Rome
Friday April 14, 2017
Sigh.
Rome is regarded as one of the most amazing cities in the world, packed with ancient ruins and iconic landmarks, there's so much to see and do. It was so unfortunate that I got food poisoning in the first night, because the food I've had in the past couple of days has been very good.
I felt well enough to walk around on Tuesday, so I headed to the Colosseum and Roman Forum. It was crowded, a sight I would soon come to loath. From there, I walked to the Altar of the Father, Trevi Fountain and Pantheon, but I was tired and went home to rest. I secured a Roma Pass card for entry to the Colosseum for the next day.
I was up early on Wednesday to get to the Colosseum and Roman Forum/Palatine Hill. It was great to walk around these archaic sites, appreciating the architecture and grandeur of the ruins around me. Because it was morning, it wasn't too crowded, and I spent a good three hours wandering around. I had lunch nearby and headed to the Vatican to see the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel.
John, my Catholic friend, calls it organised chaos. I bought "skip the line" tickets for the Vatican Museum, which basically means I'm part of a sham tour group until I get through the doors, then I'm free to wander at my leisure. We still had to wait a considerable amount of time to get in, but the public access line didn't look like it was moving at all, so I suppose we did skip a line of sorts. In fact, the line is there because of security checks, not to buy tickets or enter the museum itself, so anyone going through has to pass through security.
After I left the group, I wandered around, but there was a set visitor path to follow. The layout is quite good, there's a single route to the Sistine Chapel that takes you through tons of exhibitions of art and architecture. It's incredibly crowded with tour groups blocking passageways and people stopping in the middle of the corridor to take The Perfect Instagram Photo. I didn't care. I just walked straight past. In hind sight, it would have been good to have an audio guide to explain everything, but as I'm not really into art, I just admired the things I saw and moved on. When I got to the Sistine Chapel, hundreds of people were already there, gawking at the magnificent roof that Michelangelo had painted. I recognised the segment titled The Creation of Adam, the famous painting of God with his outstretched arm, about to touch the finger of Man.
I walked to St Peter's Basilica afterwards, recognising the familiar sights of "that place where the Pope does his address". It's quite a marvellous square, surrounded by columns and shadowed by the iconic dome that can be seen from so far away. The line to get in circled right around, and I didn't feel like waiting that long, so I left for dinner, then was home to bed. I was still tired from lack of food and energy, but my appetite was picking up slowly.
Yesterday, I was back at St Peter's Basilica to try and get in, but they had closed until noon for a Holy Thursday mass. Instead, I went to the Terrazza del Gianicolo, a terrace overlooking the whole city and walked back to the Vatican for a quick lunch. I joined the crowd outside the security gates waiting to get into the basilica and as they opened, people surged through, pushing and squeezing. I was unhappy. Even after all of that, we still had to wait to get through security before going into the basilica.
Eventually I made it through. I followed Rick Steve's audio guide, which was awful because he kept telling me to go backwards against the flow of the crowd, and also to inaccessible places. The basilica itself is beautiful though, and the dome is absolutely massive up close. I spent €6 climbing to the top of the dome, where you can barely move because so many people had the same idea. It can be a bit claustrophobic going through the narrow passages, but it's one of those things that you have to do while you're there.
I wanted to see these catacombs on the Appian Way, so I took a bus back into town and waited for another bus that would take me there. It never came. I got frustrated. I ended up going back to the BnB to sleep because I didn't feel like going anywhere else. It was a sour way to end a relatively disappointing time in Rome. The crowds, the public transport, the food poisoning, all just culminated in a pretty sad time for me unfortunately. Sigh.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:47am on Friday April 14, 2017 :: 0 comments :: 