We arrive late after a crazy and delayed flight from Rhodes to Rome via Athens. The walk with our packs for 20 minutes in 30' heat almost killed us. That's at about 10pm at night as well.
Day 44
We decided to keep things easy and wander about the city. You don't need a guidebook to find anything of historical interest; we found the Piazza Navona (below) by accident after about 1 minute of walking.
We also found this drink fountain. They are littered all over the city and supply beautiful, cold spring water for drinking. They saved us more than a few dollars, particularly given the intense heat.
The Trevi Fountain, just a short walk from the Piazza Navona. We didn't throw a coin in, as we already knew we would be returning.
We're not sure what this one was. It can't have been too important though as they simply put some apartments on the top.
After looking at the Colleseum and Forum (from a distance - pictures later on) we ambled past this rather plain looking building. Guesses anyone?
It's the Pantheon. This is what it looks like from the inside. Amazing.
It is monumentally big. I took these photos with an 18mm wide lens and the area you can see is all I could fit, in each case less than a third of the overall building. The dome has an open circular roof of about 4 metres diameter in order to permit plenty of sunlight. The floor has special drains to take away any water when it rains.
Day 45
We took an early start to do the Colleseum and Forum (as suggested by our lovely Canadian friends on our Egypt tour....thanks guys).
This is not the best of my jumping shots. I'm only putting it in for nostalgia. A podgy Spanish boy of about 10 years saw me doing it and wanted to give it a try. He sadly jumped and then crashed (don't worry, he didn't hurt himself - his Mum also laughed).
Inside is also enormous. Quite interestingly a lot of the building is made from brick. Also in the Italian tradition, most of the building has been destroyed by Italians. They used the Colleseum as a "quarry" up until the turn of the previous century. The lower picture shows the outside wall which was "worked".
This is the Forum. It's quite vast but it is difficult to get the full scale because of the all the buildings surrounding, both ancient, old and oldish.
There were also a number of modern stone sculptures set out in the gardens of the Colleseum and Forum. We would have cleaned the first one up if we realised how much it would show up in the photo.
Of course a trip to Rome would not be complete without a trip to the Spanish steps.
An earlier start brought us to the Vatican. This is the square in front of St Peter's Basilica and the Basilica itself.
Inside is opulence of the highest order. That's Nikki to the left.
And this is the view from the top.
We also went to the Vatican museums. Again, incredible grandeur. We decided not to show any number of the pictures from inside with exception of the interesting modern art sculpture in the square and the personable donkey.
Some miscellany to finish: the fort built by Hadrian near where we stayed; St Peter's Basilica by night taken from the fort; and just one of the many wonderful town houses.
Day 47
We're off to the Amlfi Coast.
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