TOUR TO ANCIENT CITY OF ROME

ROMA



Upon getting to Rome, what really captivates ones attention is the oldness of the place.Everything is ancient.At every turn of the eye is an ancient structure almost always in ruins, but still glorious to behold.


AND BY THE WAY


A helpful gesture will be to learn a few phrases of the language before embarking on the journey.Italian is the language spoken in Rome ,so Boun giorno, bueno sera, grazi, quanto costa/il conto etc should get you by on the first day.simply good morning,evening,thank you and how much.


FOOD.
Be prepared to see menu's that have, 1st , 2nd course etc. The meals did not fill us on most occassions except for when we ordered spaghetti.



HIGHLIGHTS OF PLACES VISITED

• BASILICA DI SAN PIETRO
  
• MUSEI VATICANI


• CAPELLA SISTINA


• CASTEL SANT'ANGELO
• PANTHEON


• SANTA MARIA SOPRA MINERVA


• VILLA GUILIA


• SPANISH STEPS


• FORO ROMANO


• COLOSSEO


• FONTANA DI TREVI


• TEMPLE OF VENUS

COLOSSEO

Several films/cartoons have depicted pictures & stories of the gladiators ,and i can imagine that many young boys would have dreamt of being as strong as a gladiator.Perharps, if you have ever wondered where the word gladiator originated from,or wondered if its a fairy tale or whatever your curiosity,well here goes the true story.




Colosseo or colloseum is an arena whose building was commenced in AD72 by emperor vespasian.This is a huge 55,000 seater monument that was used in celebrating sporting events of those times.Sporting events varied ,but one of the most popular ones is the fight by the gladiators where blood was shed.


Who were the gladiators?They were slaves,prisoners of wars etc who were housed in a nearby complex beside the colloseo.They were fed with barley, honey and wine to help body build. Day in and out ,this was the only form of feeding that they had for one year while confined in their training houses. {i should actually market this as ("ancient body building techniques without the gym".)imagine how much i'll make.Now thats a thought}.






At the end of the training year, the gladiators were allowed to go and fight in the colloseo arena.This was a bloody fight to finish where they gained their freedom only by killing the opponent(s); well, the opponents in some cases were wild animals ,and this chance of freedom was given only once in three years.this definitely encouraged the gladiators to fight for their lives with a lot of bloodshed.The bloodshed was actually the main attaraction to the thousands of people that came to watch the event. Do you still want to be a gladiator,or has your curiosity been satisfied?

Now lets shed more light on the colloseo itself.
This is indeed a building in ruins but whose magnificience shows even till now.Huge is the word and it has several arches.One wonders what all the archways are for! Perharps because there were no airconditioning in their days (at least thats what i thought).Apparently, it was a thing of heirachy.Take a close look at the picture below.


Do you notice that each arch has roman numerals written at the top?The doors to the far left with no numerals on them, is the one where only the emperor and his wife could enter through. Another through which the 16 vestal virgins entered.Other numerals in order of 1, 11, 111 etc, determined who entered what door, depending on your position in the world.(remember that Rome was the capital of the world).So all the seats on the ground floor, 1st and 2nd floor, were taken by very important people in the world.

Where then did the ordinary people seat? The men had next prioroty while the women sat at the topmost floor because they were the least considered of the human species at the time.

People , I, yemisi, climbed to the top of that place and believe me, my feet are still recovering, just to see a gladiator cutting someones head? Rumours have it anyway, that the women always wanted to marry a gladiator,now aint that something???Who wouldn't want a strong man by ones side, talk about it women,and by the way how do i know all these things? I listened very well to our guide. Do get a guide when you go on tour, it is good value for money in most cases.


beneath the colloseo where animals to be

fought with were kept














Enough said about the these, lets now go to where it all started.

FORO ROMANO


This is where Rome began.Very unassuming to look at from the outer parts, but upon entering,one gets a clear understanding of why Rome began here.It is said that this was where to catch the latest gossip,news or events going on.It was also the hub of political and economic activities.


On one side are the remains of a huge palace(which was where our tour focused on) and on other sides are the temple of Vesta ,temple of Romulus, the Curia-for senate meetings and a host of other significant buildings.The palace is very fascinating.Its grandiose cannot be captured fully on camera however much i tried. Points to note include:


1.ancient marble designed with hints of purple to signify royalty,in the private quaters of the the royal family.The marble is priced at about 20,000 euros per square metre, yes the same ones you can see in the picture below.


pic showing marble in royal quarters

Doesnt look like much does it, seeing it in reality is a different ball game though.








2. The private sports arena, where the gladiators had private fights for royalty.










3.Monument close to the Foro Romano, probably its entry point.It is very similar to the arch de triumph in France, though this one was built much earlier.Closer observation revealed that a number of these monuments are scattered around rome.I gathered that they were built to signify victory of sorts for events, or people who had achieved great feats majorly of battle.(just a little chip in for those as ignorant as me).

pic showing arch of Foro Romano















If Rome began in the Foro Romano,people like me who always thought that the vatican had ruling power , begin to wonder where exactly this fits in. This is why the next write up will focus on the vatican city.


VATICAN CITY

At some point in Rome's history the pope's had ruling power and they ruled from a city called the vatican city, which is a small city in Rome.The Vatican city peculiar in its own way,at every turn a catholic reverend sister in a car or walking, and there was one on the road (not sure if this was a real sister now), prostrate on the hot floor covered in black. I couldnt take a picture of this ,because it would have been quite rude.

As usual, the vatican is huge as with all roman edifices. On one end of it is the Basilica di San Pietro (st peter's basilica), The musei vaticani (vatican museum) on the other end and alongside ,the Cappella Sistina (Sistine Chapel).We were not allowed into the main gate of the vatican for reasons which were explained in Italian English.The guards at the entrance, have ancient looking attires and are trained specially for the pope in Switzerland.They must remain celibate throughout their service to the pope.

MUSEI VATICANI


The vatican museum has 1400 rooms! Yes you read that right.How did i get through it? I have no idea.Wondered from room to room with my audio guide and the myriads of other tourists.It made me wonder though how King Solomon of biblical times could have basked in much more splendour than my eyes were seeing.Its simply amazing.


From the Egyptian collections,to the religious, to the Roman and modern art,fascinating is the word.








I cannot even begin to describe the art on the ceilings.Some done in gold and the likes,simply splendid, amazing show of wealth and guess who did some of

the art....MICHAELANGELO.














Its kind of awesome to think one is walking under the same roof where these guys were.Did i mention that i thought i'd catch a glimpse of the pope? seriously or maybe some cardinals.that would have added some spice.

At this point i'd like to write a little about the Capella Sistina.


CAPELLA SISTINA


We were not allowed to take pictures in this room so i will try in as much detail as possible to describe what i saw in there.The sistina is a chapel built by pope Sixtus iv from 1475-1480.This is where the cardinals assemble to elect a new pope.

When a pope is elected,white smoke is emitted and when one hasn't yet been elected, black smoke is emitted.It is oblong and quite high.All around on the walls and the ceiling are paintings. The ceiling was painted by Michelangelo and it took him 4years of back bending in odd shapes to finish the paintings.The pictures on the ceiling tell stories of the creation, sin and judgement.


BASILICA DI SAN PIETRO


This is the famous St Peters square where faithful catholics gather for church service or other important events in the catholic calendar.It is the site where it is said that St Peter's remains are .It is a large expanse of space with a temple at the top end.I did not particularly find it of great interest,its magnitude is however is worth having been there.

CASTEL SANT'ANGELO












This former castle has 58rooms, all of which are not opened to the public.Its use has been converted severally from castle-papal prison-museum.We walked up a long ramp which was where funeral processions were being led at the time.If one imagines how it must have been in those days walking up the ramp in its stony and dark windy corridors,it must have been quite moving.












On the corridors however you can get a breathtaking view of the city and lots of fresh air, especially on a very sunny day.At the topmost floor in the great building, there is a panoramic view of the waters (Tiber river) and some of the city .At the rooftop is a monument.














FONTANA DI TREVI & TOMB OF UNKNOWN SOLDIER

After a while,the awe of seeing these things was a bit too much and so we decided to get some icecream and cool off by visiting the fontana di trevi (i.e Trevi fountain).We got our ice creams at one of the many galleteria. I had Coco which happens to be coconut ice cream and straciatella, chocolate bits in icecream- a lovely mix.We headed for the fontana, but got lost along the way because of the many winding roman streets, AND right ahead of us was a breath taking sight with lots of tourists gathered.


This place was just a tomb erected for an unknown soldier (see pics below).













It is such a relaxing place, but my guess is that it is just another everyday site for the romans.At every turn of a windy street lies just another monument.wow!!


FONTANA DI TREVI



Trevi di fontana is a pretty water fountain that attracts lots of tourist.very relaxing place for a drink.Along the streets are nice shops for authentic Italian leather bags and hats or scarves if you prefer.

This picture is a human being painted as the virgin mary, a good depiction in my opinion.he/she will only move when a coin is dropped.that is by bowing low, saying grazi-thank you.

SANTA MARIA SOPRA MINERVA

A plain looking building from the outside.However the inside depicts a splendid church still in use.

PANTHEON

This is a dome shaped edifice whose length equals equals its height.It has an opening at its peak which allows rain and sunshine to stream through.The pantheon was originally a temple but was later converted to a church AD609.Pictures below show the opening at the peak of the dome,its exterior and some of its interior.

Other places visited were the spanish steps,villa Guillia, ghetto and a host of winding streets that did not appear on the map.See pictures below of a shop called OBJ, mary mother of Jesus and villa Guillia.

I hope you had an interesting read.Please take the poll at the side of the page and explore other options as well.Look out for the next post in a couple of days.

Grazi.