Like most of Italy, Rome is extremely chaotic – everything moves at a frenetic pace and the Romans aren’t afraid to let anyone know when they’re annoyed that the pace may be slowing. After a few days in Italy, I think I have almost worked out how the traffic works. You can cut in or overtake whenever you like, as long as you are prepared to be honked at. You don’t need to slow down for pedestrian crossings whether there is someone on them or not – just make sure you don’t actually bowl anyone over. You can also queue across an intersection as long as there is the exact amount of space to fit one small car sideways between you and the car in front, And most bizarrely – you can park wherever you like without being booked or towed, including double parking and parking diagonally on a corner. [‘Music’ – The Beautiful Girls – one of the best of this genre that seemingly exploded with the rise of The Waifs, Jack Johnson etc a few years ago. This is from the Coastal Chill CD – appropriate as I am writing at sea in the Mediterranean]
It is however pretty easy to find your way around Rome (despite the multi-directional nature of most of the streets and piazzas). The Metro runs like a cross through the Roma Termini – the main station which was very close to my hostel. I hopped the Metro to Colloseo in search of the famous ancient Roman artifact. For anyone who has had trouble navigating Rome’s streets in search of this monolith, I recommend the Metro. Prepared to have to negotiate my way, I had my map firmly in my grasp. I didn’t need it. I walked out of the station and looked up and there it was. Along with the queue to get inside. And the hawkers selling all sorts of coliseum-related merchandise. And the guys dressed as gladiators with whom you can get your photo taken (for a fee). It is hard to describe the size of the Coliseum. I knew it was huge but it still stunned me when I saw it. I was content to walk around it and look through from the outside rather than stand in a queue for an hour. My main aim for this trip has been to experience the places I visit (as much as you can in a short time) rather than visit all the attractions. From the Coliseum, I wandered up the Via del Fori Imperiali and around the ancient ruins of Rome.
It was about then that it struck me. The centuries of monuments that litter Rome are not preserved in areas outside the main city – with the exception of these ancient structures, the monuments hit you as you turn around a corner. Next to the crumbling Santa Maria Degli Angeli is the Roman Piazza della Repubbica, where you’ll find McDonalds. You get the feeling Rome wasn’t preserved by design but rather by accident – that the chaotic arrangement of laneways and hidden piazzas has occurred because when people wanted to build something new, they didn’t bother replacing the old. They just built the new where they wanted to and the streets made their way around the buildings. And where the streets didn’t quite meet, they built a piazza and someone commissioned a fountain to put there so nobody would build something on the site. Now I’m sure ancient historians and Rome fanatics will correct me but that is the impression I got from wandering the streets. And there’s no mistaking the importance of the caesars of Rome. There are statues of caesars and depictions of Roman chariots everywhere. [‘See you soon’ – Coldplay – Those that know me will be surprised at the speed of this music but it is easy and I am tired and lazy as I drift on board the ferry (and I had a few vinos last night with dinner)]
After my sojourn through ancient Rome it was back to the hostel. I thoroughly recommend the Hostel Alessandro Palace to anyone traveling to Rome. The staff (mostly travelers themselves) were cheerful and helpful and the accommodation plush by hostel standards and the cleanest place I had stayed so far- hostel or hotel. Again the staff were bemused by the fact that someone traveling alone would stay in a double room and not a dorm. The guy here said he had never met an Australian who didn’t like dorms. Despite this, I have to say the idea that hostelling is a good way to meet people while traveling alone is a furphy. Most people are traveling together and while the bar/ common room is usually quite rowdy in the evening, I didn’t find people particularly receptive when I attempted to engage them in conversation. Maybe if I had’ve looked more like Elle McPherson… Anyway I eschewed the pizza on offer in search of a meatier alternative. I should have stuck with the pizza. At the trattoria I visited across the road, I ordered chicken cacciatore and vegetables – what I got was chicken broiled in lemon and butter (that was pink on the inside) and a plate of Spinach that looked like it had been boiled in oil. After this I stuck to Pizza and gelati while in Rome. I didn’t get bad pizza or gelati and you could live on it and coffee for at least a few days. Coffee is an experience in Italy too – it’s cheaper if you drink it standing up and you have the choice of the Italian way – espresso, macchiato – a double shot espresso with just a dash of milk, Americano (long black) or cappuccino. Not a flat white or latte in sight. Not even at Maccas. They have mini paper cups for espresso at Maccas and there is no such thing as a large (or grande) version of anything. And coffee comes warm not scalding as you are supposed to swallow it in a gulp (or a couple of gulps if it’s a cappuccino. [‘Chills’ – Ben Lee – I really like Ben Lee. I didn’t but then I saw him live as part of the three Bens tour (with Kweller and Folds) and now I would buy a ticket to see him anytime he came. I still don’t own any of his albums though.]
Next morning it was time to step into the Vatican City. Now the Vatican is something I wanted to see for a number of reasons – to truly see whether my youthful protests against the wealth of the church could be justified, to set foot in the world’s smallest sovereign state, and just to see whether setting foot in this holy of holiest sites would affect me in any sort of religious sense – call it the curiosity of catholic guilt. What I found was a tourist mecca, with seats permanently arranged for attendees at the two weekly appearances by the pope. And the Vatican has gone high tech (well sort of). There are four large Panasonic screens around the square, the kind you’d find at a rock concert, although these were white rather than black. The place was surrounded by street sellers hawking everything from rosary beads to medals depicting saints. No pope on a rope though I’m afraid. I was bitterly disappointed. And the single most penetrating image of the Vatican is the queue to get inside the basilica and museum which stretched almost around the whole of St Peter’s square. Apart from the fact that I had limited time and hated standing in queues, I wasn’t prepared to pay for the privilege of seeing the wealth of the church on display. And as for the idea of a separate state – there’s no border control – you can walk straight in – to the square at least. The strange looking Vatican sentries guard the other access to the Vatican – the working Vatican – which ordinary folk like myself aren’t allowed to cross. [‘Yellow’ – Coldplay – I know I shouldn’t like Coldplay but they are so easy to listen to – and beat the Spanish pop music on the loudspeaker by a long way.]
There’s also no separate currency in the Vatican anymore – like the majority of Europe, the Vatican uses the euro. They do, however, still have their own post office. And of course I did have to post a couple of post cards from there. Almost as good as a postmark from Santa but not quite.
From the Vatican I took a whirlwind tour of Roman monuments as I headed for the Trevi Fountain (of course) – the Castel Sant Angelo, the Palazzo Venezia and a couple of other random fountains. If anyone tells you things are hard to find in Rome, they’re wrong. Looking at the web of streets, laneways and piazzas that surrounded the famed fountain and the guide book description of it being in a very small piazza, I was sure I was going to circle it for ages before I finally discovered it. The key in Rome is that the frequency of souvenir, pizza and gelati shops increases as you get closer to the monuments. The more important the monument, the more street sellers and the like. If you follow this rule and follow the other tourists, you’re sure to find everything you’re looking for. And sure enough, after not too long I found the Fontana di Trevi.
It is beautiful but if you’re planning on getting that beautiful shot of the fountain glistening in the sun in a hidden piazza – forget it and buy the postcard. It doesn’t matter what time of day it is – the fountain is surrounded by tourists (and locals but mainly tourists snapping away). Somewhere, at the end of time all that will remain of human civilization is pictures of everyone in front of the Trevi Fountain, or holding up the leaning tower of Pisa or at the Grand Canyon or at the side of Bon Scott’s grave in front of every other tourist landmark in the world. And yes I took a photo of me in front of the fountain. Of course all my shots are taken by me so the monuments aren’t quite so beautifully framed (usually I have to take a couple of shots to get them and me in the same snap). After I’d found the Trevi, it was time for a final gelati, collect my gear and head for the station. I had bought a reservation the previous day (worried about the idea of Italians yelling at me for being in their seat). After an interminable wait for the train to show up, I boarded and settled into my seat. Unfortunately it was someone else’s seat. The ticket salesperson had misunderstood me when I said tomorrow. My reservation had been for the previous day’s train so I spent the hour to Civitaveccia seat-hopping. I have been confused about what date it is over the past few days and didn’t check. Moral to the story – if you’re traveling in non-English speaking countries, it pays to make your reservations before leaving home and make sure you check the dates on everything.
