At 0615 we tied up at the commercial pier in Civitavecchia, Italy. I can't pronounce the name and neither can most of the others on board, so we follow Diane of the piano bar and call it Count Chocula. This is the port city for Rome.
This is another away from everything pier so our activities had to be a ways away. Again we had arranged for a private tour and were whisked away in a van by Georgio who proved to be an exceptional driver for the narrow streets and the seemingly non-existent parking spots of Rome. We were met by Maria Theresa, our guide, by the Arch of Constantine and began our tour there.
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| Arch of Constantine |
After the Arch we entered the Colosseum, worked past the crowds and made our way up where we had a great view of the interior. Our guide would, throughout the day, fill us in on the history of what we were seeing. The colosseum was completed in 80AD and could seat 50,000.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colosseum
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| Colosseum | |
A short ride took us to the Circus Maximus where larger crowds would watch chariot races and other events. From there we could see Palentine Hill where Rome was supposedly founded by Romulus and Remus.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circus_Maximus
Then it was up to Capital Hill to overlook the Forum.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum A ride back past the colosseum and up another hill to the small out of the way church San Pietro en vincoli (St. Peter in Chains) to see the Michelangelo's marble statue of Moses.
A few blocks later found us drinking water from an ancient fountain at the Piazza Venezia and marveling at yet another Egyptian obelisk before continuing on to the Piazza della Rotonda to see the Pantheon, a former Roman Temple built in 27BC and later consecrated as a Catholic Church.
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| Forum |
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| Forum |
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| Moses by Michelangelo at St. Peter in Chains |
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| Church of St. Peter in Chains |
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| Fontana del Trevi |
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| Pantheon | |
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| Inside the Pantheon |
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| lunch spot |
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All this made us hungry so we found a little walk-up pizza place just off the square and had a quick lunch at a sidewalk table. Then we visited the Plaza Navona with its fountains and its many artists.
Georgio had the van nearby so we boarded and rested our legs while riding to the Trevi Fountain. Thats the crowded place where tradition calls for tossing a coin into the fountain over your shoulder, leading to a most certain return visit to aRoma soma daya. I did that in 1957 and here I am again. It works.
We tried for a week or two to get tickets to the interior of Villa Borghese but it has been booked for some time and the waiting list was too long. With time running short we decided not to visit the gardens of the villa but opted to see if the Pope was at home. Off we went to the Vatican and made a quick dash through the museum with a few stops to learn about some statues, tapestries and mosaic maps. That gave us more time to see the art of the Sistine Chapel which is absolutely magnificent. No photography is allowed inside so visit the link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Chapel From there we went into St. Peter's Basilica, the world's largest church, and admired the artwork there, especially Michelangelo's marble depiction of Mary holding the body of Jesus after the crucifixion.
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| Vatican museum; hall of maps |
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| Basilica; Michelangelo's Mary and Jesus |
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| Vatican: Basilica |
Time ran out so we passed through Bernini's colonade surrounding St. Peter's Square, found Georgio and our van and began our return to the ship. We dropped Maria Theresa off at a subway station and the rest of us had a fine cross country trip back tot he ship. Had we had two more days we could have filled them as well but that will have to wait. Julie did toss that coin into the Fontana del Trevi.
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