For the last 4 days/nights we have been staying
on campsites. Firstly, at a campsite at Lake Bracciano (N42°
8’48” E12°16’9”), 30kms northwest of Rome. It became well known when Tom
Cruise and Katie Holmes got married at the castle here in 2006. The campsite has a lovely setting, right on
the beautiful lake with its own beach. Another opportunity for us to get the
Kayak out and have row around the lake and across to Bracciano.
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| Lake Bracciano |
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| The campsite on the Lake |
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| Relaxing near the motorhome after all the hard work on the Kayak! |
We were tempted to stay longer here and even
contemplated getting the train from here into Rome, but after a lot of we’ll
stay/we won’t stay discussions, we decided to move on to a closer campsite to Rome –
Happy Village and Camping (N42°0’2” E12°27’12”), a lovely quiet campsite on the outskirts of Rome. The campsite has a free shuttle bus service
to the station and then it’s a 20-minute train ride to Rome – a 24hr return
ticket costs €7. Quite cheap we thought; however, we soon found out that like their roads, they also don’t make any
investment into their rail service. The
trains are so old and shake so much and are covered in graffiti, we wondered if
they would last the journey!
We got to Rome just after 9am, and it was already
busy with tourists. We headed through the
Porta del Popolo to the Piazza and Santa Maria del Popolo church, that houses
some fabulous Renaissance art.
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| Porta del Popolo and Santa Maria del Popolo |
The piazza is on a hill and you get a great view
down Via Del Corso to the Vittorio Emanuele II monument and the centre of Rome.
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| Piazza del Popolo |
From here we headed to the Vatican City. We arrived at the Piazza San Pietro and
straight away were approached by touts trying to sell you ‘fast track’ tickets
to the Vatican, Sistine Chapel and St Peter’s Basilica. The queues were already long, almost a 2 hour
wait to get into St Peter’s Basilica, which is free to go in. So, for €50 euros each we could jump the
queue and go into them all. Quite a
hefty price, so given that we had been in them all, albeit in 1987, we figured
nothing would have changed and decided that we would just spend the day walking
around the city. You don’t need to go into anything to appreciate the history of
ancient Rome and admire the architecture and relics of over 2 thousand years, plus most iconic buildings having plaques in English to explain the history.
From here we walked to Castel Sant’ Angelo and
across the Ponte Sant’ Angelo
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| View towards the Vatican and St Peter's from Ponte Sant’ Angelo |
And then into Piazza Navona, Rome’s most famous square
that used to be the venue of the athletic events, and later chariot races. It was given a face-lift in the mid-17th
century by Pope Innocent X. There are 3
fountains in the square, the main one being the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi
(fountain of the four rivers) topped with an Egyptian obelisk.
On to Palazzo Farnese, building begun in 1514 and was finished
off after the architect’s death by Michelangelo. The building now houses the French Embassy and the square has great fountains spurting out of lilies.
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| Palazzo Farnese |
A walk along the river took us to the once Jewish
Ghetto, dominated by the huge Synagogue, then across the Ponte Fabrico to Isola
Tiberina. Built in 62BC, it’s the only
classical bridge to remain intact without help from restorers.
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| Ponte Fabrico to Isola Tiberina |
On the Island, just across the bridge is the
originally 10th century church of San Bartolomeo, with its ancient columns and carved figures.
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| San Bartolomeo |
Next to the Synagogue is Teatro di Marcello
(amphitheatre) which was begun by Julius Caesar and finished by Augustus.
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| Teatro di Marcello |
Steps leading to the Palazzo dei Conservatori and
Piazza del Campidoglio, designed by Michelangelo in the last years of his life
for Pope Paul III, with an equestrian statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius
(although the original is now in the Palazzo dei Conservatori).
From Capitoline Hill you get a great view of the
ancient Roman Forum.
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| The Forum - On the right The Temple of Venus Genetrix, erected by Julius Caesar 46BC |
There are a huge amount of refugees in Rome, trying to make a living on the streets by selling their wares. Mel got taking to one near the Forum, a really nice man and I am now the owner of an elephant bracelet and little elephant, both of which are supposed to bring me good luck – fingers crossed!
Piazza Venezia is dominated by the marble
monstrosity Vittorio Emanuele Monument, erected at the beginning of the 20th
century as the ‘Altar of the Nation’ to commemorate Italian Unification. It has been likened to a typewriter because
of its shape, or a wedding cake by American GI's.
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| Vittorio Emanuele II Monument |
The Colosseum, built around 72 AD. We got here
about 3pm and the queues were long to get in so once again we decided, as we had
been in it once, it wasn’t worth standing in 32°C heat for an hour or so to
go in. Plus, we got to get a free peak
in from around the back when the military guards weren’t looking! An ongoing €25 million renovation is taking
place to keep the structure intact.
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| The Colosseum |
Next to the Colosseum is the huge Arch of
Constantine (early 4th century AD).
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| Arch of Constantine |
The Pantheon – the most complete ancient Roman
structure in the city. Originally a temple that formed part of Marcus
Agrippa’s redesign around 27 BC and the inscription on the porch facade translates
as “Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, three-time consul, made this”, although it
has since been proven that it was entirely rebuilt by Emperor Hadrian and
finished around 125 AD.
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| The Pantheon – the most complete ancient Roman structure in the city |
Inside, the diameter is precisely equal to its height (43.3m). The hole in the centre of the dome is 8.7m and illuminates the building with sunlight. There are no visible arches or vaults to hold the building up as they are sunk into the concrete of the walls of the building.
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| Inside The Pantheon |
The Trevi Fountain, built on the back of a
Renaissance palace – work started in 1732 and took 30 years to finish. It’s a lovely site to just sit and watch the
water gush over the statues and rocks.
The Spanish Steps (Scalinata di Spagna) and at
the top is the Trinita dei Monti
One thing about Rome was that we felt very safe, as there was armed carabinieri (police) and armed military around
all the major attraction sites.
So, exhausted after 8 hours of walking around we
said goodbye to this lovely unique city and headed back to the train station
and to the campsite for a lovely cool down in the pool
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| Mel enjoying a dip, wearing the compulsory swim hat for Italian pools! |
We move on today to Cassino, and from there to Naples.
Sally x
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