Travel Diary – Visiting Rome

Last Night (Wednesday Night) I got my tour of the center of Rome. I was really impressed, and I finally see the attraction of this place. I don’t know that I would want to live here but even so it is an interesting place to visit.

Rome was described as being like rings of a tree. As you get closer to the center, the buildings get older and older. But like a tree there are spots of newer activity in spots and radiating outwards – just like branches.

Getting nearer the center the roads got narrower which really surprised me. I didn’t think that they could. I was lucky. The vehicle I was in was allowed to travel in Taxi lanes giving us the ability to bypass traffic at times.

What I did not realize was that Rome consists of seven hills. When they built the city walls they enclosed the seven hills. Could it be that “Seven Hills” In Sydney is named after the seven hills of Rome. Also what I did not realize was that The Vatican is actually built on Vatican Hill.

I found it a bit strange when we managed to drive through the wall of the old city. The arches are large enough for cars to drive through, and are strong enough to cope with the occasional car crash I guess.

Much of the roads of Rome are actually cobble stone – either on the classic semicircle pattern or more of a grid. This looks fantastic, and ancient, but I am told that it gets more interesting when it rains. It is also a huge effort to maintain. These days they put in a layer of concrete, and then lay the stones on this. No quick resurfacing of the roads here. It takes a while…

At one stage we went past where the first emperor of Rome lived – a guy called Romulus. My guide had a good laugh when I had to inform him that I thought that Romulus was only the planet in Star Trek where the Romulans live.

The tour started with some of the hills of Rome. The hills provide amazing lookouts over the city. The view is spectacular. Unfortunately the view is better in the morning rather than the evening thanks to the fact that the lookouts point towards the setting sun.

Around this time we saw a famous fountain. The idea is that when you come to Rome you throw a coin over your shoulder into the fountain to ensure that you come back. Whilst I visited, my driver double parked his car, and therefore needed to stay with it.

We then visited the tomb of the emperors. This was a mound of brick with a moat. At the time it was built the moat was actually ground level. The level of the city has risen 2-3 meters since then. This did not look all that impressive thanks to theft by the rich and the Christians to build other buildings.

My guide also told me about a court house built nearby recently (2-300 years ago) where the architect decided to use roman building techniques with huge blocks. He did not realize about the weight of the blocks, and the four story building became 2.5 stories, and has been sinking ever since. Recently the government has been putting a lot of money into improving the foundations as it has been sinking.

We then went to what is now a huge square. It was a huge stadium seating 300,000 people. I believe that the guide said that they used to have naval events in the center when they flooded the area. The infrastructure must have been amazing there. Like everywhere in Rome, there are a lots of fountains, statues and churches in the area.

Next we made our way to the square in front of what I believe is Capitoline Hill. My Italian is not what it used to be… actually it is better. Anyway this area is a HUGE round-about. What makes it more interesting is that there are traffic islands in the middle, and no lane markings. If you look at chaos in the dictionary, I think you will find a picture of this. Such a weird design does allow some advantages though. We were able to stop in the middle without interrupting traffic one bit.

What made this stop important was the building in front – with a balcony. This is THE balcony where Mussolini used to give his speeches to the crowd below. About this point I found out more about the person. It seems that much of what remains of ancient Rome exists because he recognized the value of things. Sure he did some bad things, but not everything he did was bad.

[Having said that, you might want to ask a local what they feel about a 10KM commute that takes 1-2 hours because new roads cannot be built quickly because of the roman monuments.]

Then I went to the Capitoline Hill. In classic roman architecture there is a huge step of stairs leading up to a church just on the side of the hill. I am told that the stairs are actually the seats from the coliseum. The stairs just seem to go on. Next to it is an urban redevelopment project on the top of the hill that Leonardo Da Vinci was commissioned to work on.

Like most good projects he was not given the budget to do the project properly so he cheated. Instead of building new buildings, he just built facades around the existing buildings. But this was not a case of simply. He cheated all the time on this project. Firstly, for the stairs leading up, he only used about ¼ of the stairs he should have, and used a ramp between the steps. This creates the optical illusion of not being as many stairs.

Then the square at the top has geometric patterns on it. It is assumed that the patterns are circles, but are in fact ovals creating a strange perspective. The buildings are not built straight up, but come in to further increase the sense of size.

In the centre of the courtyard is the top of a brass stake. This is the centre of Rome. When it is said that all roads lead to Rome, they all lead to this stake.

I was instructed to take a path to the side of two of the buildings, and meet my driver at the bottom of the path. What he did not say was that I would see so much more on the other side. You see behind this building are roman ruins that were uncovered by mousilini when he was in power. So many important buildings are here, one of the most important being the Roman Senate,. I was really blown away.

My driver then picked me up and took me past Constantine’s arch, and the coliseum. This took us under a roman aqua duct that still took pride of place in the city. The Coliseum really is a marvel of modern engineering. It is so large. Looked at from above it really is amazing.

I then walked up close and personal, touching it and the like. Unlike Constantine’s Arch nearby you were actually able to touch some of it. Wow, the history. This whole area had cobble stones, like much of Rome.

At one stage my driver took my down some back streets. They were actually back streets. I would have called them paths. They were about the size of walkways in housing estates. Things are so tight that the people flip in both their side mirrors in order to get as close to the wall as they can. I believe that 10cm is the acceptable distance from the wall. Driving a car down these streets appears fun.

They are so tight that they appear to be a dead end at the end, but might be a right angle or a T intersection. What is more fun is the occasional restaurant with outdoor dining. Diners are suggested that they do not lean back on their chairs, as they are likely to come into contact with a car.

Onwards and upwards we then decided to cross the Tiber river to the western side where I was able to visit the eighth country I had every been in. That was the Holy See, commonly known as The Vatican. Nothing can prepare you for St Paul’s. Not being a Catholic, I had not recently seen a photo of the place, so I really was not expecting anything.

And I was certainly impressed. St Paul’s is on the top of Vatican Hill, meaning that as you look up the road leading to it, you are struck by the scale. Some of this is real, and some is an optical illusion.

St Paul’s is fronted by a huge square. Well it is actually a circle, but it is a square. The front quarter of the circumference to the square is open. The far side is bordered by St Peters. And the right hand side is bordered by the Papal Apartments. Apart from that, the square is surrounded by a double row of huge columns connected with a roof. To top the effect off, large chandeliers light the columns.

Once again the area is entirely cobble stones. Also in the square is a statue of St Peter, and from memory also an Obelisk. Since this is an area that is very popular for open-air services, the area in front of St Paul’s contains a roped off area for chairs. I guess this is for invited guests. Off to one side is a ‘box’ that is obviously a video screen attempting to look innocuous. Many of the pillars around the edge also contain speakers allowing those without the good seats to participate.

I would have loved to visited the Papal Museum, but I did not get a chance on this trip. Hopefully on my next one too. Then I would also get a chance to see inside St Paul’s and also The Sistine Chapel.

I asked about what happens when the current pope dies. Apparently he is entitled to be buried in the Vatican, but that is his choice. What I was more interested in was the voting for the new one. I was told that this was commonly done in the Sistine Chapel. By commonly done, I mean it has been done that way for about 500 years or so. But there are rumors that the next time it may be done somewhere else – I did not hear why but I suspect that it might be so that the faithful could still access the Sistine chapel.

For the uninitiated, the cardinals are locked up to come to a decision on the new pope. They get to vote once a day, and spend the rest of the time praying and talking. No one is allowed in or out. Food is delivered but that is all. Once the decision is made the voting slips are burned creating a special colored smoke indicating that there is a new Bishop of Rome [The actual post].

On leaving the Holy Sea, it was time for dinner. My host took me back into the center of town and after a while we found a parking spot. The driver seemed to be an expert at reversing the car – able to drive it as well in reverse as forward. I was impressed. In searching for a spot we went down some streets that would have been hard enough for me to drive down myself. He was able to reverse out of them.

Once we found a spot we found that the restaurant was actually closed. The owner apparently was just recovering from an operation we found out later. But to get there we needed to walk from the car, and passed a few police officers obviously on special duty. The sub machine guns were a tiny bit of a give away.

My host then took me somewhere else – I have no idea where it was. When the menu came I was told “there is no need for that if you trust me’, which I did. We ended up having Bresheta, a platter of meat and rock melon, anchovies and a Pizza. All were really nice.

At one stage a woman in hospital blues comes in and collects some food. When she leaves I comment that there must be a hospital nearby. He said yes, it was called (I believe) St Lukes, and was opened in 1525. I was impressed.

Following dinner it was about time for me to get some sleep so my driver took me back to my hotel. He then needed to drive about 30 minutes further south towards Naples.

Thursday I did not have much to do, so once I grabbed my email I was offered the chance to go back into Rome. Nicola and his girlfriend took me shopping – and I finally got a chance to see the Rome traffic up close and personal. It was not too bad, really. But this was not peak hour either.

They took me to a district near the Vatican, and it was really interesting to see all the different clothes and other things on display. I actually found what I was after just outside the walls to the Vatican – some souvenir shops. Following shopping I did some more work at the office meeting with some of my clients clients. Not much more to say about this.