To end my first year teaching abroad, I met up with my Dad in Rome, Italy! :) We hung out in Rome for a few days before taking off on a Mediterranean cruise for 7 days and then returned to this ancient city for another couple of days. This post has most of the major sites we saw in Rome, both before and after our cruise. I'll save the Vatican City and Palatine Hill/Roman Forum pics for the next post. :)
Wow! Where to start? Rome is one of the most amazing cities I have ever had the pleasure of visiting. I had no idea that one city could hold so much history. Apparently, Rome's notoriously bad city transit is due to the fact that there are too many ruins there. Every time they dig up any ground to put in a new subway tunnel they hit ruins, so immediately all digging and construction halts and that area gets closed down to any further development!
Due to this, we toured much of Rome on foot. Some of our maps were greatly distorted and we got kind of "lost" or turned around on a few occasions, but we did eventually find everything we set out to see. Rome has such TINY streets and they go in all directions without any sort of rhyme or reason!! Anyways.......here is the Pantheon. It was built in 120 AD by Emperor Hadrian, even though the inscription above it says M. Agrippa built it (it was built over a temple originally built by Marcus Agrippa). The dome of the Pantheon is the largest unreinforced concrete dome in existence today! They are not completely sure even today, how it is that this dome has withstood almost 2,000 years and has not crumpled in on itself! The oculus (the hole in the top) apparently acts as some kind of compression ring with regards to the forces being exerted by the structure.......I'm not really a science-minded person, so those of you who are, probably know what I'm talking about. LOL
You can see all the scaffolding that's there is up because they were restoring the outside bit by bit! It's hard to see just how big the columns are, the pics really don't do it justice!
Emperor Hadrian built the Pantheon as a temple for all the classical gods. Pan = all and theos = gods
A slightly closer view of the half that wasn't under restoration.
This is the interior......pretty fancy and in fabulous condition considering the age of this structure!
And this would be the famous and mysterious unreinforced dome with its oculus!
Next stop..........Trevi Fountain!
This beautiful fountain was built in 1732 and is named "Trevi" (meaning three roads) because of the three roads that meet at the fountain. It is quite literally hidden in amongst all the little streets, piazzas and squares. We came around the corner of one of the buildings and into the square and there it was! :) Very pretty, but ridiculously packed with people!
This kind of shows how close it is to the surrounding buildings......
Me and my Dad! :)
There is a tradition of throwing a coin into the fountain to ensure your return to Rome.........how could I say no to that!?
Moving on...........the Spanish Steps! You can see one of the 13 ancient Egyptian obelisks found in Rome, near the top of the steps. They were built in this piazza, the Piazza di Spagna, in 1725. This place was a packed house with tourists, beggars and TONS of pickpockets! Really had to watch our wallets and the aggressive flower sellers!
This is looking down from halfway up.
Onto more exciting sites..............Circus Maximus! This is the site where Ben Hur raced his chariots and people of low class could become rich and famous simply by winning a race. There's not much left of it today.
This is my Dad attempting to be gladiator-like.......I know......don't ask....LOL!
You can kind of see how wide the arena is in this pic. There is a mound down the centre of the arena where there used to be a wooden stage set. People would sit on it and watch the chariot races.
We walked all the way down the Via del Corso, which is one of the best walking streets in Rome. At the far north end, it opens into Piazza del Popolo - "The People's Plaza". When we arrived and walked into the square there was some sort of demonstration taking place. Not understanding any of the Italian being spoken over the loudspeaker or on the signs and flags being waved around, we had no idea what it was all about until we started spotting the Communist Party symbols......LOL! Apparently, we had walked right into a Labour Union demonstration backed by the Communist Party!!!! We saw the busload full of police standing by and decided that maybe it wasn't the best location to be in at that moment..........
The second coolest place we visited in Rome was the Domatilla Catacombs! These were incredible to see with the entrance having been hidden inside an old church for centuries. We were really saddened by the fact that they do not allow cameras or pictures being taken inside the building or the catacombs. Here are a few pics of the outside of the building. LOL Not nearly as exciting as what lies beneath the roof and the ground......these catacombs were built in 4 levels with each level going at least 10 feet down. The air was very dank and humid down there and the carved out spots where they placed the bodies were practically untouched. We saw all sizes of holes carved out from newborn places of rest to large adults. The inside of the church was filled with excavated marble shards and old pieces of pottery with the inscriptions of names of people who were placed down there. Again, we couldn't get a picture of those. :(
THE coolest site we saw in all of Rome, in my opinion, was the Coliseum. This structure, although mainly dismantled from years of pillaging, was by far the most impressive looking building I have seen!
Some of the participants and spectators at the demonstration....
One of the banners being displayed.......LOL!
The second coolest place we visited in Rome was the Domatilla Catacombs! These were incredible to see with the entrance having been hidden inside an old church for centuries. We were really saddened by the fact that they do not allow cameras or pictures being taken inside the building or the catacombs. Here are a few pics of the outside of the building. LOL Not nearly as exciting as what lies beneath the roof and the ground......these catacombs were built in 4 levels with each level going at least 10 feet down. The air was very dank and humid down there and the carved out spots where they placed the bodies were practically untouched. We saw all sizes of holes carved out from newborn places of rest to large adults. The inside of the church was filled with excavated marble shards and old pieces of pottery with the inscriptions of names of people who were placed down there. Again, we couldn't get a picture of those. :(
The sign! LOL
This is the old church building built overtop of the entrance to this set of catacombs.
THE coolest site we saw in all of Rome, in my opinion, was the Coliseum. This structure, although mainly dismantled from years of pillaging, was by far the most impressive looking building I have seen!
My classic dorky tourist pic........have to take one at every famous site I visit! LOL
This is actually the first glimpse I had of the Coliseum, our first day in Rome! :)
Me and my Dad again! :) Proof we were here....LOL.
The inside was not nearly as impressive or intact as the outside of the Coliseum.
The "basement" of the Coliseum was actually two stories down so that they could have all those trap doors for the wild animals to spring out of!
The cross erected to honor all the Christian martyrs who lost their lives in this arena.
Ok, one last shot to prove we were here! LOL :)
