This walking caper is taking some getting used to. My feet have been going round in circles for so long now it's hard to put one in front of the other and then repeat that process ad nauseam. Actually it might not be so bad if Rome was flat, but for some reason it's anything but. We started out this morning by rounding up Harold from his hotel and taking him on a walking tour of the old city. Given limited time we wanted to get to the Pantheon and the Piazza Navona as they were the closest attractions. We modern humans tend to think we're pretty smart these days, but, once again these ancient Roman masterpieces show that we haven't necessarily come as far as we think. Grabbed a coffee at Piazza Navona which was overpriced and under flavoured compared to what we had become used to on our two wheeled wanderings throughout, dare I say, the real Italy, before escorting Harold back to his hotel to catch his flight home. As far as I am aware it's just Mick and me left in Rome from our large cycling group.
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| Pigeons enjoy early morning sun on the Ponte Sisto over the River Tiber |
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| Gratuitous shot of pigeon taking flight |
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| Interior of the magnificent Pantheon (Pantheon = every god). One of Rome's best known ancient buildings dedicated to all the gods of the pagan era. The building also houses the tomb of the artist Raphael. The oculus or 'eye' in the ceiling is 9 metres in diameter and open to the elements. As the sun rises through the day the bright light descends the wall and crosses the floor. |
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| The concrete dome is still, after 2000 years, the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. |
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| Mick chats up a horse outside the Pantheon. The current structure was built over another commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus, the first emperor. Completed by Hadrian in 126 AD. Hadrian retained the original inscription: M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIVM·FECIT, which means Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, Consul for the third time, built this |
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| The Fontana del Moro (the Moor fountain) the southernmost of the three fountains in Piazza Navona. From the other side the face of the central figure appears exaggeratedly grotesque and most un-Roman like. |
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| The central Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (fountain of four rivers) in Piazza Navona. The obelisk has Egyptian hieroglyphics and is presumably misappropriated from elsewhere. Behind is the church of Sant'Agnes in Agone. Legend has is she was stripped naked but saved from disgrace by an extraordinary growth of hair. Perhaps she could become the Patron Saint of Tasmania! |
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| Cat Central: hundreds of felines roam this archeological site |
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| Nobody seems to mind graffiti in Rome, least of all the various council authorities. |
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| How about a Vespa tour? About 40 scooters on this one |
Mick and I then took the hop on / hop off bus around Rome. This promised to be a great way to see the city and spare the feet as I was already beginning to develop a blister or two. We enjoyed bright sunshine as opposed to our bus trip in Barcelona where it rained continuously. Got off at the Colosseum to walk back through he Forum but the queues for tickets to access the shortcut through the Forum were prohibitive as we were hungry and thirsty. We decided to leg it all the way back to Trastevere, a couple of kilometres I suppose. Found great little restaurant/bar with Belgian beer, fabulous bruschetta and the best home-made spaghetti with cheese and pecorino. Heaven! Might be forced to return this evening.
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| Titus' Arch at the entrance to the Forum. His dad, Vespasian built the Colosseum |
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| This guy was making some sort of rude gesture to his mate on the left |
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| Unmistakably the Colosseum but very hard to find an angle without masses of scaffolding or repair work |
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| Aah, Kwak beer and bruschetta. |
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