Since we were making the trip from London, we decided to stay for 3 nights, just enough time to see all the key attractions without getting overwhelmed (or bored) with too much history. Let me start with this, I don’t recall when I have researched so much, perhaps not even during my CA study years. As my hubby was busy with work, the heavy lifting of the trip planning fell on my shoulders. From the time we booked the tickets, I spent all my free time in the next couple of months going over trip adviser forums, reading travelogues, talking to people I knew who recently went to Rome, understanding the Rome city map and planning our itinerary.
At last we flew from London Gatwick on 26th February 2015 to Rome Fumiciano Airport. The flight was at 7 am which meant we got up before 3 am. Unfortunately the sleep deprivation and tiredness flavored our first day in Rome. The flight was smooth enough with the added bonus of flying low over Switzerland Alps to give the passengers a breath taking preview of a future holiday destination.
The immigration on arrival was very quick and straight forward. We took TAM Bus from the airport to Termini which took about 30 minutes giving us a view of suburbs. At Termini we got a 3-day travel pass that was valid in Metro and buses. We took the metro from Termini to Ottaviano station to reach our hotel. This was described like a simple process in the travel forums but it was not, we should have splurged on a taxi from the airport to the hotel. (I don’t advise using Rome Metro except when there is no other option and definitely not with luggage, it is very crowded and people stand quite close without respect for personal space plus it is the riskiest place to lose stuff to notorious pickpockets. Bus service is much better.)
From the Ottaviano station we had to walk for over 30 minutes under the blazing afternoon Italian sun via St Peters Square to reach Fragrance Hotel in San Pietro (which we had booked online). When we finally reached the hotel at 2 pm after struggling to find our way through winding uphill roads, we were in a foul mood. This was where the sleep deprivation made it worse.
After resting for an hour, we took a bus to Vittorio Emmanuele to start our sightseeing. From the main road, we walked to Piazza Navona and our moods took a sharp U-turn to feel-good holiday mood on reaching the wonderful square. The fountain of four rivers in Piazza Navona is the “Water” Altar of Science in Angels and Demons where Cardinal Baggia gets drowned to death. Despite the morbid scene from the story, we could recall the wonderful descriptions from the book from the Pagan fountain tribute to the 4 greatest rivers in the world (Nile, Ganges, Danube and Rio De La Plata) to the Dove with olive branch on top of the Obelisk – the angel of peace.
The statues in the fountain were larger than life and impressively crafted by Bernini. We enjoyed pistachio Gelato while taking in the beauty of the square and then headed to Pantheon.
The best thing about Pantheon is the free entry. It is one of the oldest chapels in Rome and is massive in size with columns in the entrance and the inside being a huge circular room. This again features as a wrong first clue in Angels & Demons. It has the tomb of the artist Raphael Santi’s and the oculus opening on the domed roof.
Next we walked to Fountain Trevi. The fountain itself was not working due to refurbishment works but we could see the beautiful famous statues adorning it. The touristy souvenir shops nearby were fun to watch too.We walked across Via Del Corso stumbling upon other beautiful buildings on our way finally stopping opposite Piazza Venezia for a quick Pizza dinner before taking a bus to the hotel for the much needed night of sleep.
On 27th February, Friday, after a scrumptious breakfast at the Fragrance Hotel, we walked to the Vatican Museum. I had booked the our museum tickets online for 9 am, thereby avoiding a long queues and the hassle. This was the best lesson from my research. The museum was worth the expensive tickets. We spent about 3 hrs inside admiring the paintings and statues. The key attractions were the Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel but we enjoyed the Egyptian portion of the museum, the long room full of beautiful statues and other works of art on our way there.
These decorative jars were apparently used to store internal organs of the mummified people and were kept next to the mummies they belonged to. History can be creepy!
The paintings by Raphael were really beautiful with detailed scenes including almost hundreds of people. I have become a fan of this incredible artist who painted walls and ceilings end to end with mind boggling art. Some of my favorites...
I was disappointed by the no-photography rule in Sistine Chapel. The museum shop was
selling the photos of this chapel so I understood the motivation behind the rule. There were wonderful paintings on all walls and ceiling by Michelangelo; of course the highlight being the central painting of Adam and God on the ceiling. The selection of pope by the conclave elections happens in this room in Angels & Demons, which made it all the more special.
After the museum we came back to St Peters Square and grabbed pizza slices for lunch on the way. This square was so huge that one could only get a full perspective of it from an aerial view. There was an obelisk in the center and it was surrounded by art on the floor of the square. The “Air” altar of science from Angels & Demons is located around the obelisk.
We then walked down the road to Castle St Angelo, I was strongly reminded of the poem in Angels and Demons which is the clue to finding the illuminati church located within this castle. “Let Angels guide you on your lofty quest”. The castle has a beautiful circular central building, a bridge of angels lead up to the main entrance over river Tiber and there was a green angel on top of the castle with its sword pointing to the center of the castle where the church of illumination was supposedly located.
Outside the castle we took the help of a tourist information office and rode a bus to Piazza Del Popolo. This piazza hosts Chigi’s Chapel within Santa Maria Del Popolo which is the “Earth” Altar of science from Angels & Demons. After a long walk to reach this place, we were disappointed that the square was closed by police with no access to public. Without knowing Italian it was difficult to get any further information. We took the metro train from Flamino station to Republica station after this.
Near the Replublica station is Santa Maria Della Vittoria church – this is the “Fire” Altar of science where a cardinal gets burnt alive in Angels and demons. The inappropriate statue - Ecstasy of St Theresa by Bernini was in this chapel but this was covered up for refurbishment. The chapel itself was lovely and decorated beautifully.
After this site we got a little lost and then found our way back to Via Del Corso where we grabbed pizza slices for dinner. We then walked a long way and finally found Spanish steps, which was a crowded set of stairs where people just hung out. It was not as impressive as it was made out to be. We took the metro back to Ottaviano and walked down to our hotel. We had walked for about 4-5 hours and our feet were begging for rest. On our way back, the sight of St Peter's basilica all lit up was the perfect dessert to the eye after a day filled with lovely sights.
On 28th February, Saturday, after another delicious breakfast at the hotel, we went to St Peters basilica at 8 am. Due to the early hour, there were just about 20 people in the queue and we got in quickly. After 10 am, the queues get extremely long and it apparently takes 2-3 hours to get in.
The basilica itself was beautiful beyond words, it was both overwhelming and humbling to just stand inside. It was a massive room with grandiose paintings and statues with niches on both sides that had individual chapels within. Unlike the Sistine chapel, no security personnel was constantly announcing “Silencio Par favour”, the people were quiet by default out of respect for the place. We took our time taking in the beauty of the chapel and the incredible faith of millions it represented.
Once I saw the views from there, I could understand why anyone would go through those creepy narrow stairs. We finally got a full view of St Peters square, it was very beautiful and breezy. I won’t recommend this climb for the light-hearted as it is not an easy climb or for anyone with a big body frame as it is possible to get stuck between the small walls. The climb down was obviously easier and quicker as I knew what to expect and it was downhill anyway.
After the exciting morning, we took a bus to Piazza Venezia. The Il Vittorio here was an interesting and huge building built a couple of hundred years ago after destroying various ancient churches and historic ruins to get the land. So naturally it is hated by many and given interesting nick names like wedding cake or typewriter. There was a free museum here which was not at all interesting and but we walked up to the terrace and enjoyed a lovely view of Forum and Colloseum. There was a ticketed elevator to go further up the building but we didn't find that of good value and left the building.
We then walked down Via Alexandria passing by Forum and finally reaching Colosseum. It was lovely to see the ruins and half destroyed ancient buildings. I could fathom where the proverb came from - Rome certainly wasn't built in a day. There was a guided tour available but I heard from colleagues that this included description of various types of bricks used in ancient construction. I lost all interest on hearing that, not being that much of a history buff. We were satisfied with just the external view of both Colosseum and Forum. Did we miss something by not taking the guided tour? Perhaps.. But I couldn't summon the interest to see broken buildings in detail or slow walk for another 2 hours, so it was the right decision for us.
We had pizza slices for lunch yet again and took a bus to Piazza Del Popolo, which was on the other end of Via Del Corso. The number of police officers and the heavy crowds walking towards the piazza deflated my hopes of seeing Chigi’s “Earth” chapel at least that day; alas our second attempt failed too. There was a huge political meeting happening in the square and the chapel was closed for the day.
With disappointed hearts, we tried to catch a bus to the hotel, earlier than expected. Just when we were wondering how to spend the evening, the political meeting had turned into a procession and the buses were no longer stopping anywhere nearby. We decided to walk a little distance away and try to catch a bus from elsewhere. Unfortunately we got lost again and walked an hour trying to find our way back. Finally we got a diverted bus to the hotel and rested for a few hours. We had again walked 4-5 hours. For our last dinner in Rome, we found a small Pizzeria near the hotel. Surprisingly this was the best pizza I had in the entire trip.
The next day after breakfast, we took a train from Roma San Pietro station via Travestere to Fumiciano Airport. The hotel staff suggested this route and I felt we would have arrived at the hotel in a far better mood if we had known this easier method of commuting to and from the airport. And thus our long awaited trip to Rome came to an end. Two incredible things had happened - I had walked on the steps of Robert Langdon and I was bored of eating pizza.
When we flew back home, all I could think of was I should read Angels & Demons again (for the nth time) and relate better to it after seeing Rome. I wanted to read the whole book immediately but with a working week ahead of me that did not seem feasible. However without me even mentioning this desire, my hubby found the movie Angels & Demons and played it for me the same evening. I was all but jumping with excitement when they showed the various sites of Rome. Did I marry the best guy or what? ☺
It is a superstition that those who throw coins into the Trevi fountain would come back to the eternal city. I however did not do this. I am not superstitious to start with but I had a few other reasons too. It was not easy to manage without knowing Italian. All I could say was Scusi, Par favore, Grazie and Bellisima, that was nowhere near sufficient. There aren't enough directions around the city indicating routes to various attractions. Considering that this is a popular tourist destination, that was surprisingly inconvenient. "All the roads lead to Rome" doesn't help find places once you are already in Rome. The city police are quite helpful to tourists and usually speak English. There are tourist information offices near some attractions that are helpful too. But it could be much better. Perhaps after living in London for a year, our expectations were skewed. Figuring out how the bus network could be best used also took a little practice as well, I could not find much about this in my online research.
People smoke cigarettes a lot in Rome, it was impossible to avoid passive smoking while roaming the city. Considering we went much before the peak summer season, it was still really crowded, metro trains being the most crowded. There were selfie-stick sellers everywhere in the city who were awfully pushy to take their products to the next level - every phone user owning a selfie stick. All this makes it unlikely I will revisit Rome, now that I can tick off my bucket list the sites that Dan Brown enchanted with his magic.
I read Angels & Demons about a decade ago. When I read the book, I dreamed of visiting those fascinating sites one day; it was a silly day dream as life was quite different then. At that time, I was working full time as an intern in an audit firm for a measly Rs.2000 a month, getting crushed in hot and crowded suburban trains in Chennai and studying hard for one of the most difficult exams in the country. Now I gleefully return from a wonderful vacation in Rome, thanking god for the blessings that got me there. Perhaps another decade later I would go back to see the inside of Chigi’s “Earth” chapel after all, stranger things have happened in life. ☺
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