Saturday, 9 May 2020

ROME – The Eternal City

                                                   
Rome – the Eternal city is the capital of Italy and is spectacularly beautiful. The city has a charismatic charm, rich heritage and enchanting atmosphere which make it one of the most famous, beautiful and visited cities in the world that attract millions of tourists every year. The city has a marvelous blend of history and culture and to add to the taste of this blend, they have mouth-watering food items, vibrant streets; and of course let’s not forget: Italian Wine. The city has it all; ranging from thousands of years old Churches to grand Ruins, mammoth monuments, lavish Palaces and ever exuberant fountains, the city never stops to amaze you.
We reached Rome from Malta in Ryan Airlines, which is the cheapest flight you can get in whole European region, in the evening and after the immigration took the one day pass from the airport counter. You can go for three day pass or one week pass as well depends on your need and bandwidth. We had one unpleasant incident where one of my friend’s mobile was stolen along with our day pass when we left it unattended for 10 min. After looking around phonetically and lodging a complaint to the police station, we took the bus and headed to our Airbnb place in Rioni i Monti near Termini metro station hosted by Kenny. The place was sufficient for 2 couples and Kenny was very courteous enough with all our requests.

Pantheon

We started our trip with Pantheon by taking bus Line 170. Pantheon is the best preserved ancient Roman architecture in the entire world which has seen the testimony of time and gravity, still intact with full grandeur and beauty. Build in ~125 AC, Pantheon was a Roman temple initially and later became Catholic Church over the period of time which saved it from getting destroyed. The most beautiful part of this structure is its Dome in the centre with its famous hole in the top (called The Eye of Pantheon); this is largest unsupported dome in the world.
We were bowled away with the beauty of this 2000 years old structure. There were multiple spots on the front side of building depicting the time and age this monument had survived. The carvings and Dome in the center is truly a marvel on its own.

Entry time: 8:30 to 19:30
Entry Fee: Free


                                                                     Front of Pantheon



                                                          Largest unsupported Dome


                                                    360 degree view of Pantheon

Map: Pantheon 



Fontana di Trevi

From Pantheon, we started walking towards Fontana di Trevi or Trevi Fountain. This enormous 4th century Roman Fountain was build to provide water to the Roman baths and to other fountains in the central Rome.
 We reached Trevi around noon and it was buzzing with a sea of people around taking photos and adore the beauty of this iconic fountain. There is a legend that if you throw a coin over the shoulder in this fountain, you will come back to Rome again. We followed the legend (still waiting to go back to Rome) along with all the people around. These coins are collected in the night and given to charity for betterment of society.

Quick tips:
Ø  Stealing coins from the fountain is a punishable offence
Ø  Taking any eatable items near the fountain is prohibited


                                                                       Fontana di Trevi


Colosseum

Finally we reached one of the wonders of the world, the mighty Colosseum. Built in 80 AD, it is the largest oval shaped open amphitheatre in the world with 50 entrances where people would come for wild sports like Gladiator combat, human v/s animal fight, wild animal hunting and prisoner execution, exotic animal display etc. Below the Colosseum were numerous room where Gladiators and animals would be kept waiting for their chance to go for combat. Though it is broken down by lightning, earthquake and vandalism, it is still one of the most attractive place in Rome.
When we reached, what amazed us most was the design and architecture with absolute precision and foresightedness even at that time with less technology and resources. We could actually visualize the fighting scenes of gladiators and animals in the arena with around 50000 spectators cheering for them.

Quick Tip:
·         In the evening, once the lights of Colosseum are on, that is a sight to behold. Please try not to miss that part
·         We went to Rome in March first week and luckily for us, Rome was celebrating Cultural Week. Due to this, entry for all the churches and museums was free of cost. So, if you are planning for Rome, maybe you can also plan around the same time

Opening Time:  8:30 to 19:00
Price: 12 Euros

                                                               Inside arena

                                                      The Great Grand Colosseum

                                          The step-wise activities description of the events

Map: Colosseum

Roman Forum

Situated just ~400m from Colosseum, we went straight towards the ancient Roman city on the Pallentine hill called Roman Forum. The city is deserted and broken, but we could still sense how the roman city around 2000 years back looked like with some of the structures still holding their ground with full pride singing the glorious Roman empire days.
There is no separate entry fee for Roman form and Palentine hill. It is included in the ticket fee for Colosseum.

Quick Tip
The Colosseum is open till 19:00 but Roman Forum and Palentine hill closes at 17:00. So please plan accordingly.

After the long tiring day, we treated ourselves with the best of Italian food joints near Colosseum. Beautiful evening, Itlalin food and Colosseum at the backdrop, it was perfect setting for a delightful and scrumptious food including Pizza with cheese overload, Lasagne, baked potatoes, the very famous Italian sweet Tiramisu. We took a tram from Colosseum which dropped us near Termini metro station and reached our Airbnb place.


                                                    5 Cheese Mushroom Pizza

                                                         Cheese baked Chicken

After hogging on the super delicious dinner, we reached our hotel. Next day we started for our day trip to Vatican City.

                   BALI – A Trip to Heaven
                   Interlaken – Crown Jewel of Switzerland
                       Malta – Kingdom of Knights
                   Vatican - The Holy City
                   Venice – The Floating City

2 comments:

  1. Best description for rome.an old historical modern,city.for one day traveller.

    ReplyDelete
  2. No wonder it is called as Eternal city. Thanks for compliment.

    ReplyDelete