BOXES 30-33: ROME.

The Spanish Steps, the Roman Forum, St Peter's -- I hit the tourists' biggest highlights on my first visit to Rome. It was only during later visits that I really fell in love with Rome -- I was more awed and almost exhausted by the city on this first experience.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I took an overnight train from Brussels to Rome. Here is my first recorded view of Italy as we descended from the Alps that morning:

And here are four other photos I took from the train during the day. I have no idea what the names are of any of the places you see--but these fleeting glimpses of fairy-tale castles, hillside towns and thriving farms still appeal to me--both dreamlike and very real.

Arriving at Termini, Rome's main train station, I walked to my hotel, passing the Piazza della Repubblica with its grand fountain circled by traffic. As usual, my feeble Instamatic couldn't take much of a picture in early evening light. But the light was fine the next morning as I walked past the Quirinale Palace on my way to St Peter's.

My hotel, near the Quirinale, was just off the Piazza Barberini. Called the Memphis, it's still there, though its rooms as seen on its website look hilariously sleek and modern compared to the old-fashioned, slightly dowdy décor of 1969. But the rates are still bargain, or at least they are in a far from normal December 2020.

Arriving at the Vatican, I didn't attempt to take any photos inside St Peter's: a good thing, since my camera couldn't possibly have captured more than dim shadows. Oddly, I wasn't nearly as blown away by the interior as I would be during more recent visits: maybe because I had been particularly awed by St Paul's in London a few days earlier; maybe because I wouldn't truly comprehend the incredible scale of the building until I saw a mass there on a later visit. (Apparently the drifting clusters of tourists that first day didn't provide the right perspective.) But who could not be wowed by the exterior?

My walk back from the Vatican took me past the Castel St Angelo and along the Tiber. Eventually I found myself at (on) the Campidoglio, the Capitoline Hill, with its famed views of the Roman Forum and parts of the Roman skyline :

By now it was sunset. I didn't photograph the Campidoglio's Michelangelo-designed Piazza, but I did take note of its Palazzo and of other nearby landmarks:

On another day I took a commuter train to Ostia Antica, the ancient port city of Rome, formerly at the mouth of the Tiber, abandoned after centuries of silting and maritime invasions. Covering a good number of acres (and much of it still unexcavated today), Ostia Antica was a great place for a first-time visitor to Europe like myself to wander at leisure through the remains of an ancient cityscape. I especially liked seeing the well-preserved theatre and a mosaic floor, and couldn't help but take notice of a local cat.

Back in Rome I spent a whole afternoon meandering through the Roman Forum and its adjacent ruins on the Palatine Hill (the Palatino). I'm not sure how restricted today's visitors are--can they still sit on the ancient stones and clamber over fallen columns?--but back then, I remember being free to go go everywhere. The colors of the stones turned richer toward sunset.

I took one other side trip from Rome during my stay==a guided bus tour to Tivoli, to see Hadrian's Villa and the Villa d'Este. As with my trip to Salisbury/Stonehenge, it was a cheap and easy way to get to famous sites.

Tivoli looked like an ordinary modern town as the bus climbed the hill to it, but the views from the top revealed an awesome mountainous terrain only 20 miles east of Rome itself. I hear that the town itself is well worth exploring, but

our bus went straight to the 16th-Century Villa d'Este, with its famous garden, built by a wealthy cardinal, with its many fountains and other water features. On a warm and sunny day it was pretty dazzling.

You could stand behind one of the waterfalls:

The other most celebrated site of Tivoli, just outside the modern town, is Hadrian's Villa, the summer residence of the Emperor Hadrian. This part of the tour was a bit disappointing in that we were taken only to a few highlights of the very extensive grounds, rather than being left to explore at our leisure.

Back in Rome, I took only a few more pictures. I'm surprised that I never got to the Pantheon and some other 'essential' places, but at least I did visit the Borghese Gardens (along with its museum with the Bernini sculptures) and saw the great views looking toward St Peter's from the edge of the Gardens. I also walked through the Piazza Navona, but took only one photo of one of the three famed fountains:

And here are two remaining photos: I haven't been able to identify the locations, but maybe friends familiar with Rome can label them:

I'll finish with the one remaining photo, taken completely by accident, evidently when I was fumbling for a bus ticket or guidebook. I didn't toss it because the askew image reminds me vividly of the chaotic, jostling and noise-filled bus rides I took--and the signage seems to say "Rome" as well.

Next stop, Venice.