Rome - So Far, So Great

After visiting Rome for the first time in 2009, I recall coming away thinking, "OK, that's Rome off my list of places to see."  I genuinely believed that having spent five days here and walked (and walked and walked) around to the main tourist sites, I had seen everything.  Last year I came back to Rome (twice, actually, but that's another story for another time), vowing to see other and different sites.  Mission accomplished, I left saying, "That's really it, now."

When we planned this trip, we talked about the need to ultimately fly out of either Rome or Milan, as we were travelling with Singapore Airlines and those are the departure points in Italy.  I begrudgingly agreed that Rome was the more sensible choice, as we would be in Orvieto for the final month of our trip and could travel to Rome in just over an hour from there.  For various practical reasons, we would need to spend five nights here, so we decided to book a nice hotel in a good location, so that we could finish our Italian sojourn on a high note, having fended for ourselves for over two months in apartments (not that there was anything one bit wrong with that).

I made up my mind to give Rome one more chance to surprise me, and so far I have not been disappointed.  David and I agree that this visit has overwhelmingly been the best of all.

We chose this dear little hotel called Campo de' Fiore, continuing our pattern of staying close to marketplaces, which is one thing we really do enjoy.  The pulse and colour, the sounds and spectacle of Italian markets is one of my favourite things in the whole world.  The open air market in the campo is surrounded by delicatessens, cheese shops, pasta and olive oil merchants, as well as butchers, boutiques and restaurants. There is always something happening and it's invariably something interesting to watch.  This hotel has the added benefit of a beautifully furnished rooftop garden, which provides a superb day and night vantage point.

We arrived here on Sunday afternoon and headed straight out for a walk to get our bearings.  Before we knew it, we were at the magnificent Trevi fountain, marvelling yet again at its glory.  One thing I love about the fountain is that unlike so many other grand fountains, monuments, parks and buildings, you come across the Trevi almost accidentally in a back street of Rome - in fact it is at the meeting point of three small back streets (tre vie) - it is not located in a focal point of the city in a wide open space devoted to it, it's just smack-bang in the middle of shops and buildings. 

We were very surprised at how many tourists were visiting the site, given that it is (after all) December and the main season is well and truly over by September.  I guess some things have year-round appeal; certainly for me, the Trevi has that gobsmacking WOW! factor every time I see it.

Despite my previous visits to Rome, I had never been to St Peter's Basilica or to the Sistine Chapel.  In 2009 the queues were so daunting and it was SO hot, that after shuffling along the road to the Sistine, eight-abreast across the footpath, making no progress, I surrendered and decided it was all too much.  Although I thought at the time that I might never have another opportunity, I couldn't cope with the combination of the heat and the crowd.

Yesterday we wandered along to St Peter's after breakfast and waited only about 15 minutes to enter the church after going through security (which was the sole reason for the 15 minute wait, as it turned out).  It was truly spectacular and photos cannot possibly do it justice, but here's a few, anyway.

After St Peter's, we walked around to the Sistine Chapel.  It was quite interesting to note the point at which we had surrendered in 2009 was still about 700 metres from the entrance to the chapel.  We hadn't realised that at the time - I had been worried that we might be only minutes away from getting in and that it was foolhardy to quit the queue.  Given that it was probably over 30 degrees that day, in retrospect I am SO glad we didn't wait any longer.

At the Sistine we didn't have to wait at all, we just went straight to the ticket office and directly in. It wasn't even necessary to have pre-booked, despite the dire warnings of lots of people we spoke to, who said we should have purchased them online before we left home back in September.

Although we were not allowed to take photos in the Chapel itself, it was OK in the magnificent museum and gallery in which it is located (in fact, the Pope's residence in Vatican City).  I could include 10 or 20 photos at this point, but I think the following one of just one section of one hallway says it all.

D1