Slow Travels 2018 – Rome – Part 1

This year our Slow Travels have taken us to Rome. What a wonderful historic city. Almost every step you take when you are in the centre of the city, is taken on ground that has been walked on for more than 2000 years.

This year our apartment is a little further out than in previous years. We have balanced availability, cost, location and facilities. Rome is quite an expensive place for accommodation. We really wanted a terrace, so we moved slightly further out, and went for one bathroom rather than two. Howver, regardless of what type of accommodation you have rented, on the day you arrive, you then find out that what you thought you had arranged either matches your expectation in reality, or doesn’t. If you are staying for 3 days, it doesn’t matter too much, but if you are staying for 6 weeks it is very important!. This year, the bathroom had been upgraded from the pictures we saw, and the terrace is lovely. Balanced by the beds being a bit harder and the Rome bus service being quite ‘flexible’! (To be fair – the Rome bus service is not our landlady’s problem!) Future learning, maybe go for a metro stop or a tram nearby in future. But to be honest, what is an extra 10 minutes standing in a warm shady area. (Learning to self: when on holiday, time does not matter to the same extent…

Despite 7 years of retirement, I still havent quite lost the ‘time is important!’ urge….

our terrace by candlelight!

Rome is a fascinating city. As with any trip the first few days are spent finding your way around. Every day, we have been out walking, finding different things to see. Our first big trek was a walk into the city to get our monthly bus ticket, (Pyramie metro station), then finding we should have gone somewhere else (Terminii metro station). We had been advised that the local Tabacchi (tobacconists) couuldn’t issue monthly tickets. Wrong! At Terminii we got pointed to the nearest Tabacchi – We could have saved ourselves at least an hour, as there is a Tabacchi at the end of the road by our apartment! Oh well, these are the things that you rememember from your trip. And again, as per my earlier comment, what is an extra few minutes when the sun is shining and you are on holiday!

So far we have wandered round several parks. There is a large park very close to our apartment –  Park Pamphili, we have only managed a fraction of it to date.

My husband, lovely man that he is, has been keeping a diary of what we have been up to each day, including when and where we have stopped for coffee, food etc. This on previous years has proved a fantastic aide memoire when you get home (and indeed in writing up this blog)

The weather has been great, it has only rained 1 night accompanied by a very noisy thunderstorm about 3am! A slight downside is that there are plenty of mosquitos around as my arms and legs bear witness. I react quite badly to bites, so between anti-histamine tablets, cream for the bites and the repellent (insette repellente), I feel like I am keeping the local pharmacy going!

Highlights so far (and 4 more weeks to go!)

• A day-trip to Ostia Antica. These are the ruins of a busy sea port in Roman times, now some miles inland. It is about 30 minutes on the metro from Rome Pyramie station. We spent 5 hours there and apart from a break for coffee (in the one cafe on site), we walked the whole time. Our guide book suggested we take a packed lunch and drinks with us – inspired advice! There is also a museum on site. We weren’t aware our ticket covered us for that as well, so we missed that. It is absolutely fascinating, you really are walking on roads where people lived and worked, thousands of years ago. The city ceased to be lived in, around 9th century AD. You can still see beautiful old mosaics, marble slabs in what would have been a Fish market. It just allows your imagination to run riot! I could bore for Scotland on this, so here are a few photographs, which will replace many words. It took 5 or 6 hours for me to take many more photographs than these, so these are my highlights. Other people will have different views. Enjoy!! (My photographs do not do justice to the amazing surroundings! My Dad was a photographer – he would despair. On the other hand that was in the pre-digital age, where every ‘click’ counted. Now we throw away 80% or more of the shots we take!)

the Roman Theatre built by Marcus Agrippa, restored 2nd century AD

Ancient cafe and shop from 100 AD. It doesnt look too diffferent. no fridges, just cold marble!

• A walking trip through the old part of the city, starting in the Jewish quarter, along past the Teatro Marcello – It looks like the colosseum, but it has apartments on top! Up the hill to the Capitoline Museums at Piazza del Campidoglio (Top tip – walk round the side on the right as you get up the steps before the main square, up to the cafe terrace on the left, where you get great views across the Old Forum and the Colosseum. There are also free & clean toilets …) Then back into the square, top right, under a ‘bridge of sighs’ similar to Oxford, onto a lower viewpoint over the Forum. We then walked alongside the Old Forum, and around to the Colosseum. All totally free. We may yet pay to go down and walk through the Forum, but sometimes it is good to be a bit higher up as you get a better sense of what it might have been like. (We have a book from 1970, which shows the layout of the forum, as it might have been, so I think we need to study that more first!)
• Our apartment is well away from the tourist area. It is quiet and peaceful at night. There are no drunken tourists! (Many British…!! I disown them) It is lovely just to stop at our local cafes and enjoy the general ambience. The food everywhere. If we are having a meal in town, we try and eat a couple of blocks outside the main tourist areas, preferably where locals gather. We havent been disappointed yet. I just hope I can still fit my clothes when it is time to go home!
• The many amazing and different churches, and their architecture both inside and out. The paintings, the ceilings, the side chapels. Two stand out. San Giovanni in Laterano had the most amazing ceilings, and indeed setting. Apparently it was the home for the Pope before St Peters was built.  Basilica di San Clemente is at the ground level a 12th century church but in the crypt underneath, it is a 4th century church, and even in parts a Roman Mithrian temple.

Slightly Disappointing

• Trevi Fountain – This magnificent fountain is totally mobbed by tourists. We were there about 3pm on a Monday, and it was hard to get even within 5 people deep of the outward railing. We were there with friends and they had been advised to come and see it when it is lit at night. They tell me that it is even busier and noisier then, so I don’t think we’ll bother trekking back in to town to do that.

The nearest we could get to get a photograph

The crowds at the Trevi Fountain

Things to do for free

• Basically every church is free. Many have the most amazing art inside them. I recommend giving a donation towards the upkeep, but this is voluntary. You can even go into St Peters for free. It can get quite busy depending on the time of day. We turned up by chance at 3pm on a Tuesday and we only had to wait 10 minutes. Friends went at 9am on a Saturday and had to queue for 45 minutes. (If you are going to the Vatican museums, you should reserve an entry time, they are incredibly busy. There are many ‘skip the queue’ options, but we have just booked an entry time, no guide, so Part 2 will tell you how we got on!) )
• The walk around the Forum mentioned above. You can walk round above the Imperial Fora and the Roman Forum (divided by a major road), and outside the Colosseum
• Teatro Marcello is well worth a wander around. Bits are still being worked on but you get a lovely close-up view.

• Walking is free – we walk all over whichever city we are in. It is  rare day we don’t do 10,000 steps. It is amazing what turns up around a corner, and things change from  one day to the next, as demonstrated in the small park just around the corner from our apartment. On 8th September it looked like this

On 10th September, when we went back to explore further it had all been cleaned up and looked like this! All the overgrown grass in the fountain had been removed.

• Just make up your own walking tour. If you buy a 1 day bus pass (7€), you can hop on and off buses, trams and metros to your hearts content, all over the city. You can go as far as the Lido, not quite as far as the airport at Fiumicino.  You have to do your own research, as opposed to the standard ‘guide buses’, but a lot cheaper and far more fun! There are so many things to see across the city, from Park Pamphili in the north west, to Villa Borghese on the North East. You can go to the beach at Ostia, and so many points in between! the best enjoyment is so often to be found in the non-tourist spots!

Special One-Off Events

• We went to a stunning Cannaletto exhibition in Museo di Roma at Palazzo Braschi  (Just off Piazza Navona). The works were gathered together from across the world, including two paintings that had once been a single painting, and it had been divided into two many years ago. One painting was in Cuba and this was the first time they had ever been exhibited together. Within the same Museum, there is a lot of history about Rome itself, which was well worth a visit. Fortunately for us, the exhibition had been extended for a month
• There are a series of open-air concerts at the Teatro Marcello through July, August and September

So this is very much Part 1, there is so much more we havent discovered yet. I am so glad we have 6 weeks here, not 6 days! I hope this has inspired you, and that Part 2/3 inspires you even more!!

If you would like to pin this, and please do, just click the image below. Many thanks for stopping by!

And please note, by the European Data Protecton Rules, (GDPR) , my website does not retain any data, except to prevent spam, and basic WordPress maintenance. I do not advertise or prmote anythinhg

Enjoy!!