Walking round Rome - picspam
May. 22nd, 2015 09:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amberdreamsWe've done a lot of walking since Monday! It's been very pleasant to be able take our time over things though. We've been here so often that there's no longer any rush to cram in this site or that, because we've seen mostly everything we ever craved to see at least once or twice before. That didn't mean we couldn't find some new and interesting things to fill our time with this visit though - in between the pizza rustica and gelato, of course.
So here's a few of my personal highlights from this time round.
A close encounter with a young peregrine falcon in Caracalla's baths. There was a film crew from Cinecittà setting up equipment for filming later in the day, and the bird let those guys get within touching distance without worrying one bit. We had to stay behind the fence, however, so this photos was taken for me by a lady who seemed to be from the site management team. I managed some pretty good ones too but this is the closest.
This is how close we actually were
We watched him for about an hour, then walked round a bit more, and he was still sitting there when we left. Two excited Italian bird spotters were keeping an eye on him, while Mum peregrine flew overhead.
We revisited one of my favourite places in Rome - the church of San Clemente and the excavations underneath - I love that site! So many layers of the city's history, all in one place. It's wonderful. Here's one of the older parts, a Mithraeum from the 2nd Century AD. There are 1st C streets and houses there too, then a 4th C basilica with 9th-11th C wall paintings and a 11th-12th C basilica on top of that.
We walked to the Porta San Sebastiano and found a road in the heart of the city that had virtually no traffic - a kind of miracle!
And the museum in the gate was free, and a total bargain, because wow, what fabulous views down the Via Appia Antica. It was fun watching the traffic there - that road is really narrow, and nine times out of ten there are motorbikes and Vespas on the wrong side of the road trying to sneak up to the head of the queue at the traffic lights, which makes it interesting for buses and cars turning into the Via Appia...
It was also amusing to watch modern cars meet Roman road. There's a reason there was a no entry sign on this stretch of the Via Appia Antica - so we had a chuckle watching these guys flaunt the rules and try to not ruin their suspension on those basalt rocks!
This is the burial place for the great Scipio family - if you know your pre-Imperial Roman history, you will remember that they were one of the most important Republican families. We visited this site way back in the 1980s/early 90s but now you can only go in by appointment, so now I feel lucky!
Tried some night shots, hand held. Trajan's column looks great lit like this, the contrast really brings out the bas relief.
This is somewhere I've been wanting to visit for a while, but needed a companion. There is an archaeological park which runs from the Quo Vadis section of the Via Appia Antica, all the way down to the tomb of Cecilia Metella. We only did part of the walk round it, but it was so nice to be somewhere so quiet in the middle of a big bustling city. As you can see, there was even a flock of sheep - it was all very bucolic and dare I say it? Georgic. That's the ruins of a Roman cistern up on the hill in the background, and the park was full of parakeets. Apparently they love thistles, who knew?
Oh look, we managed a selfie without either a selfie stick or a timer shot, however did we do it? Me and Paul this lunchtime at a cafe on the Appian Way.
And finally (you will be relieved to know! LOL), this is my last photo of the day and probably of the trip - storm clouds looming over the tomb of Cecilia Metella. We were lucky, we made it to the bus stop just as the 118 pulled up, and were on the bus when the heavens opened and the thunder started. We did get a tad wet on the short walk up the Capitoline to the Piazza Venezia before we got back to our apartment hotel, but it wasn't too bad. And everything is almost dry again now, even though it's not all that hot any more. There is bad weather forecast for tomorrow so maybe it's a good job we're flying home!
So here's a few of my personal highlights from this time round.
A close encounter with a young peregrine falcon in Caracalla's baths. There was a film crew from Cinecittà setting up equipment for filming later in the day, and the bird let those guys get within touching distance without worrying one bit. We had to stay behind the fence, however, so this photos was taken for me by a lady who seemed to be from the site management team. I managed some pretty good ones too but this is the closest.
This is how close we actually were
We watched him for about an hour, then walked round a bit more, and he was still sitting there when we left. Two excited Italian bird spotters were keeping an eye on him, while Mum peregrine flew overhead.
We revisited one of my favourite places in Rome - the church of San Clemente and the excavations underneath - I love that site! So many layers of the city's history, all in one place. It's wonderful. Here's one of the older parts, a Mithraeum from the 2nd Century AD. There are 1st C streets and houses there too, then a 4th C basilica with 9th-11th C wall paintings and a 11th-12th C basilica on top of that.
We walked to the Porta San Sebastiano and found a road in the heart of the city that had virtually no traffic - a kind of miracle!
And the museum in the gate was free, and a total bargain, because wow, what fabulous views down the Via Appia Antica. It was fun watching the traffic there - that road is really narrow, and nine times out of ten there are motorbikes and Vespas on the wrong side of the road trying to sneak up to the head of the queue at the traffic lights, which makes it interesting for buses and cars turning into the Via Appia...
It was also amusing to watch modern cars meet Roman road. There's a reason there was a no entry sign on this stretch of the Via Appia Antica - so we had a chuckle watching these guys flaunt the rules and try to not ruin their suspension on those basalt rocks!
This is the burial place for the great Scipio family - if you know your pre-Imperial Roman history, you will remember that they were one of the most important Republican families. We visited this site way back in the 1980s/early 90s but now you can only go in by appointment, so now I feel lucky!
Tried some night shots, hand held. Trajan's column looks great lit like this, the contrast really brings out the bas relief.
This is somewhere I've been wanting to visit for a while, but needed a companion. There is an archaeological park which runs from the Quo Vadis section of the Via Appia Antica, all the way down to the tomb of Cecilia Metella. We only did part of the walk round it, but it was so nice to be somewhere so quiet in the middle of a big bustling city. As you can see, there was even a flock of sheep - it was all very bucolic and dare I say it? Georgic. That's the ruins of a Roman cistern up on the hill in the background, and the park was full of parakeets. Apparently they love thistles, who knew?
Oh look, we managed a selfie without either a selfie stick or a timer shot, however did we do it? Me and Paul this lunchtime at a cafe on the Appian Way.
And finally (you will be relieved to know! LOL), this is my last photo of the day and probably of the trip - storm clouds looming over the tomb of Cecilia Metella. We were lucky, we made it to the bus stop just as the 118 pulled up, and were on the bus when the heavens opened and the thunder started. We did get a tad wet on the short walk up the Capitoline to the Piazza Venezia before we got back to our apartment hotel, but it wasn't too bad. And everything is almost dry again now, even though it's not all that hot any more. There is bad weather forecast for tomorrow so maybe it's a good job we're flying home!