Hola,

Sé que está ingles y que para muchos esto puede ser una pega, pero lo creo
de interes de la lista, asi que os lo envio.

Saludos,

Aitor
http://pagina.de/viajeros

Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2001 22:13:09 +0000
From: Doug Weller <dweller@...>
Subject: Rome trip report, Feb 2001 (Long}

Here it is -- not sure what it should be, or what I should have
included or left out, but...


I've been planning this trip for months. Used several guide books but
a lot of the food places were from the Internet -- rec.travel Europe
newsgroup, the Fodors European forum, and the Travelzine mailing list
were my best sources. The Blue Guide to Rome was invaluable for the
great detail it provided, and the Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Guide
had great pictures and drawings.

Our first stage was the Sheraton Skyline Hotel at Heathrow -- a nice 5
star hotel that offered us free parking for less than we'd pay for a
B&B and secure car parking. Nice indoor swimming pool -- actually in a
covered atrium with a high roof, and our room overlooked it. A swim
and sandwiches in the room that we'd bought/made earlier, and an early
night. Up early Sunday morning to catch the Hopper bus to the airport.
Outside we found a woman who had gotten off the last Hopper waiting
for her husband to get their car from the car park. Turns out that
although they'd parked under a security camera their car had been
broken into and their CD player stolen. Not something we want to know
as we leave our car behind for 4 days!

Catch the plane - Virgin Express/Sabena -- without any problems. Very
budget airline -- not much room. Flight was just over an hour to
Brussels airport, where we wait 2 hours for our connection to Rome.
When we go through security to get to our gate my Leatherman Wave is
confiscated. Evidently it was ok to take it from London to Brussels in
my carry on luggage, but not from Brussels to Rome. Told I can have it
back when I return but it must go in the hold. We'll only have an hour
between flights coming back, but the Purser on the next plane says
that will be enough time.

We land on time in Rome and get the Leonardo Express to Termini,
Rome's main train station and an immense modern building. The train
platform is about a quarter of a mile from the entrance of the
station. Walking to our hotel is fairly straightforward but the first
thing we notice is that the sidewalks aren't concreted over, and
cobblestones, etc. are also typical in the streets. Anyway, we bump
our way to the hotel. Big iron gates -- ring the bell, and we are let
into a large courtyard with a statue at the back. Steps on our right
and left. Go up the steps to our left and into reception. Our room is
at the end of several corridors -- nice room, one of those beds which
is actually twin beds attached to each other, a fridge (usual hotel
type with drinks in it), tv with remote control and many many
channels, remote control operated air conditioning. Shower and bidet,
no bath.

Unpacked and went out the D'Agnino's, a Sicilian pasticerria/cafeteria
on the Piazza della Republica (actually in the Esedra galleries). The
Piazza was part of the baths of Diocletian, which were immense. I had
a cannolo, Helen some ice cream -- very expensive as we decided to sit
down, which can increase the price by as much as 6 times.

Once refreshed, off we go to the Metro (subway/underground). Search
for where we can buy weekly tickets, finally get some at a newsagents.
24000 lire, or 12 dollars/8 pounds. Get on the Metro at Termini, off
at Colosseo.

It's night by now, and the Colosseum is particularly
magnificent with its lighting. We walk along the via dei Fori
Imperiali, again looking at all the magnificent ruins lit up. Even the
Vittoriano, the much disliked immense monument to Italy's first king,
Vittorio Emanuele, is beautiful at night. This huge, functionless
monument is called the 'wedding cake' or the 'typewriter' by Romans.

We wended our way to Largo Argentina, where we intended to catch a
tram to Trastavere. As we were crossing the street a voice from behind
asked if we were English and if he could help us. 'He' was a South
African named Richard, who guided us onto the tram and told us where
to get off. Our destination was a pizzeria called Dar Poeta. In Rome,
pizzerias are open only for dinner, and open around 8.

We got off the tram and asked where it was, and were guided to it by a
couple who were also going there. But -- it's so crowded we'd have had
to wait an hour, so we booked for the next night. Tired and hungry by
now we made our way back to the area of our hotel and found a place
called 'The American Bar'. Here I had grilled chicken with lemon and
Helen a tasty lasagna. And then to bed.

Monday.
Up early as we were booked for a tour at St. Peter's. At
Richard's advice, caught the 40 express to the Vatican (the bus we
planned to catch was the 64, thronged with tourists and gypsy
pickpockets). Got there in plenty of time to take a quick tour of St.
Peter's itself. Then to the Scavi office (having to get past the Swiss
Guards) for the tour. Oops, read the note again and it says 'check
your bags'. Dash across the plaza to the luggage checkroom, and after
a bit of confusion get rid of our bags and back to the Scavi office in
time.

Our tour guide was a very knowledgeable Italian woman. When St.
Peter was buried, the area was a pagan cemetery on a marshy hill.
Constantine levelled the area and built his basilica, and its 16th
century replacement was built on top of that. The excavations took
place in secrecy from 1939 to 1952 - secrecy in part because digging
under something as heavy as St. Peter's wasn't exactly safe, and also
because if nothing was found it would be a tad embarrassing to say the
least.

The cemetery comprised a number of mausoleums -- a double row
of these has been excavated. When the site was levelled, these were
not destroyed but simply cut off at the height where Constantine built
his basilica, and infilled to act as part of the foundation. The
entrance is hot and damp -- the humidity is artificially kept high as
a conservation measure. We were told we were lucky our tour was the
first one of the day.

The first mausoleum we saw is called the Egyptian mausoleum because it
has a painting of Horus on the wall. We were led through a fascinating
series of mausoleums, both pagan and Christian. The one purely
Christian one has the earliest mosaics yet found of a Christian
subject. St. Peters tomb itself is encased in walls built by
Constantine, and a series of altars from various churches were built
on top of it, culminating in the present high altar of St. Peter's.
All you can actually see is 1 of the 2 small pillars that were
excavated of the 4 that held up a small marble slab. Still very
impressive.

Went to the Vatican post office and posted a card, then
found some steps to sit on and recuperate and regroup. We had planned
to do the Sistine Chapel, but that would have involved extensive
walking, time and crowds, so instead we took a bus to the Piazza del
Popolo. Yet another lovely fountain and an Egyptian obelisk.

Walked
down to the Spanish Steps (but didn't walk up them) window-shopping --
fantastic stores. Then to the Piazza SS. Apostoli and the Abruzzi
restaurant, where I had some fabulous, tender roast lamb and Helen
some pasta carbonara -- quite different from what we get in England.
Very friendly non-English (I bet!) speaking waiter.

Finally it's time for gelati. San Crispino's, called by The New York
Times the best gelato in Rome. Just cups, no cones. For 3000 lire you
can get 3 scoops of different flavours. (In other words, a dollar
fifty or a pound). Fabulous.

I can't remember what we had there, but in all we had several kinds of
chocolate (with rum, lemon, etc.) all very very heavy with chocolate,
rum baba flavoured ice cream, zabaione, a lemon ice cream, lime ice
cream, chocolate mousse, and -- I think at San Crispino's, a great
cinnamon/ginger.

From there to the Trevi fountain. We didn't see any coins in it, so
didn't throw any in -- that time. And back to the hotel for a rest.
Off to San Martino ai Monti, built in the 5th century, rebuilt in the
9th, redecorated in the 17th. We were able to go down into the area
below the church, where among the 8 huge rooms of an ancient Roman
building is a private 3rd century chapel, with some frescoes and
mosaics still partially remaining.

At 3 we met with our 'Enjoy Rome'tour guide at the Colosseum. Nice
young enthusiastic Australian girl named Michelle. She gave us a very
good explanation of the Colosseum and took us around it and then up
past the Imperial Fora, explaining the ruins as we went (we couldn't
go through them as they close early in the winter). Saw the Vitorriano
in the daylight this time. In front of it is a giant bronze statue.
She has a photo of the inside of the horse with 22 Italian workmen
having a meal at a table inside it! This would have been just as it
was completed.

The Trevi fountain once again. Another couple had also been there in
the morning, but obviously before we went. They found the fountain
empty of water and workmen vacuuming out the coins. This time Helen
and I each threw a coin in over our left shoulders -- we're definitely
coming back!.

The Piazza Navona, which still recognizes the shape of the Circus that
was there -- and finally the Pantheon, that amazing still intact Roman
round temple, with its huge concrete domed roof with the hole in the
centre. Breathtaking.

Helen needed some socks, so from there we went to the tram stop at
Largo Argentina and to a department store in Trastavere (over the
river). Not a very big store -- clothes, books and food was about all.
On to Dar Poeta. Trastavere at night is beautiful and fascinating --
lots of little stalls lit by electric light selling a variety of
items, little side streets, etc.

Dar Poeta is famed for its pizzas, which are made of a special dough
they make there. I had a pizza marinara -- just a simple tomato and
herb sauce, no cheese. It's called marinara because the sailors ate
it, and Italians don't eat cheese with fish. In Britain of course
marinara pizza isn't marinara, it's seafood pizza. Helen had a pizza
margherita. We finished off with a Pizza Bodrilla -- thinly sliced
apple and Cointreau with sugar, and a tartufo. The waitress sliced the
Bodrilla up into pieces and brought 2 spoons for the ice cream so that
we could share it. Also finished with a traditional Limoncello. Great,
friendly service.

Tuesday -- after breakfast we are asked if we want to move to a room
in the refurbished part of the hotel (I haven't mentioned that there
are about a dozen workmen working in the rooms near us refurbishing
them). We agree, and head off to a visit to the catacombs.

There are three popular catacombs on the Appian Way, and the most
popular of these closes in February. We've decided to visit a
different catacomb on the Via Salaria, St. Priscilla's. The Via
Salaria is a route used even before Rome was built.

We take the bus to a small square nearby, where Helen goes to look at
the market and I go to the pasticerria. One fascinating custom in Rome
is to have breakfast standing up either in a bar (bars serve coffee,
tea, etc.) or a pasticerria -- a sugared croissant (called a cornetto)
or some other pastry and espresso. I buy some chocolate there, Helen
buys some presents in the market.

Outside the pasticerria there's a boy around 5 years old begging,
almost certainly a refugee's child. The market was small but nice,
and it was lovely to see Mimosa shrubs in bloom being sold there.

St. Priscilla's is on land probably donated by a woman named
Priscilla, a Roman aristocrat. We arrived just as party of 50 Italian
school children arrived, and the two English speaking young guides
apologised profusely that we would have to wait half an hour as the
school trip had booked a week in advance.

After about 10 minutes, however, a small nun came over to the handful
of tourists now waiting and said she was our guide. (This is not the
small nun with the backpack we saw on the bus earlier). Helen
describes her as an 80 year old nun who could walk faster than any of
us and who thought she spoke English. She was delightful, reminded me
of my Grandma! She was actually very nice, and I was interested in her
comment about the huge number of baby burials, which was more or less
"This was because they didn't have contraception".

There are about half a dozen more catacombs in the area, but they
aren't generally open to the public. St. Priscilla's has 13 km of
catacombs -- we only saw about 1 km. About the first thing you see
when you go in is the old cryptoporticus, an underground room from her
villa converted into a church.

The catacombs are basically narrow passages cut into soft tufa
(volcanic stone), and within them there are mausolea, some chapels,
and many, many small 'loculi', cuttings into the tufa into which
bodies were placed, covered with lime so they would dissolve quickly,
with the openings covered with stone, masonry or at times marble.
Among other things we saw a fresco which was the earliest depiction of
St. Mary. The other claim to fame was the earliest Christian chapel in
Rome.

From there we went to lunch not far from the Colosseum. Walked
back to the hotel with the mandatory stop for gelati. There we found
our new room -- not as nice as our old one! But a quick complaint got
us changed into something satisfactory. Helen rested, I pottered about
outside. We then headed over to Campo dei Fiori to see the market --
which was finished. The little pizza place I wanted to try was also
shut, supposed to open again at 4 but didn't.

So off we went for a tour of the area. Wandered around some side
streets, found a famous place that did fried salt cod and I got some
to take away, and then back to the Campo dei Fiori and the pizza place
was open. This is just a little shop where they sell pizza by the etto
(100 grams). There are a couple of chairs and a shelf where you can
eat, and it is supposed to be absolutely packed during the day. Very
nice pizza it was too! Back to the hotel for a much needed early
night.

Wednesday was our last full day. In the morning we did the area
around St. John Lateran, the Cathedral of Rome and the home of the
Popes for a long time. We first visited one of Rome's 4 most important
churches, the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore -- which had a full
size nativity scene in its crypt! We then went by bus and tram to St.
Helena's church (the mother of Constantine), Santa Croce in
Gerusalemme. This church was probably built within part of her
imperial palace after her death. She was noteworthy for the way she
collected relics, and we were able to see -- a piece of the true
cross, 2 thorns from the crown of thorns, a nail from the cross, and
part of St. Thomas's finger. Also quite a large part of the cross of
the 'good thief'. Absolutely fascinating.

Took the tram back to St. John's Basilica -- at the stop was a kiosk
selling really delicious porchetta -- roast pork sandwiches -- I don't
know what they do with the pork, but it was delicious -- herbs added I
presume. Before visiting St. John's we went to a large nearby market
just through the walls at the top of the Appian way. This was mainly
2nd hand clothes, with also lots of interesting costumes for carnivale
on sale. Helen got some earrings, I got 3 nice ties (one with dogs and
cats on it) -- two were 15000 lire, the third 40000.

We wanted to see the 5th century baptistery at St. John's, the
prototype octagonal one, but it was the middle of the day and it was
closed. We've seen the one in Parma which seems to be modelled on the
one at St. John's. Both are outside the church, evidently because
unbaptised people weren't allowed in!

San Giovanni is a magnificent church. The doors were taken from the
Curia of the Roman Forum -- rather old, eh?

After this we took the tram and bus to where we planned to have lunch,
Cottini, a tavola calda. It had a good write-up but I found it a bit
disappointing compared to tavolda caldas we visited on our last trip
to Italy. On the way back to St. John's I persuaded Helen to let me go
into the fabulous bakery at Largo Leopardi. All kinds of bread and
pastries, and a fascinating non-alcoholic and non-sweet strawberry
cocktail! Also bought some delicious rhododendron honey. Nearby was
the Auditorium de Maecenas, which had been on my list of things to see
but which I'd dropped thinking we wouldn't have the time. Closed at
1:30pm, but it was only 1, so we went in (small fee, about 5000 lire I
think). Maecenas was a colleague and advisor of Augustus, and a fop,
gourmet, and patron of the arts. He evidently had a fantastic villa in
this area and the partially reconstructed auditorium is all that's
left. It's got a semicircle of tiered seats suggesting that it was
some sort of place for performances and readings, and we could imagine
his proteges Virgil and Horace reading their works there. Still a few
frescoes left, including a drunken Dionysius. We walked on mosaic
tiles that Vergil might have walked on!

Finally, one of the real highlights of our trip, our underground tour.
I'd looked quite a bit on the web and finally settled on Daniella
Hunt, who offered us a tour of San Clemente Church and of Nero's
Golden House, the Domus Aurea. I found another couple around our age
on a great Internet mailing list (Travelzine), and we agreed to do the
tour together.

We then rushed (and to my consternation discovered that I'd
written the time down wrong) to the Colosseum to meet up with our
guide and Edna and Bill Martens. I'd arranged this tour several weeks
ago, but hadn't met any of them before except via email and short
phone calls. Our lateness meant that Daniella had to ably rearrange
the order in which we did the visits, but luckily that was possible.


San Clemente is amazing -- a must for any visitor to Rome. It's unique
character is obvious from the moment you walk through the entrance
gate in the walls surrounding it. You enter into a lovely secluded
courtyard, an atrium (Daniella called it a paradisio I believe) with a
fountain in the middle, a resting place for pilgrims. These have been
removed from most old churches. Daniella sped us through the inside of
the ground level church and deep into the depths beneath it. Down
below the larger, still mainly intact 4th century church which is
under the current church lie some ancient Roman buildings. The area
itself was destroyed in 64 AD by fire, and there are still some
remains of those old houses. This level is a labyrinth of passageways
and chambers, some with tufa walls and others with brick, many with
herringbone tiled floors.

There is some controversy as to exactly what some of these represent
-- a residence, a granary, or a temporary mint, with one section 5th
or 6th century catacombs. Another section is clearly a temple to
Mithras, a Mithraeum. Although we are now deep underground, this
particular Mithraeum is unusual as when it was built it was at ground
level, and was constructed so that those entering it were given the
impression that they were in fact going underground. From some areas
you can hear the rush of water, possibly from Rome's ancient sewer the
Cloaca Maxima.

The next level up is the 4th century basilica, destroyed by the
Normans and filled in at the end of the 11th century and discovered
again by an amateur nineteenth-century archaeologist, the Irish
Dominican Father Mullooly. Daniella made the many frescoes come alive
as she described them to us. They include a story of a jealous
husband, whose expletive 'Fili dele pute' is the earliest known
writing in the Italian vernacular.

Above this is the present day 12th century church, which still has the
6th century 'schola cantorum', the enclosure for the choir, rescued
from the old church.

Off now to Nero's Golden Palace, the Domus Aurea. Entrance to and
passage through this is strictly controlled. You go in as part of a
larger group and are let through it by someone who points out that she
is not your guide. There are audio cassettes to listen to, but we had
something much better, Daniella.

After so much of Rome was destroyed in the 64 fire, Nero decided to
build himself a palace, covering the larger part of 3 of Rome's seven
hills, with an artificial lake (where the Colosseum now stands),
gardens and woods with wild beasts running free (rus in urbe), and one
of the largest residences ever built. He killed himself shortly after
it was completed, and Titus and then Trajan built baths over it,
removing its treasures and filling in the rooms to act as a
foundation. The discovery of its amazing frescoes were one of the
major sparks of the Renaissance, with some of its most famous painters
lowering themselves through holes in the ceiling to study it.

Rooms from one wing of the palace have been excavated, and we were led
through them. Many of them are pierced by walls for Trajan's baths,
and of course the gardens are now filled in. We were still able to see
some amazing frescoes and mosaics(although the one that may show a
birdseye panorama of Rome is still not on show). What was also
impressive was the sheer size and height of the rooms. This again is
something every visitor to Rome should see. The visit is very limited
timewise. Daniella knew exactly what we should see and made sure we
missed nothing. I would strongly advise taking your own guide to get
the best out of the visit.

Back to the hotel for a lie down and then once again to the general
area of the Colosseum, this time for our Rome GTG (gettogether). This
was at a lovely small Italian restaurant, Vecchio Roma, Via Leonina
10. Flavio, an Italian student, a friend of his, and Edna and Bill
comprised the party, a Danish friend of Flavio arriving towards the
end. What was particularly nice was the way that Flavio had organised
it so we were having a typical Roman meal.

First came bruschetta, followed by two types of focaccio (flat bread),
one verdue, one salumi -- ie one vegetables, one cold meat. Then we
had a choice of pasta, which was delicious. We couldn't decide on
dessert so the owner gave us a selection on a plate, and we followed
this by limoncello -- served from a cold bottle in frozen shot
glasses, marvellous. The perfect end to a marvelous holiday.

Thursday morning I went out to look at a nearby church which was built
by Michaelangelo into Diocletian's baths, while Helen finished the
packing and rested her sore feet. Off now to the Termini -- we took
the bus (a short distance, but we had our suitcases with us..) -- and
for the first time, on our last bus ride in Rome for that holiday, our
tickets were checked! Bought the tickets from an automatic vending
machine, took the 5 or was it 6 moving walkways to the train and got
there with about five minutes to spare. Long wait at the airport --
discovered a delicious ice cream sandwich I hadn't had, which Helen
also liked. Because we didn't have much time at Brussels airport to
deal with my Leatherman, we asked for seats near the front. When we
got them, we discovered that they had quite a bit more legroom than
we'd had on any other flight and decided that that bit was the Sabena
portion of the plane, as opposed to the cheaper-ticketed Virgin seats
we'd bought.

All this was to no avail. Late loading of baggage made our plane at
least half an hour late leaving. The flight to Brussels had some
magnificent views of Corsica and Sardinia as well as the Alps. When we
got to Brussels we immediately went to the Virgin transit desk, where
after some initial confusion they booked us onto a flight an hour
later, retrieved my Leatherman tool and put it into a padded envelope
which they took to the plane. The rest of our return home was pretty
straightforward, although delayed, and we got back to our car at the
Sheraton Hotel tired but full of some amazing memories and a
determination to return as soon as possible.

One other consequence has been that Helen, who originally wanted an
African theme in the sitting room, has decided that an Italian theme
would be better, perhaps even with some hand-painted frescoes!

Anyone who intends to go to Rome should think of engaging Daniella to
guide them. Her email address is roma.hunt@... and her web
site is http://village.flashnet.it/users/fn025316/guide.shtml

P.S.

The cats! I haven't mentioned the cats! How could I have forgotten
them, they were everywhere. We first noticed them at the Colosseum.
Then we started seeing them everywhere in the ruins. At Largo
Argentina, our favourite tram stop, there were lots of cats in the
ruins with a sign saying they were looked after by volunteers and
asking for help. At Trajan's market (we went there too -- one
interesting thing was that some of the rooms were being used for an
art exhibition) we saw a vet's bag. Everywhere we went the cats
looked wild but were obviously being cared for and were fed and
healthy. I found a pet shop and we bought some cat treats, which we
found very useful. Although some were shy, many were very friendly,
especially when they found out we had cat treats!

Doug

-- Doug Weller Birmingham, England http://www.ramtops.demon.co.uk