Rome Holiday:: Day 3

Ahhh, that breakfast...mmmm. I thought I'd try the hotel's cooked breakfast offering- scrambled eggs, bacon (possibly more like pancetta than bacon) and bruchetta! Absolutely delicious! We'd need a big, filling breakfast for the walking planned for day three of our holiday- there were big plans afoot!

Whilst in the Villa Borghese gardens on the previous day, we noticed that they had a Dotto train!! Huge excitement. A definite revisit was needed for a train tour of the gardens. We drove for twenty minutes at top speed around the garden, through death defying hairpin bends, narrowly avoiding rickshaws, buggies, pedestrians and ice cream stands, it was thrilling!

One part of the garden has a very beautiful lake, which you could hire boats to row around on. It looked like fun but we didn't go for it, instead choosing to wander around and admire from the safety of the pavement.

We stopped a while to watch this very active Terrapin do a very wiggly dance around the sleeping ducks. It was almost like he was putting on a show for the passer's by.

We had lunch in a very pretty little cafe by the lake. I tried my first espresso (by accident- I didn't specify American coffee)- not sure I would want to deliberately order one again!

After lunch we had plans to meet up with a friend who lives in Rome, and hopped on the metro. We were meeting in a favoured gelateria, Lemongrass- and the gelato was to die for!!! I had lemon, chocolate fondant and fig and white chocolate, oh they were luuuurvly.

Our friend had to rush off to work after a while and we were left to our own devices- but we had a plan and walked to Piazza Cavour, which is the site of the Palace of Justice, or Palazzaccio as the Italian's call it- the bad Palace. The Palace is the seat of the Supreme Court which is the highest court of appeal in Italy, and the building itself is gigantic, covered in statues and carvings of the finest quality although it is very new compared to other similar buildings in Rome, only recently completed.

The statue in the centre of Piazza Cavour is dedicated to Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour who was a statesman heavily involved in the movement for Italian unification.

Walking around to the other side of this mahoosive building, you reach the River Tiber, which you can wander along past the markets and buskers, until you reach...

...the Pope's castle!! Castel Sant'Angelo. It started out as the Mausoleum of Hadrian, commissioned by the Emperor himself as a mausoleum for himself and his family. It was then used by the Popes as a fortress and castle, and is now a museum. We didn't go in, just mooched around the outside but it was still pretty impressive- apparently it used to be the tallest building in Rome can you believe?

Leading up to the Castel Sant'Angelo is the Ponte Sant'Angelo, once known as the Aelian Bridge or Pons Aelius- the Bridge of Hadrian. It is well known for the angelic statues lining the sides of the bridge, creating a beautiful entrance to the mausoleum when crossing the Tiber river.

And if we continue further up the hill we reach Vatican City! It is its own State, and is the smallest one in the world in both area and population, ruled by The Pope. The outside of the Vatican itself is amazing, glistening a brilliant white in the sun, curving round in a massive arch of columns and looming statues. To get to The Papal Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican, or St Peter's Basilica you have to walk through the channel of columns and up the steps, the front of the Basilica seemingly getting higher and higher as you get nearer.

It is one of the largest churches in the world and supposedly is the burial site of St. Peter, one of the Apostles and the first Pope. Inside there are many sections and areas for prayer, confession boxes lining the walls for the pilgrims who travel here especially.

It is very grand, with elaborate and detailed paintings or carvings covering every available space, gold twinkling in the corners. It's amazing to think of how the builders put this together, how they reached those high up places I have no idea- the scaffolding must have been immense!

We left the Basilica just as the sun was starting to set behind the dome, and most of the tourists had started to go home- almost like we had the place to ourselves!

We found a lovely little pizzeria near to our metro stop for some dinner, before catching the train home to Piazza de Spagna and a cheeky late night gelato.
Join me again tomorrow for day four! x

Rome Holiday:: Day 2

Morning!! Hopefully you've had a good breakfast and are just settling down somewhere cosy with a mug of something nice and a snack- this post is rather long, I think you'll need some refreshment halfway through!!
Our hotel provided a breakfast buffet for us each morning, and it was absolutely delicious! Their pastry almost had a slight zest to it which was lovely, and then of course, when they stuff croissants with Nutella- instant breakfast hit!! The view also helped provide the perfect start to the day, all very relaxing.

We had decided to visit the Pantheon that morning, which was a ten minute walk away that ended up taking two hours as we kept getting distracted, especially when we came across a piazza FULL of feathers! It was so completely random; we were walking along the road wondering why there were so many feathers blowing along the pavement, when suddenly it opened out into Piazza di San Silvestro which was absolutely covered with red, yellow and black feathers! On research later on in the day it was apparently an advertising scheme for the new Angry Birds movie, but at the time it was simply fun! Lots of people were already there throwing feathers at each other so we joined in and played for a while, throwing them at each other and watching them flurry in little hurricanes. For the rest of the holiday we kept spotting these feathers in the most unlikely places, it's amazing how far some of them blew away to.

We also passed through (when we eventually dragged ourselves away from the feathers) Piazza Colonna which houses the impressive Column of Marcus Aurelius, a Roman victory column, in the centre. It is incredibly tall at just under 40 metres and has ornate carvings showing the battle and victories over the Marcomanni, Quadi and Sarmatians in the year 176. It also has a spiral staircase at the centre of it, going all the way up to the top, although you can no longer climb it.

There are so many interesting things in Rome that every little square seems to hold a story of historic importance. Still having not reached the Pantheon (our original destination), and having been distracted by two squares already, another distraction came in the form of Hadrian's Temple.

It is perhaps looking a little sad and tired now, with the majority of its marble and stones robbed away. Originally it was built in honour of Emperor Hadrian by his adoptive son Antoninus Pius, and was later incorporated into a different building. The piazza it is in, the Piazza di Pietra is named after it as the term translates into Piazza of Stone and was made out of the robbed stones of the temple. Only eleven of the original columns still stand on the remaining side, which would have originally had fifteen columns on both the long sides, and eight on the short sides.

Eventually we made it into Piazza della Rotunda- the Pantheon square (hurrah!), which is surrounded by the most beautiful buildings. Some of them almost look like they are just painted facades they are so perfect.

The Pantheon itself is a very domineering structure with its regimented rows of Corinthian columns at the front, and is one of the best preserved Ancient Roman buildings, probably because it has always been in use. Since the 7th century it has been used as a church dedicated to St. Mary and the Martyrs (also known as Santa Maria Rotonda).

The dome is the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome with an open hole or oculus at the top that is just over eight metres wide. The dome works because the width is exactly the same as the interior height, incredible to think of! The marble floor has been cordoned off in the centre and has many little dips and holes in it due to the rain that falls through the hole. When we visited luckily the only thing coming through was the light, and a couple of pigeons.

We learnt a good supposed fact whilst wandering around the Pantheon (eavesdropping on the English speaking tours)- although it isn't related to the building itself. Apparently Margerita pizza was invented by a King of Italy, Umberto I, for his wife Princess Margherita. Pizza was originally eaten by peasants but the King designed his own one with colours from the Italian flag- red from the tomatoes, green from the basil and white from the mozzarella. He named it after his wife and it became her favourite pizza. How true this is I'm not sure as further research has brought lots of questions, but it's a nice story!

We carried on a little further away from The Pantheon, to have a quick look at Piazza Navona, another enormous square with historic importance. It is built on the site of an Ancient Roman stadium, where they would gather to watch the games (probably chariot racing), and was later built into more of the square seen today. On one side is the Palazzo Pamphili, a palace built and owned by Pope Innocent X, and in the centre are several important fountains. The one pictured above is the Fontana del Moro at the Southern end of the Piazza.

In the centre is the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers), which represents four major rivers, the Nile, the Danube, the Ganges and the Rio de la Plata. It is topped with another ancient Egyptian obelisk and has the Pamphili family emblem carved on the side.

Oh we did so much walking on this holiday! After a quick stop at the hotel to refuel on the cake on the rooftop, we wandered off again to visit the Villa Borghese Gardens- which are vast!

The gardens are set on the top of a hill so the view on the trek up there was particularly impressive!! you can see the dome of San Carlo on the left and below, and just in the distance in the right hand side of the below image, the dome of St Peter's Basilica.

There are statues in various states of disrepair all over the gardens depicting famous or notable Italians, as well as various temples, structures, fountains, sculptures, museums and view points- like the one below looking over the Piazza del Popolo. It is also split into two sections as there is a major road running through it, cut into the hill. It is joined with a bridge over the road but we only ventured around the smaller half before wandering back into the town for a spot of dinner.

Our restaurant of choice was right around the corner from the Trevi fountain, and to round off the lovely day we decided to have a quick peek at the fountain all lit up at night. It did not disappoint!! Such a glorious sight!!

Rome Holiday:: Day 1

Hello!!! I am back! From a most beautiful and amazing Roman holiday, full of history, astounding architectural feats and deep seated culture. It wasn't that long a holiday really, but we crammed in an incredible amount of sightseeing- our poor feet were worn to stumps! We had quite an early flight out there, to try and make the best of the day, and arrived at our hotel, Hotel Madrid, at about 12.30pm. It was a great place, a lovely location right next to the Spanish Steps, but so quiet! And it had the added bonus of a rooftop garden with a view over The Vatican, and free tea/coffee/cake provided. We thought we would take immediate advantage to rest a bit after our weary morning travels and it quickly became a daily habit for us to return in the afternoon for an hour or so and sit on the roof garden watching the world go by.

The Spanish Steps (above) are a set of steps leading from the Piazza (square) di Spagna up to the Piazza Trinitá dei Monti which has the Trinitá dei Monti church at the top. It is constantly swamped with tourists as there are also lots of designer shops around the Piazza di Spagna which attract lots of attention and the steps themselves are currently being cleaned and restored so it is blocked off. Usually you would be able to walk on the steps themselves, and they would also be partially covered with an incredible display of Azalea flowers, but for now we had to content ourselves with standing at the bottom gazing up. It is still very impressive with its 135 glistening white steps!

Our hotel was brilliantly situated for lots of sights within walking distance, and we decided to wander over to the Trevi Fountain which was a five minute walk away. The buildings in Rome are incredible- stone masons must have done very well out of building the city as nearly every building is decorated with carved columns, sculpted roofs, embellished walls, crafted window frames.... even quite non-descript buildings had something of interest chiseled into it.

The Fontana di Trevi was incredible, taking up the entire side of a building. The statues in the fountain are very lifelike, and as with the majority of the statues in Rome, have meaning and symbolism behind them. The tall chap in the middle is Ocean, the personification of a river that runs around the Earth and from where all streams begin, to the left of him is Abundance, and on the right is Health. The two horses in front represent the restless violence of the sea and also the calm tranquillity of the sea. Clever huh?

Most of the houses in Rome appear to be flats, especially in the centre of the city, so there aren't any 'English' gardens with lawns and borders- instead, they excel at rooftop gardens or window boxes filled to the brim with bright colourful flowers. We spent the majority of our time walking down the streets with our noses in the air, staring upwards at all of the colours above our heads.

And occasionally on our travels, we came across some very random buildings, like this one above, with its carved faces and door or window mouths.

Continuing our explorations we meandered back past the Spanish Steps and went in the opposite direction until we reached Piazza del Popolo, an enormous square which used to be one of the main entrances into the old city. Now it houses an Egyptian obelisk brought over from Heliopolis surrounded by four little fountains making up the Fontana dell'Obelisco, with two larger fountains at either end of the longer length of the curved square, the old North gate in the centre of the length and on the opposite side are the twin churches of Santa Maria in Montesanto and Santa Maria dei Miracoli- which were under scaffolding at the time of my visit.

We followed the road between the two churches, Via del Corso and came across the church which boasts the second enormous dome that can be seen from the rooftop garden of our hotel, Sant'Ambrogio e Carlo al Corso (usually shortened to San Carlo al Corso). It is stunning when you walk in, immediately hushed by the ambiance and quiet- such a contrast from the bustle of the busy street outside. Looking up the roof is covered in gold and lush paintings, and there are arches everywhere leading up into the incredible dome. They don't do things in halves in Italy!!

We lost count actually, of the amount of domes you could see at any one time in Rome (the one above is St Peter's Basilica, part of The Vatican)- they are absolutely everywhere, almost as common as chimneys here. And at night, they light up like baubles on a Christmas tree. Our first evening in Rome was spent eating gelato from a popular gelataria, Pompi- but as the ice cream started melting before you'd found somewhere to sit, I didn't get many photos of it, you'll just have to trust that it was delicious!!
Join me tomorrow for day two of my Roman adventure!! x