Heading south, we soon came upon the eternal city Rome. Capital of the Italian state, this city swims with history from its home of the Roman Empire, one of the most incredible and influential entities that have ever been present in history. Furthermore, Rome reflects this in droves. Unfortunately, during this part of our trip, we became quite sick with a considerable cough which may have even been a chest infection. As such, our enjoyment of Rome became limited as we spent a lot of time resting and not enjoying the sites and the summer heat. Nonetheless, we still managed to see a lot of the city, helped along by a city tour as part of our Topdeck tour.
First stop were the Spanish steps, situated in the Spanish quarter of Rome. The 235 steps linking the Piazza di Spagna to the church at the top are a common place for people to sit, people watch, enjoy a drink or two. Situated at the bottom of the steps was a fountain, a common site in Rome. Fountains are everywhere, and the water out of the spouts are apparently clean enough for drinking, being spring water. It certainly tasted alright.
Of course, talking about fountains, there’s the big one in Rome: the Trevi fountain. Unfortunately, the fountain is currently undergoing restoration so while we could see the sculpture and facade of the fountain, there was no running water in which to throw a coin into for good luck. Nevertheless, we still threw a coin in, just hoping not to hit any of the workers hard at work. Furthermore, you could still see how amazing it would, the grand scale of the fountain. It must be a sight to behold when it is fully running and hopefully one day in the future, I will be able to have a look and enjoy it fully.
Then there is the Pantheon, the marvel that it is as a engineering feat. Containing one of the biggest domes ever made, it is a self-supporting dome with no columns supporting it. I had studied it during Classics at high school and I was always in awe of it.
That dome is built with increasingly lighter materials, concrete through to brick, contains coffers to lighten the load, and the massive occulus at the top. Its amazing, to see this massive dome, this massive hole in it and to see it standing. It is just amazing and you have to take your hat off to those builders and architects who built this without all the fancy tools that we now have with the computers. Apparently also, the drainage system for the rain through the occulus has withstood the test of time, and hasn’t resulted in the flooding of the temple/church. Not many modern building might be able to say the same.
I always finally managed to see Trajan’s column in real life. While I had seen it in the V&A Museum in London, seeing the real one in situ was something special. I have to admit I was glad I had seen the cast though as that had allowed me to appreciate the sculpture on the column, while in Rome, I could appreciate it and how it looked among the ruins of the forum. Simply amazing — it’s weird to finally see something you had studied or read about many years ago in front of you. Surreal.
One of the biggest monuments that I have ever seen was the Altare della Patria, dedicated to Victor Emmanuel II, the man who united Italy together, at the relatively late year of 1871. It amazed me that a country like Italy is actually in principle younger than New Zealand. The white monument towers over the square which also apparently is where Mussolini used to address the people. It is unfortunate that I wasn’t able to frame the photos well enough to capture how amazing it is. It is also a shame that we never got to go up to the top, though I think it wasn’t needed.
That’s because we climbed a nearby hill and climbed to the Garden of the Oranges or the Giardino degli Aranci. The view from here was amazing over the city.
The view from the top allowed views from the Vatican and over across to the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. Even the gardens themselves, simple as they were were beautiful. The wide path between the trees gazing out across Rome was something quite special. I can imagine when the oranges are ripe and ready for picking, the smell would be amazing.
To be honest, it was amazing that we were able to see Rome. Not only were we sick, but we had the unfortunate problem of our hotel being closed, having charged us, and trying to sort out a new place to stay with Hotels.com who didn’t understand being a student, having limited funds, and the fact we didn’t budget for it since we had been charged. That was a fun five hours on the phones talking to idiots who didn’t understand that people had just initials on their credit cards and not being able to answer simple questions. It wasn’t that hard a request. And to make it worse, we had rung up a week or so earlier after receiving an email saying our accommodation was no longer available, but then told by Hotels.com the email was wrong and we would be fine. Rather unsatisfactory all in all. Fingers crossed for our travel insurance.
We also said goodbye to our Topdeck travel companions, of who we had immensely enjoyed our trip with. It is a great shame that we were not able to continue our trip with them through the rest of Europe — especially the sailing around the Greek islands. Next time though, but a highly recommended experience, especially when you get a great bunch of people both as travellers and crew like we did.
