Today I woke up a bit late for me but I am sure it was partially due to the excessive duration of the day before. I did not set the alarm on purpose because I knew I would need a bit of extra sleep, and besides it was Sunday. I didn’t expect Italy to be open much on Sunday. I was surprised to find out that overall they were open.
I skipped the hotel breakfast. I had intended to find the Appian Way which is supposed to be closed to cars and open to pedestrians on Sunday but I didn’t really have a map that went out that far and the internet was not available in the hotel room to check google maps. I had looked before at the location and knew that it was basically southeast of the hotel. I had an idea how to get there and tried it. Along the way I found signs that pointed to Appia and assumed that was where I was supposed to head. I visited a basilica because it was along the way then took a definite wrong turn to the south and backtracked until I found the Via Appia Nouva which I followed for some distance (say 2 hours or so before I got to a point where it was difficult to say where I should go next. In checking on the maps as I remembered it, it only should have been a couple miles and if I wasn’t there by 2 hours of walking something really went wrong.
I did find a park that was the Tombe de Latino it said and walked that for the short distance it took up. I found my way back to the aqueduct (I assume) I had already seen then I worked my way over to the Coliseum then walked around that area for a bit. The lines to get in were outrageously long and I didn’t think I could sit through a line like that. I found my way instead to the Roman Forum and Palantine and nearby bought lunch by way of a roadside cart. I had a pizza and a coke and after that went back and bought a Fragela (strawberry) ice cream (gelato). I took the ice cream to the line to get into the Forum and finished it before I got in. Still the line wasn’t terribly long. Much better than waiting for the Coliseum. The ticket I bought allowed entry into both which was a good thing later on. The grounds of the Forum and Palantine are huge. I walked for several (at least 4) hours through them though I do think I hit just about every site in there. I guess by blind luck I basically followed the best path through the place with the exception of one little bit I had to get through at the end where I was required to backtrack.
Inside you see the Forum, the stadium, Augustus’ house (which was very small honestly and not the most thrilling place in the world but I trust it was more opulent back then), several temples and other buildings. It is obvious that Roman structures were not truly built to stand the test of time without severe upkeep. Most of the masonry is very heavy on mortar and thin on bricks except in key areas. I am not an architect but I assume the mortar wears out faster over time than do the bricks thus lowering the structural integrity of everything. I assume more mortar than brick was cheaper and easier to build but again I am not an expert on that stuff. Still the grounds are amazing to see and there are still some interesting items that have survived (whether they were dug up and restored or just survived on their own). One thing is sure is that they had amazing sculptors in their day. The work is incredibly detailed so that even I who am not an art fan can tell it is very good.
After the walk through the Forum and Palantine I went straight over to the Coliseum. The entry line was much smaller and since I could ignore the line to buy the ticket I got right in. I think I skipped the line I was supposed to go through for people who already had tickets but I am not telling anyone there that. I ended up going through an entrance that was meant for the people who just bought their tickets I think. If that was not what I was supposed to do it had to have saved me a half an hour of waiting. Anyway, the Coliseum is very big and what is left of it again shows the Roman method of building. Most of it is basically ruins that have been somewhat renovated. Understand that it was burned down in the 3rd century and then it was rebuilt. It also suffered 2 earthquakes which is why one side is collapsed. All things considered, for something that is 2000 years old or more it is in great shape. Probably better shape than Fenway Park. You get to go through two levels of the Coliseum and it is very crowded. I suspect it is crowded from open to close each day. I did enjoy going through it though and I managed to catch the spiels from some various English speaking tour guides along the way in there and read what there was to read posted around. Not as much as in other museums or historic landmarks but still well written and interesting. I suspect they want you to buy the audio guide to go along with you. A lot of people did that in both of the landmarks I visited. By the way, it was 12 Euros for the two attractions combined.
By the time I was done it was nearly 5:30pm. I had walked all day with the only stop where I sat was when I ate my pizza before going into the Forum. That was probably less than 10 minutes. I took a guess on the proper direction to the hotel and with the aid of the GPS I had stowed in my camera bag was able to find my way back to the basic vicinity and find someplace to eat by about 6:45 or so. I chose to eat at a place across the street from the hotel called La Mensa di Bacco and had a set menu with a glass of red wine. The menu included lasagna which was very good, grilled sole which was good but a bit salty (I used a ton of lemon to try to cut it some which seemed to work) and roasted potatoes which were far too filling to finish after all the other food. It included dessert which was a fruit salad cup that was actually fresh fruit. I accompanied that with an espresso . All that for under 20 Euros. I was happy overall. If only the fish wasn’t too salty.
From there it was back to the room to basically crash for the night because I was really tired. That was over 10 hours of walking really and though I can handle it, it was sort of tough to get out of the chair at the restaurant.
Some commentary on Rome that I should have provided earlier. One is that it is not a very clean city I am sorry to say. There is a lot of trash on the ground. There is less dog poop than Paris had but it is obvious that people do not police their dogs around here either. Second there is graffiti everywhere. I mean aside from just the train tracks there is graffiti on practically every building and sign and wall and fence. In fact it was surprising they leave the trees along to me. I realize that inside the protected areas there is a lot less and that relegated to carvings that may have been there for a long time but still it is disappointing. It appears that Rome has much more graffiti than Copenhagen and Copenhagen has a lot. So far most people that work at the various places seem impatient if snidely helpful. Probably more so than the Parisians. Either way I can’t say I am surprised much. I am just mostly unhappy with the dirty nature of everything. The other thing is how sprawled out the whole city is. I did not expect it to be a tall city and it is not, but it is definitely not just one big tourist area. There are large stretches in between tourist sites that have just residential buildings which is a bit unusual to the other cities I have been to. Their historic sites are so old that most of them are mostly destroyed. Perhaps that has something to do with it. I mean in comparison Stockholm’s historic area is over 1200 years younger.
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