As it is said, a picture speaks more than 1000 words, I guess that is what will speak most in this posting. It is an enjoyable place.
Tip: When traveling to Italy and you intend to do the tour - the best way to see the place is on foot. Pack a good pair of shoes and if it is in the hot summer, take plenty of water along each day. The walking may be tiring, but the fun of seeing all these wonderful sites - mostly ancient (some not so ancient) is worth every step.
My first tour was of St. Peter's Basilica and the surroundings. It was a wonderful place to tour and the crowd to see the place was quite large. Then we took to the streets, looking at the old town, the Tiber River, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountaon, Castel Sant'Angelo, Fountain of the Four Rivers (which was being restored), the Spanish steps - which provided a very nice panoramic view of Roma, the Colosseum and then, finally walked through the second most expensive street in Italy. For the most expensive street, see my posting on Milan.
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| Rome |
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| St. Peter's Basilica |
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| The Colosseum |
The next day I took a walk on the via Appia Antica or what is more commonly known in the English world as the Appian Way - the first paved road in the world. Ok, the road now called via Appia Antica is not the original road. The original one lies a couple of feet under the current one, but I also got a chance to walk on that one too - courtesy of the catacombs. There are lots of sites/ruins along the road and one can take the entire 6 mile walk to see all the famous ruins and sites along the road. I did the 3 mile walk on the via Appia Antica to the Caetani Castle and then took the way back using via Appia Pignatelli.
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| Via Appia Antica 1 |
After that, took the bus to the city center and went to visit the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano. Now this is one cool place. The frescoes on the ceiling are decorated in gold leaf. Man, even the organ is gold-plated. Lots of marble statues too. And as usual the sarchophagi are there. All in all, the decor in this church is really cool.
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| San Giovanni in Laterano |
After that I visited more churches - well, you cannot go to Rome without at least visiting a couple of churches - each has its own style and story. Some were where St. Peter was buried (for a while at least), others were where St. Paul was buried (for a while at least). Others were dedicated to some saint or other, while others were commissioned by some important figure of his/her time. So many stories, too many to tell here. The best thing is to have the pictures to look at and possibly, tell their own story.
Also, I took a tour of the Roman forum - where the Roman emperors tried to make their mark - and all that is left is the ruins. Well, again, the pictures speak for themselves.
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| Churches and More |
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| Roman Forum |
Then there was Florence. That was one cool place. There is so much art and history in that town. The most prominent being the statues of David by Michaelangelo. I made a point to visit and see all three statues. Now that Michaelangelo guy was one great sculptor because that statue is so lifelike. It may be huge (and naked) but still is so lifelike. You can even see the veins on the marble statue. I was impressed. Then there was the view of Florence from Piazalle Michaelangelo. Nice does not do that view justice. It is really a breathtaking sight. I spent so much time outside there just looking over the city and trying to identify the sites we had visited.
There were some really cool churches like the San Miniato al Monte, Santa Maria del Fiore, Santa Croce, the Duomo, San Salvatore al Monte and Santa Maria Novella.
Then there was the Ponte Vecchio. It was a covered bridge that houses only jewelery shops. Apparently, in some time past, the shop keepers would dump their trash into the river and pollute it. So the city council issued an order that only jewelers would be allowed to have shops on the Ponte Vecchio.
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| Florence |
Finally, my last major touristic act was taking a hike in Tivoli. I guess that was the highlight of my trip because I really like the outdoors and nature. Let the pictures speak for themselves.
Got to see where the ancient Romans would enjoy nature and it looks like a place where they would take holidays. Villa Gregoriana also has some ruins of ancient temples. It is really interesting.
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| Tivoli |
All in all, it was a wonderful trip to Italy and time well spent on tourism and vacation. I was tired when I got back home, but the wiser and the richer for all my experience. A place worth visiting for pleasure.
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