We went down walking in the streets and entered a good looking restaurant, and we had one of the best pizzas ever. Even though the food was a bit expensive, it was very delicious. After the dinner we went walking in the streets of Rome until we reached Spanish steps. As usual it was great with sculpture, another fountain and plenty of people just sitting around sharing a great time. Plenty of love birds and roadside romeos having fun and generally in a great moods. From there we just walked down to Trevi fountain.
Getting to Trevi fountain is damn interesting. You would go through small gullies, narrow pathways, and some dark ones too. You keep wondering if you are on correct path and voila there it is, buzzing with people, unbelievably crowded and just plain engrossing that you would forget the crowd around you. Absolutely stunning. Designed by Lorenzo Bernini (who is also responsible for bunch of fountains around), it is a must see if you are visiting Rome. Spend a bunch of time there, relaxing, just admiring the beautiful scenery.
Next day we started on our day long walking tour of Rome starting at Colosseum. There is no doubt about Colosseum being one of the seven wonders of world. Built around 70-80AD, it is by far the best historical monument I've ever seen. I was jaw dropped marveling its architecture. Imagining it filled with 50000 spectators hooting for the gladiators fight truly amazes you. I was totally baffled by their ingenuity in designing the colosseum, with almost every detail worked out. They even had lifts to get the animals up when gladiator is not watching. They had aquaducts coming in to fill the arena with water to make it entertaining for folks. Romans were bloodthirsty folks. Even though I am amazed by the architecture, I was kind of taken aback by what it is used for :)
From Colosseum we strolled into Roman Forum. This is where the action during Roman civilization used to happen. This place is full of arches. If a king wins a war, they build an arch for him. I have no idea why they build an arch instead of something else like a building :), but thats what Roman's did. It has Basilica, a market, the senate, a court, a church and best of all it is in a valley so that the people in palaces on Palentine Hill can just look down their balcony and see what all is going on. Oh yeah! it also has the place where Julius Caeser got stabbed to death :) (Et tu Brutus...). We strolled through the arches, the building and finally reached Palentine Hills. By the way if you were wondering how they built it, they got slaves from Africa to "help" them build it ;)
By the time we reached Palentine Hills we were a bit tired and hungry too. So, we just roamed around to see how big their palaces were. Interesting on the other side of the Hill is where circus maximus is. This is where they used to have charriot races. I think Romans used Hills for their homes and the valleys for socializing. Great concept. Circus Maximus is not really worth all the walk to it.
After seeing all these great monuments, we set forth to see Pantheon, the building that inspired hell lot of others including Jefferson's memorial in Washington DC. It is well hidden from the main roads. But the magnitude of the building is just awe inspiring. Its so hard to imagine that they could build such beautiful and strong buildings centuries ago (while the new ones that we construct now will probably not withstand a strong wind,lol). Pantheon is amazing, the art inside is beautiful and of course as with any other monument in Rome, it has a beautiful fountain in front of it. Dont forget to have a gelato near Pantheon, it is amaaziiinnnggg.
1 comment:
Nice picture
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