Rome

My birthday treat to myself last year was a long weekend in Rome. Alas, four days is not enough to even scratch the surface, but I fell in love with the city, and managed to visit nine of my guidebook's top ten suggestions along the way. I stayed near the Piramide metro station, named for the stone pyramid nearby (slideshow). Rome's metro (slideshow) is laughably under-developed with only two lines, one of which kept closing early for extension works. The problem is, much as it was in Athens recently, that the construction works are chronically delayed by the necessary archaelogical surveys.

My first stop was the Colosseum (slideshow), a tourist trap to be sure, but one which more than adequately lived up to its hype. I recommend a tour guide to provide a political and historical context, otherwise, you'd just find yourself walking around a very big and very old relic. Nothing is signposted with explanatory text. The guide assisted us to imagine the 100,000 seat stadium filled to the brim with screaming peeps, watching the entertainment play out below. The performance platform was long ago consumed by a fire, for beneath the stage was a wooden labrynth of tunnels and cells to hold the fighters and animals. Amazingly, some of the animals were elevated to the arena using lifts. The arena in Gladiator is based on the Colosseum, although much larger than the real world stadium.

The tour continued across to Palatine Hill (slideshow), once the home of Emperors and Senators. Little is left standing, but the tour guide pointed out some amazing things that the Romans discovered and implemented here, such as heated flooring (achieved by circulating hot water through piping under the marble). The tour ended at The Forum which looks like it is deserving of a day tour in its own right. I love how the Romans branded everything with SPQR, for Senatum blah Rome, meaning For the Senate and People of Rome. It's like an ancient-world analog of the branding efforts of thousands of city councils today. SPQR is still used on contemporary manhole covers and other infrastructure paraphenalia.

On the Friday night I visited Muccassassina, which was recommended to me as the best gay nightclub in town. After a 40 minute wait in the bitter cold, well past the club's listed opening times, I was among the first admitted inside the empty venue. But as more people arrived I sensed something was very wrong. There were very very few male or female couples. Instead, I observed young and overtly preened gay men running around hand-in-hand with their girlfriends. I'd never seen anything like it. Fearing I'd arrived at the wrong place, I asked the bar staff over and over whether (i) this was Muccassassina, and (ii) is this really a gay club. Despite all and sundry answering yes to both questions, I was not convinced. Eventually someone explained to me that in Rome, people are very closeted, and afraid of being gay... And it all has to do with the old man in the white coat across the river.

I know that the Vatican City is technically its own independent state with its own police force etc, but the borders are muddled in Rome. As my experience at Muccassassina showed, it seems that its the Vatican that should be accused of boundary creep. I visited the Vatican Museums (slideshow) on Saturday morning, spending more than three hours in a queue just to get inside. And once inside, it was a race for the tour guide to hustle us through the buildings before the museums close early for the day, as they do on Saturday. A tour guide is essential, as even though it's a museum, very few items are named, let alone annotated with explanatory text. My favourite part of the Museums is the Gallery of Maps. Apparently the map of Venice is so detailed, and the city so unchanged, that my tour guide explained that all but two buildings on that map can still be found on the island city. The Raphael Rooms (slideshow), including the School of Athens, were exceptional, as was the Sistine Chapel. I observed the request to not photograph in the Chapel... But I was one of the few. The sound of camera shutters is constant, as is the tiresome and futile requests from the Chapel's guards: "No Photo".

The tour concluded with St Peter's Basilica (slideshow). I already knew it was the largest church in the world, yet I was still very impressed. Our tour guide was full of important facts. From base to the top of the dome, St Peter's is the height of a 40 storey building. On top of the main dome is a much smaller dome. If that dome were lowered to ground level, then the High Altar could actually fit inside the smaller dome. There is a latin frieze in gold leaf high up inside the church; each letter is seven feet high. Michaelangelo's Pietà is also here, behind bullet-proof glass. The sculpture is very beautiful and justifiably famous. Our tour guide explained that the sculpture was intended to be an anonymous work, as with other works of art inside St Peter's, until the vain artist broke into the church and hacked his name into the marble, along Mary's sash. My favourite feature in St Peter's are the handy brass markers down the centre aisle, that gauchly mark the size (measured from door to altar) of famous churches around the world. The idea is to demonstrate that St Peter's is the largest church.

There is a wall, known as the Passetto di Borgo, that links the Vatican with Castel Sant'Angelo (slideshow) outside the city walls. The wall's real purpose is to provide a hidden escape route for the pope to a location well outside the city, and from where he could be ferried to a safer location. The castle is very interesting in its own right. The site was originally chosen to be a mausoleum for Roman Emperor Hadrian, constructed between 135 and 139. Converted into a fortress into 401, the popes ordered its conversion into a castle in the 14th century. Apparently, in Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, the prequel novel to The Da Vinci Code, Sant'Angelo is the location of the Hassassin's secret lair, and the last extant church of the Illuminati.

The most interesting place I visited in Rome is the little-known Basilica di San Clemente (slideshow), not far from the Colosseum. This 12th century church's frescoes and courtyard are particularly pretty, but the real interest is below ground. Like many old cities, modern Rome is built directly on the ruins of older buildings. The 12th century church one sees above ground is actually the second basilica, built directly above the first basilica, which you can visit. And beneath the first basilica are Roman ruins of houses and other buildings, which you can also visit. Beneath this level I could hear a channeled spring that continues to carry fresh water just as it did thousands of years ago! The Wikipedia article has lots of information.

During my trip I also visited the usual suspect of tourist sites including the Trevi Fountain (slideshow), the Spanish Steps (slideshow), and Piazza Navona (slideshow). Each has its own charms, but I especially liked Piazza Navona. Once the arena of a great stadium, it could be flooded to become a venue for sea battle games.

All of my Rome photographs are on Flickr and can be viewed in a slideshow.