Rome – August 3, 2024

Last updated on September 27th, 2024 at 01:13 pm

Photos from Rome Aug 3

Video from Rome Aug 3

Venice to Rome

We began our last few hours in Venice with breakfast on the Hotel Rialto street level terrace. It was Saturday, so the Grand canal and Rialto bridge were not as crowded as they had been the last few days. We had arranged for a  water taxi to take us and our luggage to the train station. Getting in and out of water taxi is a bit of a challenge for Joyce with the boat bobbing up and down. She is getting better, but was not sad this was her last water taxi ride. We reached the train station in about 15 minutes. There were several steps down to the water in front of the train station which made it easier to get out of the water taxi.

We walked into the train terminal and found the platform. Our train had not yet arrived. While waiting, we talked with a couple from Australia. The Viking luggage tags on our bags have been the impetus to start several conversations with others that have traveled with Viking. The train to Rome arrived on time and we boarded without incident. The only place to put our large suitcases was on an overhead shelf, so Alan’s arm muscles got a workout. A young couple sat next to us on the train for the first 2 hours of the ride. They left the train in Florence, and those two seats were empty for the final two hours of the train ride.

The train was a few minutes late arriving in Rome. We left the train, walked through the terminal and got in the taxi line for a taxi to take us to Pantheon Caesar Relais. There was construction in the area so the line seemed to be in a makeshift place, in the sun. The line was quite long, but it moved quickly. We could see taxis drop off passengers and then drive to the end of the line for their next fare. Our taxi driver said he knew where we needed to go. When he stopped in a small parking lot surrounded by buildings, Joyce wasn’t sure we were in the right place. The signage for Pantheon Caesar Relais was small, but we found it.

Pantheon Caesar Relais is sort of a bed and breakfast with several rooms on the  3nd floor of an older 4 story building. There was another hotel and apartments on the other floors. The door was locked so we pushed the buzzer and were buzzed in. The elevator was up a couple steps off a landing. It was very small with two sliding metal grates. Two suitcases and one person was all that would fit in the elevator, so we made two trips. The person working weekend reception had some difficulty understanding English, but we managed to communicate enough. She showed us to our room. The room overlooks the ruins of Largo di Torre Argentina, a ruin of 3 Roman Republic era temples and the remains of Pompey’s Theatre. It is in the ancient Campus Martius area of Rome. The name of the square comes from the Torre Argentina, which takes its name from the city of Strasbourg whose Latin name was Argentoratum. The room was a nice size with high ceilings, large windows, and a modern bathroom with a large shower with a rain shower head as well as a wand and spray jets. The bathroom also had a bidet. The room was warm, but not has hot as outside!

After a short rest, we headed downstairs for our Golf Cart Tour – 3-6 pm, a survey tour of Rome. We didn’t wait long for Maxi, our guide, a French-Italian. We learned she had been a foreign exchange student a couple times in the US ( Chicago area & California). We stopped to look at Vittoriano, the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II. It is constructed of white marble and has the nickname “The Wedding Cake”. It contains the tomb of the unknown soldier from World War I. Next to the monument was a long staircase leading up to Santa Maria in Aracoeli Basilica. Devout pilgrims and priests sometimes climb the steps on their knees. Our first stop was Piazza Fiorenzo Fiorentini, a delightful piazza with numerous orange trees and wide paths overlooking the Tiber River. We could overlook much of Rome, with a view of the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in the distance. As we walked through the piazza toward the dome of St. Peter’s Bacilica we experienced an optical allusion; because of the tree shapes over the path, the dome appeared to be pretty large; as we walked closer, the dome appeared to get smaller.

We drove on to the Circus Maximus constructed in the 6th century BC used for chariot races, Roman games and gladiator fights with room for 250,000-300,000 spectators, about a third of Rome’s population at the time. The ruins of the emperor’s palace overlooks the Circus Maximus. Near there was the FAO building that Alan’s cousin Fred worked in while stationed in Rome. We moved on to the Colosseum, not too far away. We viewed the Colosseum from two sides, with the Arch of Constantine. We had a pretty spectacular and unobstructed view from a place that was elevated above the main streets that surround the Colosseum.

We moved on through the back streets and came to a somewhat congested commercial area. Maxi parked near Trevi Fountain which was very crowded. Maxi recommended we go in the United Colors of Benetton store to the 2nd floor to view the fountain through the second story window. She told us to look at some merchandise so we appeared to be there with a legitimate purpose. We took her suggestion, were able to get some good pictures of the fountain and Alan almost bought a sweater! We also stopped at the top of the Spanish Steps. Alan went down more steps than Joyce. The steps were marble, worn and a little slippery. As she did in several places, Maxi took some pictures of us there.

We also stopped and visited the Church of St. Peter in Chains, which contains the chain of Peter before he was crucified and a magnificent statue of Moses by Michelangelo. From there, we went to another overlook, Terrazza Viale del Belvedere, near the Rome gardens of the Borgia family. The gardens were developed for the Villa Borghese Pinciana (“Borghese villa on the Pincian Hill“), built based on sketches by Scipione Borghese, who used it as a villa suburbana, or party villa, at the edge of Rome, and to house his art collection. The garden dates back to the 1600’s on vineyard property developed by a nephew of Pope Paul V.

One of the last stops was Piazza del Popolo, a large urban square. The name means “People’s Square”, but gets its name from the poplar trees in the area. This was the northern gate to ancient Rome. Prominent in the square is the Eqyptian obelisk of Sety I, known now at the Flamino Obelisk, the second oldest, and one of the tallest in Rome, originally installed in Circus Maximus. On either side of the obelisk are the twin churches of Santa Maria in Montesanto and Santa Maria Dei Miracoli, built in the late 1600’s.

In the 3 hours we drove about 10 miles around the ancient city. This tour was very enjoyable and gave us a nice look at the ancient city of Rome without walking it, in the heat of the day. And it was very hot! We were grateful to the golf cart, shade and water! At one point, Maxi even took her sweater, completely soaked it in one of the fountains, and wore it for cooling!

After we returned to the hotel, we rested, deciding to search for food after the sun set. We had neglected to close the room darkening curtains in our room so the afternoon sun had been too much for the room’s air conditioner. Alan did some looking on Yelp and found Pizza Florida, on the square outside our hotel. They had a large variety of toppings to choose from, selling rectangular slices from several varieties of large pan pizzas, with a price per 100 grams. We each had a slice of a couple different kinds and a Coke Zero. It was very tasty. After eating, we continued to walk around the square. Several cafes with outdoor seating were open, with waiters encouraging us to eat at their establishment. We found a shop selling gelato, and completed our meal. As we completed the walk around the square, looking more closely at the Largo di Torre Argentina, which we can see clearly from our hotel window. We came to a convenience store, so we browsed a little.

Back at the door to the Pantheon Caesar Relais, there were a couple sets of numbers to punch in to get first into the building, then up 3 flights of stairs, then the second set of numbers at the hotel main door before we used a key for our room. We successfully navigated it and felt very safe. We ended our first day in Rome watching Olympic volleyball matches, blogging and organizing pictures.