Rome and Vatican City

Just after arriving in Rome we joined our first Couchsurfing event: a walking tour by a local guy. He wanted to show visitors some of the less well-known attractions of the city. One interesting stop was the headquarters of the Knights of Malta. The Knights are sovereign over their headquarters in Rome, outside the jurisdiction of Italy, and have permanent observer status with the United Nations.

We also stopped in at Teatro Valle, the oldest operating theatre in Rome. It was threatened with closure but is now occupied by actors and musicians who are volunteering their time to raise money and keep it open. We were allowed to sneak into the back of the theatre, where an acting workshop was taking place.

During the walk we talked a bit about the Mafia in modern-day Italy. The Italians in the tour felt that people in Italy were resigned to Mafia presence and the corruption of politicians and police (particularly in Sicily). Apparently it’s still common for store owners to have to pay the Mafia for “protection”. The last time a government tried to seriously crack down on Mafia, the Mafia started bombing historical sites and museums. There are rumours that a back-room deal between the government and Mafia dons stopped the violence.

The next day we met up with a couple of the guys from the walking tour the next day to see some of Rome’s main sights – Palatine Hill, the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. Palatine Hill is the site of the first human settlements in Rome with people living there from around 1000 BC. It was home to many of the Roman Empire’s emperors and nobility. It’s mind-boggling to look at paintings and ruins that are over 2000 years old.

The Colosseum is, of course, the centrepiece of the ancient Roman sights. It’s an impressive size (built for 50,000 spectators) but is mostly amazing for its technology. It had a series of retractable sun shades that could be pulled over the stadium. It also had a series of lifts under the arena floor that raised animals, men and even full replicas of exotic habitats up to the waiting crowds. But, most incredibly, it had a system that allowed the arena to be flooded so that naval battles could be re-enacted for the crowd! It could even be drained rapidly so that after a short break the regular arena events could continue.

Sadly, after the fall of the Roman Empire, the Colosseum was pillaged for building materials for more modern projects. What remains today is but a skeleton of the former building, and it takes some imagination to see how it might have been.

As we’re doing things on the cheap, we found a downloadable MP3 audio guide for the Coloseum and loaded it on our MP3 player (rather than pay for the official audio guide). I guess you get what you pay for – we ended up with one between two. Also, it was a cheesy American audio guide – complete with awful puns about “Rome-ing around the Colosseum”.

Of all of the ruins in Rome, the Pantheon is the best preserved. The pillars at the front of this huge church are 12 metres high – about four stories. A large hole in the middle of the massive domed roof lets light into the space inside. The Pantheon is amazing to see – it instantly conveys the splendour, power and achievements of the ancient Romans. It’s all the more amazing that this feat of architecture and engineering took place in 126 AD.

Having already seen the second smallest state in the world (Monaco) we then visited the smallest state: Vatican City. The museums in the Vatican were interesting but also exhaustingly huge and busy. They have cleverly stationed a café just before the Sistine Chapel – a shot of espresso did wonders for our worsening museum-fatigue!

We’ve heard that travellers often find Rome overwhelming. You would certainly need to do your homework (perhaps a classics degree with honours) to be able to fully appreciate everything the city has to offer. Church fatigue has set in a bit  – even truly impressive places have started seeming more ordinary than they should.

“Well, yeah, I guess it is pretty big”

As we leave Rome we are heading for a break from art museums, ruins and churches. An overnight ferry from Bari will take us to Dubrovnik, Croatia. From there we depart for a seven-day sailing trip that takes us up the Croatian coast of the Adriatic sea.

Written by Craig Drayton and Sally Robertson