Rome - Day 1

Rome – Day 1

Our ship docks at 6am on Sunday morning.  Earlier that week I had decided to book an additional tour with the ship.  This tour will take us from the ship today at 7am and drop us in Rome at 1pm.  This saves us the hassle of finding our own transport back into the city then wondering what to do all day on a Sunday (remembering that this is the religious capital of the world and most places are shut) until we can check in at our hotel at 2pm.

After a hurried early breakfast in the café I round up the teenager and we meet in the dining room for a 7am start.  Bleary eyed – the teenager, not me – we make our way down to the bus.  I had left my bag outside my room the night before and was pleased to find it waiting downstairs for me, all numbered with my tour on it.  The teenager had decided to carry his own bag so I left him to it as we headed downstairs.

Once on the bus, we had a scenic drive from the port of Civitavecchia to the city of Rome.  It was nice to sit back and relax and take in the surrounding countryside while the teenager slept!  Once again, I was reminded how like Marlborough the Roman countryside was.  When we flew into Rome a week earlier we had both commented on how it looked like flying into Blenheim airport.  The surrounding farms and vineyards lent an air of prosperity to the area and it was refreshing to see all the horticulture along with the familiar viticulture. 

I was able to glimpse everyday life from the comfort of the bus and watched hay being mown, vegetables harvested by hand in fields (reminding me of the pumpkin and garlic picking in Marlborough), fields being plowed and other everyday farm tasks taking place.

One ghastly detraction from the idyllic scene was the graffiti that littered the roadside and railway tracks.  This was a recurring theme throughout Rome and got worse in the city itself.

Arriving in the city of Rome for the first time was amazing.  First  stop for us was St Mark’s Square and St Peter’s Basilica.

Then inside St Peter’s Basilica.  As it is Sunday it is very quiet, a great time to visit.  Wrapping my shoulders in my silk scarf I head into one of the most magnificent churches I have ever experienced.  Words cannot do it justice, as anyone who has been there will know.  

Viewing Michelangelo's statute of Pieta and Donatello's Tabernacle was amazing.

Mass was taking place while we strolled around the church so we were privileged to experience that.  I had earlier tried to book an audience with the Pope but couldn’t and was pleased that I hadn’t when I found out that the Pope was off holidaying at his summer home!   It was difficult to look at everything and everywhere was another amazing sarcophagus, statute or artwork to view.  Meanwhile priests took confession throughout the church in traditional confessionals.

Strolling through St Peter’s square we viewed the window where the Pope makes his appearances.  As he was away it was all shuttered up.  

We admired the mosaic work of Mary, the only image of Mary outside in the Vatican grounds.  Pope John Paul II commissioned this artwork after he was shot in St Peter's Square in on 13^th May 1981.

The Vatican was an amazing spectacle and I was pleased to have a guide the first day to explain it all, including the history behind the Swiss Guards who still guard the Pope dressed in traditional uniforms.  

I purchased some postcards and stamps to send home.  As the Vatican is a country in its own right, stamps purchased there can only be sent from there.  If you post them in Rome they don’t get sent!  So knowing I was returning the next day I bought half a dozen more postcards and took them home to write that night.

The bus took us to see many sights around Rome including the famous balcony that Mussolini made his speeches from although I didn’t get any photos of that.  We saw the Temple of Zeus, the Memorial, and many other buildings.  Driving by the Palatine Hill and viewing the Circus Maximus where chariot races were once held and being able to clearly see the course was like stepping back in time.

Next stop on our bus tour was the Colosseum.  

When we saw the crowds lining the street to get in I was pleased that we were on a tour.  It was hot by now, well into the 30’s so sunhats and water were a must along with sunscreen.  We were warned repeatedly about professional pickpockets so constantly had an awareness of anyone brushing up too close alongside you.  

The Colosseum is a sight to behold and a marvel of engineering.  How those early builders could produce such structures with limited technology is a wonder. 

We were then offered the choice of wandering down to the Roman Forum in about 38 degree heat or sitting in the shade and waiting.  Of course I elected to do the walk.  Being from the Middle East I had carried my trusty umbrella with me for shade so made full use of it during my trip.  Many others bought ones from street vendors at various sites as it was so hot and sunny.

The Roman Forum was spectacular and I was glad I’d made the effort to go there.  You could imagine yourself back in time as you wandered around the places where so much has taken place in the past.  We viewed the only brass door left in Rome from the time of the Roman Empire.  Most brass was melted down to make other things.  This area was so well preserved due to the fact that it sits in a natural hollow and time and erosion filled it up with sand so the buildings were completely covered up.  History came to life!  And I loved it!

Eventually we were dropped off at a train station to find our way back to our hotels.  I had ordered a taxi through our guide and we loaded our bags into it and raced off!  Only to find the meter already had 12 euros on it!  I had known to take care of the taxis but the driver wasn’t having any of it.  I had asked the guide what a taxi would cost and it was around 10 euros so knew we were being ripped off.  The driver’s response was he put the meter on when I ordered the taxi!  You have no chance with them so as we roared through the Roman traffic to our hotel Rome lost some of its appeal.

The taxi driver warned us to take care in the area at night when he dropped us at the hotel.  Perhaps a caring guy after all?  Our hotel was a block from the Termina, the main train station and was a busy area surrounded by many hotels and restaurants.  We were given our room keys and took the ancient lift to our room.  To find two of the most uncomfortable smallest single beds I have ever known.  They were like rock!  On asking downstairs for a topper pad to soften them I was told they didn’t have anything like that.  The teenager rebelled at this unaccustomed hardship while I set off out to find another hotel.  This proved more difficult as most were full and I was back on a budget of what was left in my wallet now.  So we stayed.  The positives were the included breakfast which we ate each morning and the locality next to the train station. 

I found a great pizza place and dined there lots.  So we ate and drank in our neighbourhood, next to the sex shops outside our hotel and the seedy prostitutes and the seedy black men setting up shop on their blankets on the footpath then hanging out at the money exchanges or internet places.