Rome…continued.

I should have mentioned the last post that my colosseum tour also included the forum, so I’ll do a little backtracking here. The Forum is right across from the colosseum and over the tarmac and footpaths tourists are using these days. It was originally built as an open air work space where Senators would sit on tiered benches that faced an open tiled area. This area was used for speeches, and famously, some vicious beatings and even a couple murders. Senators, lawyers, businessmen, and Emperors all gave speeches here. No ‘common’ people though. Unfortunately, after the fall and sack of Rome in 410 CE by the Visigoths, this building, like many others nearby was pillaged and vandalized. Since it was basically just an open courtyard with walls, it wasn’t long before it was in ruin as citizens began using portions of the building for building material elsewhere. I couldn’t find a picture of my own that shows the Forum so I found one online. Don’t know who owns it but pretty sure it’s just a tourist and not a pro photog. If any reader can claim it, email me and I’ll give you credit.

The Roman Forum in all its ancient glory…sort of.

Then one tiny section of it. Where the Roman’s have stored pieces of the columns they’ll try to reconstruct some day.

There’s not much left of such a historical place, but we were told that there is some support by Rome and Italy to rebuild the forum. Since much of the modern world is turning into a giant, peaceful tourist attraction, it’s possible that could happen. There is restoration going on now all around Rome (for instance, pictures of the colosseum last post show some scaffolding and some nearby restoration work). First thing I noticed after I got to Rome was how clean the air is now. Years ago, it was so bad it might have stopped me from going to Rome. Something like Chinese cities are these days. They really worked hard at getting the pollution under control. Clean air vehicles really helped because the fumes spewing out of cars, trucks, trains, & buses for centuries put so much acid into the air around Rome that it was eating away the marble and cement facades. Now you can see miles in any direction. Good for them.

The tour ended near here at the forum after the guides history lesson and that’s when I walked up the hill to that mansion area I posted about at the end of last post. After touring that area, I walked down the hill and just sort of followed other tourists around. I did have a map, so I probably followed that a bit but I don’t recall now. Here’s some pictures of the journey though. First, some more pictures of the buildings at the top of the hill overlooking the forum…

That’s what the original marble facia that covered most every building in Rome use to look like. Damn it’s purdy.

An ancient building found to be built on top of even more ancient buildings. Archeologists were all excited and wet their pants.

This area was where the household staff lived. Mostly slaves and indentured freemen. The ruins of their hovels, where they existed showed tiny spaces with little more than a fireplace, a rock & dirt shelf to sleep on, and four walls. I didn’t get a chance to ask where they did their toilet but I’m aware that the ancient Romans had public bathrooms here in ancient downtown Rome. Anyway, kind of interesting area and remarkable that it had gotten mostly buried and neglected all these years waiting for it to be un-entombed and partially restored so we could tour around it.

After touring the colosseum, the forum, then the buildings on the hill overlooking those places, it was only around 2pm, so I wandered down to the tour buses, paid my Euros and climbed upstairs on the bus to the open air seats. Plugged in my complimentary ear buds and set my personal audio system to music while waiting for the bus to take off on the tour.

Soon after we started off, we were passing the Circus Maximus. Cool.

The Circus Maximus and the original shouting tower where the sportscasters worked. Or it’s the tower they built when this area became a reservoir. Or something. Go read the damn history…link below somewhere.

It’s pretty big. People use to sit on the sides of the slopes to watch the chariot races, horse races, and human races too.

Way off in the distance is that tower that I posted just above. You could have 150,000 spectators here watching the races. The Circus is Cool.

This pic is very close to the end of the circus. It’s just to the left. It’s a public park now and as you can see from the pictures, people still come here and enjoy picnics, stroll around with their lover, and the like. There’s many shows here too. Some people spend the night…try to camp here, but usually get chased off and it’s frowned upon these days. Don’t want to upset the tourists. Up on the hill is that 1,000 year old ancient home/castle and just beyond that is the 2500 year old Forum and Colosseum. Just to give you a sense of where the bus came from. Then from here I’m just going to throw all those pictures I took from the bus out here in the post. I’m trying to give you a sense of what Rome looks like in the heart of the city. Every historical building we passed was announced over the closed audio system and I took a picture of it. There’s just far to many places to keep track of everything though.

A Dancing Cop in Rome!

Old, very ugly church. People like the stairs though. I came back and visited myself.

Some archeology going on here that our tour guide talked about, (picture below) seems that 1,000 years before even Rome, this was a walled city of a couple thousand, mostly rich merchants, and this area had been attacked by some distant tribe…the Italians I believe, and many of the residents buried their belongings and this was one of those stashes.  There are several modern areas but it’s often hard to tell as the city building requirements try to maintain some sort of order. Note the lack of McD’s or other chains. In virtually every picture I took, there was an ancient building mixed in with a very old building, mixed in with a newer building.

This is a hop on/ hop off style bus ride so whenever I wanted to explore a interesting place, I could just jump off the bus, wander around, and meet another bus later. They have a set schedule and stops so it’s pretty convenient.

So many cool places in Rome. Not too many skyscrapers either.

We did pass by the Vatican. It’s such a neat area and building cluster. I decided I should visit the Vatican Museum while I’m in Rome. Maybe St. Peters too.

That’s the Vatican and St. Peters Square above. And a few miles away, there’s a medieval wall that was build around Rome city center and the Vatican a few hundred years ago.

And the building that was the Imperial Palace for a century or two.

This is the Tiber River.

I didn’t jump off too many places but I had my map and circled places I wanted to go to some other time and tour…but there was one place with all the steps that seemed really interesting.

If you’re thinking about a European vacation, take it from me, and other travelers. It is so much more comfortable if you just plan a skeleton outline of your trip and then just let circumstances fill in for you. Much less stressful. I hadn’t even thought about tour buses when I was planning my trip, I was thinking I’d just hire taxis and roam from place to place after getting here and finding a city map. Or figure out the public buses for that. These tour buses are much less expensive than taxis, and much faster than buses. And they have their stops right out front of the most popular touristy places, whereas the public buses are hit and miss in that regard. And the Viator bus I was on had just one stop in front of tourist shopping and a coffee shop on the circuit so I didn’t feel pressured to buy, buy, buy like I’ve heard some tour companies are like. I did get off for a coffee as that stop is only 5 minutes. And here in Rome, the cities layout really is well suited for bus tours.

Anyway, I did the whole circuit the first time, then went beyond where I originally got on the bus so I could get off at the site I wanted to visit. Which was that church where the steps were because they have an interesting history, and I could get some exercise. Didn’t go into the church. My tour bus ticket allowed me to ride around all day if I wanted. Late into the night even.

After that climb up the stairs and all, I jumped back on the tour bus, circled back to the colosseum and get off there. Back onto the subway…two stops later I’m at the Termini. While there, I buy my train ticket to Naples. One way, non-refundable. With that finished, I get on the local train heading towards my rental and off I go. Get home around 5pm. Wow, perfect day. Everything went perfectly. Until…while cooking dinner, I check my itinerary and discover that I’d bought my train ticket to Naples for a day earlier than when I was booked for my apartment in Pompeii. Damn. So that means I’ll be abandoning one paid day here at my rental apartment. Shoot.

My plan was, originally, to train down to Naples, then get on the local train for the short ride to Pompeii station. Then taxi to my rental. I should have gotten to my rental around 5pm if things went right. So a one day trip from Rome to Pompeii. Now I had a full day to kill in Naples. Sure, I could have just called my rental in Pompeii and checked if I could get in a day early, but it was also an opportunity to spend the afternoon and night in Naples. So I get online and find a Naples Hostel. Hell, there are two right across the street from the train station! I book a night. I’m all set.

Then after dinner, I get back online and book a tour of the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peters. Want to see all the art. It was scheduled to meet up at 7:30AM and from what I read, early at the Vatican is bestest. So I set the alarm in my Android tablet, read a little, and off to sleep. Now, I know what you’re thinking…can you really book a tour like that the night before? Well, yes, at least in April you can. Get to June or later, maybe even mid May, and no. You’d want to book from a few days to a week or two early. I asked the tour guides stuff like this so I could tell you all now. See what I do for you people?

And where I’ll start next time, heading for the tour of the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica, is worth coming back for. All three for one tour price of $78USD with ‘skip the lines‘ privileges.

See you next time!