Caput Mondi

The capital of Italy, the eternal city – we made it to Rome on Friday morning. Weather was glorious and in less than 10 minutes from leaving the station, we were checking into our hotel.

We had to make use of the good weather and set off for the Trevi fountain. My goodness, the crowds – it was like being back at the Rialto bridge in Venice, although this time there were police everywhere blowing whistles if you sat down, walked into the water, were eating your ice cream too close to the fountain or tried to take the coins out of the water. Thanks isn’t surprising as on average €3000 per day is collected from the fountain and donated to charity. Whilst the architecture is incredible, it didn’t make for a great experience. We then mooched around for the rest of the afternoon.

Our mooching theme continued throughout Shabbat and Sunday until our tour at 15:00 on Sunday afternoon. I swear we climbed all seven hills of Rome each day.

Sunday afternoon was our session on ancient Roman culture with a tour of the Colosseum and the Forum. Having enjoyed studying Latin and the ancient Roman way of life at school, I was looking forward to this. It started spitting as we started and then turned to rain of biblical proportions. That wasn’t the major disappointment of the day though. That was the tour guide. We have been spoilt by superb tour guides but this guide added less than we got from Wikipedia. We learnt more about her daughter and the state of the single colosseum toilet v the new toilet block in the Forum, than we did about Ancient Rome. Steven gave her some constructive criticism after (note – after proof reading, Steven informs me it was more “destructive”). There were hoards of tourists and I don’t know whether the rain made them more selfish, but it was just impossible to get photos without people standing in the way for a very, very long time. By the time we got back to the hotel we were like drowned rats and mightily hacked off.

Today was a different matter. We’d booked onto a tour of the Trastevere district and the Jewish Quarter and decided to use the bus as it was a 50 minute walk each way assuming we didn’t get lost, and it was predicted to rain again and this would keep us dry. Not only did the predicted rain not appear, but I managed to navigate us across the city on the buses using the “Moovit” app and we got to our meeting point in good time. Our tour was led by a superb guide. It was a very personal tour as there was only us and a young Jewish couple from Brazil. Walking around the Trastevere district, she filled in so much about Ancient Rome and the Romans and restored our faith in the city and its guides. She was wonderful in the way that she linked the Ghetto to Ancient Rome as its been in the same place since then – how its sited near the ancient roman fish market (foro pescario), how the Pope brought water via the aqueducts and gave them a fountain the “five schools piazza” and to their way of life. The story of the ghetto is much the same as the other ghettos in Europe, but there was more emphasis of being forbidden to practice Judaism and compulsory attendance at weekly Christian services in an attempt to force conversion. There was even a building that was shared as both a Synagogue and a Church. I suspect this is because of the supremacy of the Popes until the 1870s. Now it is lovely to see all the kosher restaurants filling the streets, and all bursting at the seems and vibrant. Of course we had to join them and had a marvellously meaty lunch. Despite this trip being our antidote to matzah, we were given a “courtesy” matzah brei as dessert afterwards! Sadly there appears to be a need for protection as there was a significant police presence at both ends of the quarter.

Steven was so proud of me for navigating the ordinary buses to and from our tour, until he realised I was an international criminal. I’d given him a physical card to tap on the machine in the bus, and I used my watch. As we got off on our return an inspector got on. Not a problem or so I thought, but it appears that my watch had not registered on the way home. I tried to point this out to her and showed her proof of the three rides we’d paid for as a couple and asked why would I try and avoid paying for this one ride out of four. I explained that it was so busy as there was standing room only and people were jostling about that my watch had not registered when I held it against it and I hadn’t realised because its not unusual due to lack of reception that I don’t get notified immediately of card transactions. I immediately offered to pay and she said no and wanted my passport, which of course was in the safe in the hotel. Eventually she accepted a photo of me on my phone taken from ages ago as proof of who I was, took my details and fined me. I accept that whilst accidental, I hadn’t paid and she was just doing her job but that didn’t stop me being very, very cross and upset. At least, as Steven says, its taken my mind off the hand luggage debacle on the way out🤣

Our four days in Rome are drawing to a close and tomorrow we leave for Sorrento, and our feet are looking forward to the rest. I’ve learnt so much – Hadrian didn’t just build a wall in Scotland, Pinocchio is everywhere in Rome despite him being Tuscan from Florence and whilst in Singapore I’m told you are never more than 50m from a shopping mall, in Rome you are never more than 50m from a church! The architecture and the history is abundant and palpable everywhere you walk, the food is incredible and thankfully we haven’t had to walk too far from the hotel to eat (and drink). We’ve seen so much – the Spanish Steps, the Trevi fountain, the monument to the immaculate conception, the Pantheon, St Peter’s square and Basilica – the walk to which Steven described as “like walking down Wembley Way” (I know its hard to believe that it wasn’t me that said that), the Altare della Patria (Victor Emmanuel II Monument), the first church to the Virgin Mary, the Colosseum and the Forum, thousands of Pinocchios and so much more. We were so lucky as well – the Spanish steps are covered in azaleas for 1-2 weeks per year and we saw them, we saw a dance group outside the Castel Sant’Angelo and despite ending up as drowned rats on one day, the weather has been great, and our hotel has been wonderful.

Yet despite all this, this has actually been our least favourite place. It doesn’t mean we didn’t enjoy our time here, somewhere had to be our least favourite place and we preferred the other places we’ve been so far. I think its because Rome is a big capital city and despite its history and architecture, it has the usual excesses and “me too” areas of capital cities – the same branded shops and McDonalds. I know we are tourists and we take photos and video, but I like to think we are more considerate and interested in what we are snapping. Here the huge numbers seem so superficial – from loud “artificial shutter” noises as they click away taking photos on their phones, to their endless selfies and then staying in place until they’ve checked and sent/posted their selfies. Even Venice which had huge numbers of tourists somehow didn’t seem to be as bad as this.

See a video of the dancing group outside Castel Sant’Angelo here

See a video of the view from our rooftop bar here