Whatever I have seen of Roman empire palaces and ruins so far, it leaves no doubt that they once were the rulers of the world, and competing dynasties were trying to out do the previous ones in building the most magnificent architecture and artifacts the world has ever seen. One good thing about my itinerary has been that each subsequent city, barring Milan, has become more magnificent, but right around the mid point of my journey, i think i have just about hit the peak in Rome.
My host Angelo was an IT prrofessional, living stylishly alone with his dog. I had met a nice American family while coming from the airport who had given me a good run down on Rome as they had been living in Rome for a month. It was clear that three days were not going to be enough. Again, i had made reservations to some key attractions, which saved me long waiting times.
The day didn't start off well, with heavy showers in the morning, but weather was great for rest of the day. I spent the morning in Basilica San Paolo, next to the house, and MacDonald for the free wifi. So far in Europe, the ongoing financial crisis had not impacted me directly but there was a flash strike by transport workers, so had to cover the city walking, which in the end turned out to be a good idea.
Since Rome has been built on 7 hills, and in layers, a lot of ruins have survived dramatically intact, specially after the great fire of 64 ad, which is the famous one when Nero was playing the fiddle while Rome burnt, apparently it was his doing to clear the area for his plans of building royal palace.. It is amazing to see what magnificent structures were being built almost two thousand years ago. I walked through the famous colosseum ruins, stepping on the same stones on which emperor Nero and Constantine once walked. The Palatino, forum, Pantheon and Piazza de Venezzia, were all with in walking distance.
In the evening, i met up with Jyotsna, who was visiting Rome on work, and it was a good ending to the day which started with bad weather and transport strike. I barely managed to catch the flight to Cairo due to amazing inefficiency of Alitalia, a sad example of how far the descendents of this once great empires have fallen. But Rome is still not done, and i will be back after three days in Cairo
My host Angelo was an IT prrofessional, living stylishly alone with his dog. I had met a nice American family while coming from the airport who had given me a good run down on Rome as they had been living in Rome for a month. It was clear that three days were not going to be enough. Again, i had made reservations to some key attractions, which saved me long waiting times.
Since Rome has been built on 7 hills, and in layers, a lot of ruins have survived dramatically intact, specially after the great fire of 64 ad, which is the famous one when Nero was playing the fiddle while Rome burnt, apparently it was his doing to clear the area for his plans of building royal palace.. It is amazing to see what magnificent structures were being built almost two thousand years ago. I walked through the famous colosseum ruins, stepping on the same stones on which emperor Nero and Constantine once walked. The Palatino, forum, Pantheon and Piazza de Venezzia, were all with in walking distance.
In the evening, i met up with Jyotsna, who was visiting Rome on work, and it was a good ending to the day which started with bad weather and transport strike. I barely managed to catch the flight to Cairo due to amazing inefficiency of Alitalia, a sad example of how far the descendents of this once great empires have fallen. But Rome is still not done, and i will be back after three days in Cairo
No comments:
Post a Comment