Rome – Saturday 21st April

This is the birthday of Rome  - presumably of the Republic in 509 BC rather than the founding in 753BC by Romulus, as that date doesn’t seem very certain..

We docked at Civitavecchia, for centuries it has been the port for Rome, which is about 50 miles away.  The port has a beautiful fort designed by Michelangelo, but otherwise is mostly a modern town, so we decided to take the Cunard bus into Rome and arrived at St. Peter’s square around 8.45 am.

The cupola of St Peter's which we climbed

View from the Top

We have both been to Rome before so we worked out a schedule of things we wanted to do or re-do in the 6 hours we had there.  Our first task, which was new to both of us, was to ascend the Cupola of St. Peters.  There is a lift which takes you up the first 200 steps onto the roof after which there are 300 steps to a small outside platform on the cupola.  There is also an inside gallery on the way from which you can view the lovely ceilings.  The view from the top is stunning and it is particularly nice to look down into the Vatican gardens which you can’t see very well from ground level.  Back down on the roof there is a café, souvenir shop and toilets so you can spend your time wandering round admiring the huge statues and watching people in the square.

We had a quick walk round the interior of St. Peter’s before making our way down to the River Tiber, past the Castel St. Angelo and over the pedestrian bridge into the old Renaissance part of Rome.  The guide on our coach told us that the dark chocolate ice cream in Tre Scalini on the Piazza Navona was the best ever and I think she could be right – especially when mixed with a scoop of vanilla. 

The Pantheon

We were heading for my favourite building in Rome, the Pantheon, built by Emperor Hadrian on the site of an earlier monument erected in 27BC by Marcus Agrippa, and still intact after 2000 years – because it was made into a church and not plundered for building material like so many of the other buildings.  It had until the mid 20^th Century the largest concrete dome in the world – with a hole in the middle.  The building is massive and has a real atmosphere inside – particularly if viewed near dusk when there are not many visitors.  The photograph doesn’t do it justice – you need to walk round and feel the solidity of the pillars and view the very unusual architecture. 

Trevi Fountain

Next was a visit to the Trevi Fountain to throw coins over our shoulders (so that we will come back to Rome).  We had a quick stop for a beer and pizza then we made our way down to Trajan’s Column (beautifully carved depicting scenes of Trajan’s victories)  and Trajan’s Market.  The market was famous when it was built around 2000 years ago as a Roman Shopping Centre and the booths look good enough to be used as a market today.  I was surprised that all the wild cats who lived in the ruins outside seem to have disappeared.  Opposite Trajan’s Market is the Roman Forum which leads up to the Palatine Hill.  The Forum has impressive ruins of the centre of old Rome whereas the Palatine Hill contains the houses of some of the noble families .  We didn’t do it this time, but you can walk across the Palatine to view the site of the Circus Maximus where the chariot races used to take place.  At the end of the Via Imperiali which runs alongside the Forum is the Coliseum – we took a photo then headed back towards the river.

Trajan's Market

Our final stop was at the Napoleonic Museum.  We had seen this on the map, and as Keith is interested in the Napoleonic wars we decided to visit.  Actually Napoleon Bonaparte never visited Rome but his family were allowed to settle there after he was taken into captivity, and the museum houses artefacts from their homes  - some fine paintings, sculptures, porcelain and furniture.  The museum is right by the Umberto bridge so we re-crossed the river and headed back to our meeting point at St. Peter’s  by some of the quieter streets, stopping for a glass of wine on the way.

Napoleon in his Museum - this one is for Paul and Nicole

This was a very pleasant trip, the weather was perfect and Rome wasn’t too busy – if we had arrived the day before as originally planned we would have had rain all day and traffic congestion as there was a train strike!