navona we joined the afternoon walking tour. Rather a large group so a lot time spent with the logistics of checking everyone in, getting the entry fee supplement and receiving our audio headsets. The guide was excellent very informative and organised. We did retrace some of our steps from the morning and you could really feel the swell in the number of tourists in the city. The Pantheon was even more spectacular the second time around. The afternoon light meant we could see her in all her glory, a beautiful ray of sunlight streamed in from the roof. It is one of my favourite buildings in the world. The guide pointed out some interesting features of the ancient roman architecture which is the key to some of these buildings standing the test of time. Effectively it was arches built into the thin brick work at various heights that took much of the structures load and thus it didn’t fall over. Trevi fountain was jammers by the time we arrived the second time and it was gelato-o-clock. So we enjoyed the vista from a distance having thrown the coins into the fountain earlier in the day, apparently over the wrong shoulder. The city was lacking the normal crazy amount of fast moving traffic. It was the Europe Gay Pride march and thus much of the traffic had been stopped from coming into the centre. It suddenly made sense why many of the hotels in the city were fully booked and flights over were unusually pricey. The next highlight had to be the Roman Forum. Amazing no matter how many times you visit. Pretty cool to think you are walking down the same street as Julius Caesar all those years ago. The visit to the Senate was a highlight learning how they use to vote by walking to one side of the building or the other. Then learning how if in the court of virgins you were found in fact not to be a virgin you would be buried alive; not a pleasant way to go. Interestingly people had left flowers and cards were JC was cremated, odd to think some people still think so highly of him. Our guide suggested there is this adoration as he was a great politician, lawyer, military strategist and lover ... what a package! Luckily we made it across to the Colosseum before the parade came through, that would have been interesting; group of 25 madly trying to follow some sunflowers on a pointer across the parade. The Colosseum is fantastic and even better when you skip past the very long queue to get inside. Apparently 10-15k people per day enter and view this sensational structure. Later, after failing miserably to find the rooftop bar we indented to relax in post the walking tour, we watched the parade come past the Colosseum in all its colourful dancing musical glory. That evening Lady Gaga played a free concert to over 1 million people at stadium Massimo, some of which we caught on the telly, great event. The one thing that did elude us the entire weekend was a bar. We walked around for some time trying to fine one on the way back to our B&B and then before dinner. The first and last time we visit a city without a guide book! That evening rather than a drink on a roof top we managed to see a red night sunset from the top of the Spanish steps, very beautiful. We enjoyed a tasting menu at a restaurant called Life and then wandered back home past the Trevi fountain. Still jammed full of people snapping away at 11.30 at night I may add.
It was another glorious sunny day on Sunday. We set off towards the south banks Trastevere via the Jewish quarter. We wandered around the back streets and made our way up a fare way to Fountain Acqua Paota. This was the start of the aqueduct that feeds Trevi, although not as pretty. However it did offer a lovely vista of the Roman skyline. Our next stop, via the cobbled backstreets was St Maria church. It is one of the oldest among the 1,200 in the city. I love the outside with the golden palm trees. It was morning gelato-o-clock, which have us enough energy to stroll back across the river to a lovely small piazza for a lunch of pasta, wine and tiramisu before heading to the airport and back to London.
Photos

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