The tour of Rome is always great. Part 2. Roman adventures (continued).
Part of the group traveled to Naples. We have a free day. We had breakfast and already at the beginning of the ninth we left the San Giovanni metro station. After passing through the wall of Aurelian, on the right hand we saw the goal of our independent excursion - the Lateran Palace. It was formerly the residence of the Popes. After the fire destroyed the papal residence in the Lateran Palace, the popes returned to Rome and settled in the Vatican.
There were almost no people in the temple (only pilgrims), try to get there as early as possible if you plan to visit it, but it's worth it. After 11-00, groups of tourists begin to arrive intensively, which is very distracting. Not "pretending" at first went "with an open mouth", everything is so rich and beautiful. An hour later, they remembered the camera and video camera.
I will not retell the information from the guidebook, I will note that San Giovanni Temple of temples both in its meaning and decoration. Great Italian artists took part in the design of the temple. Shrines are kept in this temple - the skulls of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, the relics of San Giovanni, the Popes of Rome, are buried. If you plan to visit the Vatican, visit it before San Giovanni, otherwise the impressions of St. Peter's Basilica will be somewhat blurred.
The temple has a hall for solitude and prayer, in the main hall there is where to sit down to relax and enjoy the beauty. In the temple you do not feel like a "foreigner". A lot of Russian speech, pilgrims and tourists from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus. In the church shop, the ministers speak pure Russian, they could not resist buying gold crosses decorated with garnets, by the way, they are cheaper here than in the Vatican. Considering the expensive purchase, the daughters presented aromatic rosaries (ten euros - “a trifle, but nice”). Three hours flew by in the temple.
Across the road from the temple is the church of San Lorenzo, in which the same holy staircase (Scala Santa) is installed, along which Jesus Christ climbed to the house of Pontius Pilate, brought to Rome by the mother of Emperor Constantine the Great. At the entrance there are interesting sculptures "Kiss of Judas" and "Pilate showing Christ to the people. "
Believers climb the 28 steps of the Holy Stairs only on their knees, kissing the glass-covered parts of the steps of the stairs where the blood of Christ dripped. For tourists, there is a separate flight of stairs, climbing which you can look through the windows at a small hall in which a miraculous icon of Jesus is exhibited. Photographing believers from above is prohibited, and why interfere with their prayer.
Arriving by metro to the Colosseum, this time we are not in a hurry to get out of the metro, but turn right and go up the escalator to the exit to the residential area, from the platform of which a palm tree offers a wonderful view of the Colosseum. We take pictures.
We move to the Tiber embankment, examining antiquities along the way. Past the arch of Constantine, the Palatine Hill, we go to the Palatine Bridge. Santa Maria Kosmedin has a huge queue of tourists from Japan for the Mouth of Truth (we noticed that they take pictures of absolutely everything, from a plate of food on the buffet to... ). We walked along the Tiber embankment past the island of the same name washed by two "tongues" of the river. We walked past the Theater of Marcellus and in the parking lot at the office asked the attendant how to get to Mattei Square. Accustomed to such questions, he showed on the interactive map of the city - turn into the street to the left, and then into the street to the right. Five minutes and we are at the Turtle Fountain. A very beautiful sculpture, reconstructed by famous Italian masters. Those who live in houses in this quiet square are probably the happiest people. After resting and drinking the water of their fountain, we moved on.
Before reaching Piazza Venezia, we looked at a small restaurant where mostly locals dine. We tried the real spaghetti with tomato sauce and risotto. To be honest, I was not impressed at all, on the contrary. In Ukraine, Italian cuisine is tastier, and it is known that the dishes are embellished and not as simple as in the original.
Arriving at the hotel, we went to the Auchan supermarket. The prices are very reasonable, you can buy a complete Italian tourist set: mozzarella, moscarpone, parmesan, a lot of pasta, yogurt, wine, limoncello, amaretto - your head is spinning. At the checkout, they immediately calculate for such a set of products - turisto! We stocked up thoroughly, the suitcase bought yesterday was filled with purchases. We bought a package of mineral water for the trip. Following the example of the locals, I bought a 1.5 liter bottle of dry red wine, it quenches the August thirst very well, however, the locals take a five-liter red and white wine, but I would not have overcome such an amount in three days. For dinner, moscarpone, mozzarella and Cinzano champagne, yoghurts.
So today we visit the Vatican. Metro stations are still closed, today is the first day of free access after religious holidays. From the railway station we get to the Vatican Museums by bus. We meet the guide, get audio guides, get tickets and we are ready to travel. We look with sympathy at the multi-kilometer queues of single tourists along the Vatican walls. We go into the museum building, we are “shone through”, we go through security control, we go up the stairs and go out into the courtyard. Here, at the stands, the guide talks about the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, because. the requirement of complete silence is observed in the chapel room.
We pass into the first Vatican Museum, smoothly moving from one thematic hall to another. There are 12 halls in total. Very beautiful sculptures are exhibited, sometimes it captures the spirit, but everything inspires some melancholy - all this is the belongings brought to Rome by the Popes. Who is the author of the works, where and when they were brought, is unknown, they just “grabbed”.
We pass along a long corridor - a hall of tapestries, admire the beauty of the ceiling, listen to the guide's narration on the audio guide, and if the connection worsens, we add a step so as not to lag behind the group.
We go to the Sistine Chapel. We examine the ceiling painted by Michelangelo. If the “rumble” in the hall intensifies, shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh of “Papal Cerberus” sounds immediately (thieves’ work, isn’t it, admire the beauty and hiss to yourself). It is forbidden to take pictures, do not try, there are a lot of guards in the crowd, the devices are taken without talking.
We go out into the courtyard of Peter's Cathedral. We wash ourselves in the fountain and drink water. Here I recommend giving the audio guide to the guide and visiting Peter's Cathedral on your own, not depending on anyone. The guide is in a hurry for the next tour, and leaving the cathedral, the entrance is again through security, the entrance to the cathedral is free but there are queues! (pay attention to the photo on St. Peter's Square on a kilometer-long column of people near the walls on the right side).
We inspect the cathedral, but as I said, after San Giovanni, without euphoria. The cathedral, of course, is beautiful, majestic. In Rome, almost every cathedral is a kind of museum, because. the great Italian masters of painting and sculpture are involved in everything.
We leave the cathedral and keep up with the changing of the guard of the Swiss guards, who are entrusted with the protection of the Vatican. Small children are sometimes let through to the guard post so that their parents can take pictures of them with a guard.
There are several post offices on the square, from which you can send home your favorite postcard with the stamp of the Vatican, which costs about two euros (although the Ukrainian post delivered the postcard five days later, after our arrival home).
After drinking water and washing in the Roman fountains in St. Peter's Square, taking plenty of photos and videos, we went to the Castel Sant'Angelo. After admiring the unusual structure of the castle, we crossed the bridge of the same name, deciding to visit it next time.
We walked along the embankment, looking at the antiquities along the way. Accidentally came across a piece of paradise chosen by the locals. A complex of fountains with a very pleasant microclimate in the August heat. The jets of the fountain beat in a small shallow pool from underground, a continuous stream of icy water poured over the granite walls, giving a pleasant coolness. We stopped here for about thirty minutes, took off our shoes and walked in the fountain, following the example of the local Romans.
A little more and we came to Piazza Del Popolo, the most beautiful square in Rome. In the center of the square there is an interesting fountain with drinking water. There are several beautiful churches on the square (museums, you can’t call it otherwise), the most unusual is Santa Maria Del Popolo. It is famous for the paintings of famous Italian painters. In the church, we caught the wedding, sat down on a bench and stared at what was happening in the cool.
Ambulances are on duty at every significant attraction where there are large crowds of people. It is clear that not everyone can withstand the 30-35 degree heat all day. The daughter talked with doctors - very friendly people on professional topics. Take a photo and move on.
On Via del Corco we went to a restaurant we liked and celebrated the last day of our stay in Rome. The cuisine of this restaurant was much tastier than yesterday's establishment, though a little more expensive. Seafood pizza, risotto, signature tiramisu, drinks.
Thus passed our three days in Rome. Probably, they say the truth - "who has not seen Rome - has not seen anything. "
