Rome

Goodbye to the umbrella and warm coats of Amsterdam, for Rome was ablaze with sunshine, and we were whisked into the heart of Trastevere by the most charismatic taxi driver, whose voice was like warm syrup as he asked passers by the directions to our Luxury Guest House hidden in a maze of streets.

What a find! It was beautiful and new and the view looking out over the piazza at the restaurant that was a buzz all time was a wonderful introduction to the city.

Our first mission was to meet up with my fellow granny, Geraldine who has been my friend since Crieff days. We were to meet at the Bellini fountain in Piazza Navona, amidst the tourists. I took a wooden tulip so that she might recognise me.

And then we drank spritz with Aperol and ate delicious artichokes and later in another piazza we ate maron glace gelato out of glass dishes.

On the corners chestnut sellers were roasting their nuts and it seemed so improbably, in the hot October sunshine. Around us people came and went, middle aged men met their mistresses, noticeable by their short polka dot dresses and very high heels, and grandmothers rested and shared pictures of their ‘little darlings’on their I Pads. It was a wonderful introduction to Rome, leisurely and companionable, and for a few hours ‘the sights’ had to wait.

Then the fun began, the Ancient Britons went walkabout in Ancient Rome!

We saw it all, the Pantheon with the beautiful singer outside with her band, singing Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ whilst a woman, all in black, listened, her head resting on her hands in an apartment overlooking the square.

We went walking through the streets of Trastevere, searching for the church of Santa Maria. I had visited it twenty years ago when I was doing my Open University course, and I wanted to see it again. It is said to be the oldest church in Rome, and dates back to the 3^rd Century, and it stands on the spot where according to legend, a fountain of oil miraculously sprang from the ground. Maybe so, but it is the glittering mosaics that I remembered. Both inside in the apse and also outside.

Then we found the basilica of Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music. Pretty roses were blooming in the garden, and we stopped and had a cappuccino.

Fortified we decided to cross the Tiber and walk through the Jewish area where we skulked passed the most awful restaurant that we had visited the previous night.

Oh my God, I had been at a loss as to what to order, so the waiter recommended the plate of three fishes. I had visions of three grilled fillets with a nice salad. Instead the plate came with a mangled collection of fish that had been dropped into boiling oil and had died, some biting their tails in fright. That was all. No salad, no fillets, just heads and everything. I was flabbergasted. We left, hungry. I thought Jewish food was supposed to be good. Maybe if I knew what to order?

Anyway we walked and walked until we nearly expired and ate a sandwich in the Theatre Maximus.

We finally came to the Coliseum, and were gobbled up by the tour touts, and were soon frog marched around the ancient world. We particularly liked the tour of the Palatine hill and the Forum, the guide was funny and we learnt a lot of interesting ‘by the ways.’ Makes history come alive. He told us that this foot had been finally ‘fixed’ but some ancient clever clogs had attached a finger instead of a big toe!!!

We did like the new study they have done on Trajan’s column, photographing all the details and telling each story to make sense of the battle scenes. When you look up at the dizzying heights you can appreciate the stories and the work that has gone into it.

There was a picture of poor St Cecilia in a pot, being burned alive, and being shown the heads of her husband and brother before she expired. Very graphic.

Somehow we got back to the Guest House and the familiarity of our suitcases and rested, heads spinning with ‘stuff’.

The next day we leapt on a bus and went to see the most wonderful church, the Basilica of San Clemente. From the outside it looks quite ordinary. But inside it is like a piece of lasagne. The layers tell the story of Rome. Inside the door is a chapel to St Catherine (with her wheel). The 12thC basilica built over a 4^th Century church, which stands over a 2^nd Century pagan temple and 1^st Century Roman house. Beneath everything are foundations dating from the Roman Republic. Down in the dank darkness of the house, there is the original herring bone brick floor and there is the eerie sound of a subterranean river, running through a drain dating from the Roman Republic. I could just picture a family living there.

We came up the musty stairs, and finally came to the sunlight. We decided to have another spritz with Aperol and a sandwich.

From ‘Ancient times’ we bussed back to the centre, and hurried through the Japanese tourists thronging in Piazza Navona, and found the Escher exhibition. From faded murals, glizzy mosaics, headless statues to the mathematical craziness of Escher. His work is amazing, and we had to have a plate of risotto with porcini mushrooms to recover from so much viewing!

There were more churches, more wonderful meals, but then it came time to find a laundry. We did, and as it spun about in its suds, we found a café while we waited. A lady shared our table and we discussed sweeteners for coffee and such things, and then she told us that just up the road, in another café, many many years ago in Trastevere, a Mafia chief had been gunned down and had died in the hospital just across the road. Hmm, a different kind of history.

I had to wonder on one of our visits, what this nun had to confess?

Of course no trip to Rome would be complete without the guided tour of the Vatican. We saw a red porphyry bath, the size that might have held a whole legion of soldiers, we saw maps, and embroideries, statues, paintings. We ogled at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and later I wanted to buy a jigsaw but felt 26 euros seemed a bit steep, and all the time I was thinking of the film, The Agony and the Ecstasy with Rex Harrison as Pope Julius and  Charlton Heston as Michelangelo. All very evocative,  and finally we ended up in St Peter’s basilica. There was Michelangelo’s Pieta (now behind glass after some mad man hacked it with a hammer) and mummified popes, relics of holy places and saints and even a bit of the cross, it was all so big and so over whelming.

But of course we saw the other things too, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi fountain, piazza de Popolo and we took time to sit and savour and enjoy.

When you go on a mission, whatever it is, whether it is for climbing mountains or looking at different churches, you walk through different streets, pass through different areas, stop and have a meal, drink a coffee, but all the time your eyes are taking in the different landscapes, absorbing the bricks, the architecture, the flowers and sometimes you hear the stories. So although we had a mission to search for special churches, we saw and learnt so much more.

We made our way to the station and booked our tickets with a charming man who is married to a Scottish girl and has a son called Angus, and he warned us not to use the ATMs, and beware of gypsies. Pickpocketing is rife, and the ATMs have been known to just gobble up your cards.

We were off, and it was wonderful. I loved it all.

Arrivederci Roma!