August 3-7
I was scheduled to be lounging on a beach near Rome for a week, giving myself a little writer’s retreat. Due to my nannying gig being a little shorter than planned, I sojourned in Mons, Belgium for a week with Mark and Carrie, who graciously put me up so I didn’t need to go all the way back to Dublin.
Roma
I arrived in Rome’s Fiumicino airport, procrastinated in the bathroom to avoid the many children I’ve been confined in a small metal tube with for 2 hours, as my limit for kid noise was well and truly reached.
(Pro tip: When you’re within the Schengen zone, you don’t need to go through security for flights.)
I found my way to the exit, then followed signs for the train. I lined up downstairs behind other first-time train travellers, and when I finally found my way to the station with my ticket, I realised there were a million more ticket machines upstairs that would’ve saved me waiting. Jumped in the train, and 30 mins later, I was in Rome!
Eventually navigated my way to the metro – the ‘A’ line is a bit hard to find – and caught a metro the 3 stops to Piazza di Spagna, then onto our accommodation.
Thursday 4th August
Jared, still in Dublin, was panicking because Dublin airport has been pandemonium as they refuse to pay their staff a living wage so there’s been loads of strikes, and Covid was rampant again etc etc etc. Lufthansa asked him to be at the airport to check in for 2:30am for a 6:30am flight, so Jared ended up just staying up all night.
Our flatmates, also going to Italy on the same day but not the same flight, met Jared at the airport, so he had some buddies.
Jared had a connecting flight going through Frankfurt that morning. After Dublin airport being predictably full force fail: the flight plan wasn’t registered with the flight control tower, so there was a delay in taking off because of this
Jared managed to make the very tight turn around with his flight, but his checked bag did not.
Let the drama commence.
I on the other hand, had decided to spend my morning going to the Vatican city, given Jared had no desire to go. I didn’t have a great desire either, but I was vaguely intrigued about the Sistine Chapel.
The Vatican is probably the biggest tourist attraction that I’ve ever been to – up there with the Eiffel tower, or the Leaning tower of Pisa. Hence, completely full of tourists, and absolutely rammed.
Before we went in, I had a panic that I needed my passport to go into the Vatican. No. You don’t.
I found my tour, amongst the throng, and we started at about 9am. It was over 35 degrees at 9:30am, as we went into the Courtyard of the Pinecone and our guide explained all the different panels of the Sistine Chapel.
To get to the Sistine Chapel, you go through a bunch of art galleries. Loads of marble, sculptures and paintings of Jesus. My introduction to marble sculptures was the Louvre, and it’s difficult to beat. There were large parts that were roped off, and loads of people around, so it made it difficult to be able to appreciate anything.
I’m sure all of you art buffs out of there are aghast, but I’m new to this whole art thing, and have no background knowledge on it, so… I was underwhelmed.
There was a gallery of maps though, which had a shiny gold ceiling. Now you’re speaking my language.
The sistine chapel itself was choc-a-block full, and there was some grously miser saying ‘silencio’ every 3 seconds on the microphone. He was noisier that the hundreds of tourists in there.
It was difficult to actually see anything and I was distracted by not bumping into people. It was cool to see the Creation of Adam’s Hand and learn that the whole ceiling was painted in 4 short years, but to be honest, the reality of the Sistine Chapel just felt like a tourist trap, not worshipful or grandiose, but a somewhat small chapel, with an impressive ceiling. I felt I needed binoculars and noise cancelling headphones to be able to fully appreciate.
The Sistine Chapel was the final part of the guided tour, but we were then able to independently go to St Peter’s Basillica. An Aussie girl, Meg, and I went around the cathedral, hunted for the crypt – hoping for skulls! – greviously disappointed when it was just a bunch of dead popes, tombs covered in marble scupltures of them with their fancy hats on. Predictable in hindsight, but also very disappointing.
It’s so strange to see these massive structures that have no seats or anything, and don’t seem to be used regularly. They’re historical buildings that have little or no practical use in the current world, and are like architectural museums. This is fine, but odd.
I guess my very religious upbringing taught me that church was always a sacred place, and should be for the purpose of God’s people coming together. The ostentatiousness of the Catholic church is so deeply at odds with my personal understanding of the bible, but as society has also moved so far away from churches and Christianity – protestant and catholic – that I’m struggling to fathom the current purpose of these buildings.
A tour guide asked us to leave religion at the door and explained that a church was basically just a building that housed architecture, art and history. I think that’s probably a really good way to think of them. But the further I get from regularly attending church, the harder I find it to go into a church and not be reminded of the huge amount of damage that people have done in the name of ‘the church’ or religion over the years. I also struggle with the opulence of cathedrals, knowing that they were funded by buying indulgences or guilting people out of their hard earned money.
I have beef with Christianity and how it’s moulded our society – for better or for worse – and it colours churches for me. They’re not simply pretty buildings, or at least they shouldn’t be – they should be so much more than that. They should be community centres, they should be refuges where people can go when they’re in crisis, find help, support, or God. There should be access to counsel, fellowship, learning, worship, and opportunities to serve others. Some are. Most aren’t.
St Peter’s Basillica was fine, and delightfully gilded, but the cathedral in Pisa was more impressive, and it had absolutely nothing on the cathedral in Siena.
They seem to me to be an architectural pissing contest.
Anyway… if I think about going to the Parthenon in Athens, then I think I would be able to come with no expectations, and just look at it as a facet of ancient life, and think oh cool, every culture that ever existed had a religion of some flavour, and this was part of theirs. How interesting that they believed in Zeus and whatever else… I don’t think I would come to ancient Greek temples with the same level of judgement, or shoulds, or anger, because I can just view it as part of history that doesn’t directly affect my now. (Though I’m sure it does somehow)
Anyway in conclusion, the Vatican museums, or the tour that I did at least, weren’t presented to me in such a way that I saw the value in seeing them. Would not recommend. There’s other cooler stuff to do in Rome. Come at a different time of the year when it’s not stinking hot and there’s fewer people if you do want to go.
After taking a few snaps in St Peter’s square, Meg and I went to get a cool beverage – Aperol spritz is a great way to cool off – and I then caught a bus to Roma Termini station to meet Jared.
Finally, he arrived, and I gave him his transport pass (available at any ticket machine, covers metro, train, tram and bus, but not out to the airport) and we went to the hotel room to collapse.
After a brief siesta, we ventured out to buy shorts rather than jeans, and then for our walking tour.
We elected for the free Sandemans one, and booked in for the ‘new’ Rome tour, not realising there was also an ancient Rome tour that they offered.
The tour started at the Spanish steps, introduced the bougie shopping district sporting Fendi, Dolce and Gabbana, Rolex, and various other very fancy brands.
He told us of Via del Corso – the street of the course – where they used to have street chariot races, the current senate building, and the parliament, the great gelato houses, Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, Garibaldi’s column, a galleria shopping mall (that’s all but closed down from the pandemic,) fancy houses where aristocrats used to live, and ones where they do still live, the order of the Knights of the Maltese Cross, the church where Santa Monica is buried, and finished at the Trevi Fountain (which was possibly busier than the Sistine chapel.)
We found a lovely restaurant by our hotel, dined, then collapsed.
Friday, 5th August
We learned about the Italian minute. Spoiler alert = they’re not literal.
We set out to the Colosseum – asked to be there for 10am to start our 10:25 tour. There was a huge crowd gathered by Constantine’s arch, and after much faffing, we finally set off about 10:45.
We started with an explanation of Constantine’s arch, then headed to Palatine hill. We looked our over the forum – where the ancient Roman marketplace used to be – and saw the ruins of a palace on top of Palatine hill. The view over the city from the hill was quite impressive.
One of the most confronting facts was that it was actually Mussolini that we have to thank for being able to see so many Ancient Roman ruins today, as he desperately tried to tie his government to the grandeur of the Roman republic and empire.
There were remnants of some churches, the Flavian palace, Stadium Domitian, and the house of Augustus, and many other facets of ancient life.
Finally, finally, after many hours in the hot sun, we got to finish the tour with going to the Colosseum – the thing that we were actually all there for, and had been tantalisingly close all morning. We got a good 15 minute spiel about the history of each part, and how there were various different social class things built into the stadium, very similar to what we have now.
The whole design is mind blowing in its scale, and it was very impressive how big it was. It was also very sad to learn how many parts of it had been taken and repurposed when the Trajan took parts and used them all over the city for various other projects, and due to a shortage of raw materials, they were taken for other projects. The steel beams that helped to support the structure were also nicked over the years, causing the partial collapse of the building, and giving it its iconic shape. (Not helped by various earthquakes.)
There were also trap doors, where they would pop up things like palm trees when the lions were out, or jungle fauna when they had tigers fighting gladiators in the ring.
Gladiators were not just fighting for their lives, but fighting to put on a good show. This ensured that even if they didn’t strike a fatal blow, that they could gain favour for fighting valiantly.
A gladiator had to win not just 1 or 2 fights, but like 2-3 years worth of fights to be able to earn his own freedom. We get the thumbs up or thumbs down symbol from the fact that they used to have multiple fights going on at any given point in time, and the referees would send a signal to the emperor as to whether or not a given participant won. It was possible to draw in a fight if after 10 minutes there wasn’t a fatal wound. There were then judges that would determine who was the better fighter – the inauguration of the thumbs-up/thumbs down.
If you lost a fight, then if you got a thumbs down, then they would ensure that you were stabbed from the collarbone to the heart, to ensure a quick death.
A popular warrior could be inscribed in stone – we saw one that had an omega above his head to show that he was unfortunately killed in the fighting.
I loved seeing the graffiti from ancient fights – there were a few pieces that were super detailed, and more like works of art. They would also graffiti board games on some of the stones to be able to entertain themselves in between fights.
The fights were all free and people were allotted an entrance to go through. Rulers liked currying favour with their subjects by entertaining them with these spectacles.
It is much like in the movies. There was a lot of organisation. It was a day long spectacular. There were 50 different feast days. There needed to be a lot of coordination between the people up top and down bottom using the trapdoors, and creating the spectacle of the event – popping up palm trees when the tigers were coming out etc etc.
Spectators would bring their own food from home, and have a little bbq on the seats.
After the colosseum, we found the nearest eatery and got some food, as it was 2pm and we’d not yet eaten. We devoured a pizza each, then headed back to our hotel for a nap – embracing the Italian tradition of siesta.
I read while Jared slept, and woke him about 7pm. I went to have an aperitivo at a restaurant, waiting for the delivery of Jared’s bag. Ireland has a pretty relaxed relationship with time, but Italy is next level on this. It was supposed to be delivered on Friday afternoon, and it eventually arrived on Saturday afternoon, for a bag that was supposed to arrive on Thursday.
Anyhoo. Jared comes down, and we have a couple of cocktails.
It’s a Friday night, and we have no plans, so start hunting for a evening cruise or something like that. There’s nothing, but I suggest that we check out the Shakespeare performance at the Globe theatre in the nearby Villa Borghese gardens.
After an espresso martini or two, Jared was amenable to pretty much anything, so we headed to a bus stop.
We arrived, after a beautiful but sweltering evening stroll through the Borghese Gardens. We purchased tickets at the box office, (trying to buy tickets online failed) stocked up on water and ice cream, then headed for our seats. The cast put on an amazing show of Midsummer night’s dream, and it didn’t matter that we didn’t understand a word. It was a mesmerising performance, and so very cool to be in a version of a Globe theatre – a first for both of us.
This was only problematic because we had a tour to Pompeii starting at 7:30pm the next morning…
[I shall do a separate post about Pompeii]
Sunday, 7th August
Our interrailing adventure was scheduled to begin with our journey to Milan. We had that awkward thing where we had to check out from our accommodation and then that gap between check out time and train time. We planned to drop our luggage at the left luggage at the train station. So did half of Europe. Gave up on that, found another one a street away from the station, and that was also full. We tried a nearby hotel to see if we could leave our luggage there, and… ended up paying for a room for half of the day.
After all of this palava, we were late for our walking tour – we booked the Ancient History of Rome tour – but couldn’t find them as they actually left on time. We bought some hop on hop off bus tickets instead, and wandered up to the first bus stop. Who should we find at the crest of the hill by the Circus Maximus, but a group that looked suspiciously like a walking tour.
We made our apologies and joined in after all.
Now we’ve done a lot of walking tours at this point, but I would say that this was hands down the best walking tour we’ve ever done. Our second stop of the tour was to Santa Maria in Cosmedin church, which is home to the Bocca della Verita (the mouth of truth) sculpture, where women who had been suspected of adultery used to have to put their hand into the sculptures mouth, and (unbeknownst to the women) there were priests behind the sculpture who would cut off the women’s hand if they thought she’s committed adultery. This usually resulted in the women dying within the next few weeks from blood loss or infection in the wound.
This practise became so ‘effective’, that it was then moved to before the wedding and could be used to determine if someone was really a virgin before getting married. Obviously the few women who did survive this ordeal were socially ostracised and had a life-long disability from this fun parlour trick. Yay, patriarchy.
We also went to a host of other ancient sites, finishing with the Jewish ghetto, where the Nazis rounded up and shipped out all the Jews in a mere 24 hours from Rome – they were getting very efficiently by this time.
We finished at the Marcello theatre and Capitoline hill. Since we had hop on hop off bus tickets, we decided to use this as a means of getting back to the train station.
This is not a recommended course of action – didn’t take into account the fact that they wait at various stops – Vatican for upwards of 15 minutes! – and nearly missed our train!
Made the most of our half-day hotel room and showered before we boarded the train and set out for Milan. Italian trains are amazing and punctual and first class has espresso machines on wheels!
Jared’s favourite: Palatine hill – but would like to spend an entire day there, rather than the rushed tour we had in 37 degree heat.
Lauren’s favourite: Watching Shakespeare in Italian. Felt more ‘real’ than most other touristy things.
Have you been to Rome? What was your favourite part? What lessons have you learned the hard way when travelling? What interesting tid-bits did you learn along the way? Comment with your Rome adventure stories.
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