Come explore ancient Rome

The time had come for us to leave Pisa and take the last train trip of our journey. Checkout was at 10:30 so we packed up our bags and headed out, though our train wasn't until almost 2. We checked out the last bit of souvenir places and headed to find bus tickets so we could get back to the station. Luckily there was a machine right at our corner so we paid for our tickets and crossed the street to catch the bus. We arrived at the station long before we needed to be there so we set up camp at the McDonalds, we had some lunch and played cards to occupy our time.

To be completely honest, the train journeys have started to run together and I am having a hard time remembering specific details. I do remember parts of the coast and coming through the new port of Rome before actually hitting the city. Our stop was the central terminal in Rome so we got to see parts of the city before we got off the train. I had the directions from the terminal to the campground so we at least had some idea of where we were heading. The first step was to transfer from the train section to the metro. The station seemed well labeled so we followed the signs, they did lead us in the right direction but it took us almost 20 minutes to get there; not exactly a short distance between the two stations. We got on the correct metro and made our way to the appropriate stop where we then had to find the correct exit and bus stop for the last leg of our journey.

There was a stop just outside the exit that had our bus number on it so we waited here... for a really long time. I have become accustomed to good transportation in large cities... Rome does not really offer that, at least when it comes to their buses. We waited about 20 minutes before the bus came.  We boarded and the bus and travelled about two blocks before it turned around and stopped in a bus station, where we waited for another 15 minutes or so. Eventually the bus moved again and we headed back past the original stop on the other side of the street.  Lesson learned; when we needed to head home make sure we were on the right side of the street.  Because we got on the bus at the very beginning (or before the beginning ;) of the route we were able to sit down and take our packs off.  After the second stop the bus was crazy packed and I have gotten used to the rude looks we get for taking up so much space.  However, when you are young and perfectly capable of standing, suck it up princess!  This lady asked if we could move all our stuff so she could sit down (because she needed to text, some girls can't text and stand apparently).  So we both now have to balance our heavy bags on our laps in the very hot bus.  Miss Princess then gets off in about 3 minutes.  Seriously, we both wanted to kick her.  We got off at the correct stop and walked the last few minutes to the campground.

When we got there a tour bus had just arrived so check in was swamped. I sat and guarded the packs while Lyle hung out in line. Eventually we got our package and made our way to the tent. Now here in Rome they really packed the tents in, there was maybe 6 inches of space between the tents, this would be our demise as the girls next to us came back really late, really drunk and really loud each night. The campground was nice though and quite large. We settled in a bit and then headed to the restaurant onsite for some dinner. After dinner we grabbed a few supplies from the market and called it a night.

Our adventures in Rome begin!!  We decided we would start at one side of the city and walk through and see the things we wanted to see this day.  Of course, a day in Rome wouldn't be a day in Rome without some frustration and poor local transit.  Before I get into that I will describe our campground.  We are on the western edge of the city right next to a highway.  The campground is at the top of an embankment that takes a switchback by car to get to the top.  Reception, lock boxes, and the internet shack are at the bottom and everything else is at the top.  It is very similar to our Venice camp ground except a little older and dense.  This campsite is very much the party campsite as each night there is a theme for a dance and the restaurant has several TVs to watch the Euro Cup (of which we have become addicted to).

So we begin the day with getting on a bus that should take us to a metro stop.  We didn't have to wait too long for this one (a rare occasion indeed in Rome) and so we thought we were doing well.  We were all on the lookout for the Metro Sign when the area of town showed up on the bus stops.  We passed under an elevated railway track and thought that would be the Metro stop, but no signs were in sight.  After going several more stops and finally leaving the section of stops that the Metro was suppost to be located in, we got off with the rest of the puzzled tourists from the campground and started walking back towards the elevated railway.  Once we got there, we saw a Metro sign hidden down and around the corner (impossible to see from our road).  We were thinking the metro would be underground, but couldn't find any entrance or signs (later in the week we end up coming out of this metro station that was impossibly hidden and no signs anywhere).  So instead we go up.  That took us to another set of rail lines that were above ground and only went to certain big stations.  Our tiny map showed us that we could get there using this railing and needed to get off in 3 stops.

When 3 stops came up, it was definitely a different station than the one our map showed.  We got off and decided to get a real map after all the frustration we had already encountered in less than 24 hours.  Ours new map showed that there were two stops extra stops that were conveniently left out on our other map (this sparked a conversation about the difference between and incomplete and incorrect map).  All said and done, we FINALLY get to where we wanted to be.  First order of business was to get food, so we stopped at a sandwich place that would best be described as a bamboo hut plopped on a large median on a main internal road.  It was the first one we saw and didn't feel like looking any further.  The food was ok and reasonably priced.

Our map had 10 things you had to see in Rome, and with most of them being of interest to us, we used that as our guide.  Our first stop was right across the street.  It was a pyramid of stone.  Yes.  That’s all we know.  No explanation.  So, moving on . . .

We walked towards Circus Maximus.  Before we got there we noticed a very large and imposing building with heavy security and government style architecture.  We wondered what it was.  On the map it just said 'FAO', which meant nothing to me.  Heather just stopped and gawked, which made me wonder what kind of Asian building named Fao would Heather know about.  She then explained that FAO was the 'Food and Agriculture Organization', a department of the United Nations, and the internationally agency that was the source of a lot Heather's undergrad research work when she was in Edmonton with PHAC.  Their headquarters are apparently in Rome.  It was a really neat coincidence!

Right across from the FAO is the remains of the Circus Maximus.  Back in the day the chariot racing track was awe inspiring and spectacular in every way.  It was enormous, with seating for nearly 400 000 people.  Most ancient cities couldn't grow that big because of civil infrastructure limitations, by the Romans engineering aqueducts and roads and made it possible for Rome to grow to over a million people, so having a chariot track that could fit nearly half the city was unlike anything you would have seen back then.  Today however, all that remains is the dirt embankments that give the viewer only the outline of what the Circus would have looked like.  They are doing some restoration work to possibly reconstruct one end of the track to showcase what it was like when in use.  The Circus Maximus is at the base of the Palatine Hill, which features the remains of roman buildings dating back to before Christ.

Heather wasn't really in the mood for a race around the track (thank goodness, cause we both would have fainted halfway around from the heat), so we just ran across it and made our way along the Paletine Hill towards the Coliseum.  This incredible structure is still one of my most favourite buildings in the world.  Seeing something nearing 2000 years old still standing and still awe inspiring is amazing to me.  Before we could reach the entrance we had to parade through the traditional onslaught of hockers and street vendors selling hats, umbrellas, and toys.  Last time I was here I took a guided tour and wasn't overly impressed, so Heather and I thought we would try our luck with the audio guide.  The guy trying to sell us a guided tour said that if we didn't take the tour then we would have to wait in the queue for at least 45 minutes and that there was no explanations or anything like that on the inside.  Tourist beware, we waited in line 5 minutes, had a great audio guide with more than enough information, English text in their artifact area, and we avoided paying over double the price to be herded like cattle through the Coliseum.

We were happily inside and starting our audio guide tour, a simple handheld device you hold up to your ear and press a button at a certain spot along your walk for a pre-recorded message.  Great system, but following the map to the first commentary was a bit confusing (only in Rome can you make going in a circle confusing!).  We also had a very friendly tourist with the same problem that ended up following us around and bumping into us everywhere, despite taking breaks and other directions.  That’s always fun when you've got someone checking in over your shoulder in a place where they used to kill people ;)

The Coliseum really is amazing.  As the pictures show, the engineering and construction was otherworldly for that era.  From our guide we learnt that the Coliseum was actually names after a statue that stood out front that was called 'The Neronis Colossus' and was 106 roman feet in height.  So it was actually a statue that is the root of our modern day word 'colossus'.  We learned that the games in the Coliseum were always free, but you had to get a ticket beforehand and were seated in very strict areas depending on your social status.  The higher up in society you were, the closer to the pit you were seated.  There were all kinds of trapped doors and gangways that open directly into the pit and you can see the tunnels that remain from these engineering marvels.  We also learnt that the Roman word for sand is 'Arenus', and the pit was covered in sand.  We now use Arena for the area where a sporting event occurs, but it came from the sand that gladiators fought on.  After Christianity finally had a stronghold on the Roman world, then Coliseum fell into abandonment and ruin.  Earthquakes, lack of maintenance, plundering, and destroying sections for building materials all contributed to its current state.  They have stabilized the outer walls and are beginning to restore the stone that still remains.  They have also rebuilt a portion of the 'Arenus' to show what it would have looked like.

We had a great time walking around and learning so much.  We left the Coliseum and headed along our way to other places to visit.  On the way we bought some grapes from a fruit stand.  These grapes was gigantic, each the size of a . . . walNUT!  In the extremely hot and windless weather we enjoyed all the moisture and refreshment we could get.

We passed by one of the buildings that most impressed me on my last trip.  It’s called the Monument of Victor Emmanuel.  It’s being used as a museum, and it is ginormous.  It’s one of the biggest buildings in Rome and is only a few centimeters lower that St. Peter's Cathedral (which is the highest building in Rome by law).  It faces the older part of modern Rome where the high-end shops line both sides of the street.  No matter what city we end up in, we always manage to find ourselves in the ritzee quarters.  A few more blocks and we turned towards our next point of interest, the Trevi Fountain.

When we arrived, we turned the corner and my first thought was a rock concert was playing at the fountain.  The number of people packed into the small steps around the fountain and the noise from loud foreign tourists and the water was overwhelming.  I actually lost Heather for a good long minute as she scouted out a place to sit and admire the fountain.  Designed by Nicholas Salvi, it was a beautiful display of travertine sculpture.  We enjoyed some time there, threw coins over our shoulder as everyone seemed to do.  We then read in our map that if you threw a coin in and drank the water it would ensure your return to Rome.  In hindsight, I'm glad we didn't drink the water! 

Moving on we came next to the Spanish Steps.  When I was here last time at night, there were actual Spanish boys serenading the girls with their guitars and hockers trying to sell roses to every couple in sight.  Just so no one thinks I’m a jerk because I didn't buy Heather flowers, we both agreed that having a flower thrust into your face is all the excuse you need to say no.  We found some shade by the central fountain and just sat there for some time, enjoying our time people watching. 

Trying to stand up after a long day walking is not something that should be attempted nearly slippery steps in confined space.  Nevertheless, we managed to not fall into the water and only receive mild looks of laughter from onlookers.  From there we went for supper at the nearby restaurants that line the alleyways.  The place we finally decided on looked kind of sketchy (not sure why we chose it then), but it some of the best pasta we have had so far.  Heather had local pasta with a broccoli sauce that she loved.  I had three different types, all were amazing, but the absolute best was tortellini with Roquefort and truffle cream sauce.  Sooooo good!!  You can see a little of the placemat from the picture, it was indeed a battleship placemat.  We were going to take them home with us, where we had a pen, but we forgot in the end.

After supper we walked a bit more, getting some ice cream and a nutella crepe for dessert, and eventually (that’s a very long eventually) the bus arrived to bring us home.

Day two in Rome... The city of eternal heat. Seriously Rome is an infernal pit of heat, even today when it was 39 here in Hersonissos it's better than when we were in Rome. So day two we headed to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill since our combo passes from the Colosseum had to be used within 24 hours. There was a line up for the audio guides but it wasn't too long. We decided to save money we would share an audio guide... In hindsight it is worth the money to have your own, just in case you were wondering.

The entrance brings you in between the two areas and number one on the audio guide is at the far north west corner so we hiked in that direction to begin our tour. This area of the old city is very cool and interesting though I recommend that you that you choose a cooler month to explore since it really is a good half to full day experience and there wasn't much in the way of shade.

There was a lot to see in this area and even though our tour of Palatine hill was condensed because we were hot and tired we were still there for hours. Now I am not the history buff if you want a full history lesson you would be better of seeing my friend Brett, but I can tell you very basics of what we saw. Now for clarification there is a lot of archeological and restoration work going on still so some of what we were supposed to see was really difficult to catch.


What I believe was the senate house had a number of cool artifacts from the era of the forum and there was much to be learned about how society functioned at that time. We saw the arches of Septimus Severus and for Hadrian. We saw the temples of Saturn and Vesta as well as the house of the Vestal Virgins. For me the highlight of the roman forum (other than getting an idea of what the ancient city looked like) was the final resting place of Julius Cesar, for some reason this struck me as really fascinating. 

So we spent the afternoon wandering in the heat, trying to find shady spots where we could huddle together to hear the audio guide information. By the time we reached Palatine hill we were losing interest but we saw a really cool pool/fountain and some old aviaries. We got a bit lost and I had trouble following where we were. We saw the area of old residences and the area where Augustus Cesar had lived, plus the side of the hill that contained the cave where apparently Romulus and Remus had been raised by the she wolf. 

We tried to check out the onsite museum but didn't have the attention spans so after checking out a cool garden we headed out of the historic site. Realizing how hot and tired we had become...not to mention hungry, we headed back towards the metro to begin what would be a long journey home. It didn't seem to matter when we caught the metro we would always have a 20+ minute wait for the bus back to the campground. 

When we got back we headed to the restaurant for dinner and thanks to iTunes movie rentals we have spent many a nights watching movies in tents and our other various accommodations since Netflix hasn't worked since we were in the UK.