August 25, 2013.
We docked at Civitavecchia (say that three time fast—heck, just say it once), Rome's port city. The ship was staying there overnight so we had booked an excursion which took us to Rome, had hotel reservations, and took us back the next day. So, we had about 30 hours in Rome. That meant that we had go pick and choose what we wanted see in that time frame. The Vatican museum is normally closed on Sunday, but on the 4th Sunday the museum is free. Our bus guide told us to NOT even attempt it because the lines were obscenely long. Indeed, as we drove to our hotel, we saw the line and I believe it was more than 1/2 mile long. Wow.
We got to our hotel, dropped our luggage, and headed out on the town.
A short taxi ride took us to the Colosseum. It is obviously a massive structure. It is hard to fathom how they built it. The picture below (right) was taken after we had visited and left to cool off once again with delicious gelato. The picture shows a nice view of the exterior.
The seating was supported by rock structures. The steps would have been very steep, but the viewing angles would have been good. I heard someone say it seated 40,00, but can't verify that number without access to the Internet.
It was easy to imagine as we walked around where the lions were kept, where the gladiators prepared, and how the people would have loved a great spectacle. Someone was reading about the Colosseum and said that Christians were not martyred in the Colosseum. Instead, that happened in another Roman landmark, the Circus. Once again, that is what I heard and can't verify.
From the top of the Colosseum we saw a very white statue with a patchwork of colors behind it. It's hard to see but when I zoomed way in, it looked like lingerie in a huge pile. I think the statue is the goddess of love, so maybe that makes sense.
We were ready for lunch so we plotted a path to get us into the city where we could find a restaurant. We consulted a map of the area where we were and headed up a hill on a cobblestoned street. It was a long steady climb up what was probably a chariot road when it was built. Surprise, surprise, when we got the top there was no way to get through. The road ended at a church, but we saw no way to continue on.
So, back down the road we went to find another alternative. The second time was the charm and we found a nice restaurant where we had a nice lunch.
After lunch we found a cab and went to the Parthenon. In Roman times it was a temple to various gods (hence the "pan" in the name). After Rome was Christianized, it was turned into a church. The dome was studied by Michelangelo and was used as a model for the dome of St. Peter's basilica. It is hard to get a picture of the inside of the dome and the surrounding buildings were too close to get a good picture of it from the outside.
The square outside the Pantheon had an interesting fountain (there are LOTS of fountains in Rome). The Trevi fountain is the most famous because of the movie "Three Coins in the Fountain." We did not get to it, but friends did and said it was so crowded they could not throw the coins in the fountain the way you are supposed to.
Our next stop was a large square with art vendors surrounded by restaurants. It is apparently a common gathering place for Romans, especially at night. In this square there were actually 2 fountains.
On our walk back to the hotel, we crossed the Tiber river and had a great view of St. Peter's Basilica. It was raining off and on and the clouds were pretty dark.
When we arrived at the hotel we were hot and tired. It felt good to sit in air conditioning and relax for a couple of hours before dinner. Because it was Sunday, most of the restaurants were closed. But, we found a nice pizza restaurant that was popular with locals and had a nice supper.