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What Have The Romans Ever Done For Us? Four Days in The Eternal City By Kamouraskan & Lariel

Disclaimer: This article is copyright to the authors May 2003. All photos used were taken by and are the property of the authors.

Our first real impression of Rome came as we flew over it.. The city sprawled over miles, intersected only by expressways and the Tiber.As we approached, we saw vast blocks of buildings occasionally sliced by streets. We caught a glimpse of the Coliseum as we circled to land; there were other, tantalising views of ancient structures, sprawling palazzios - all crammed amidst the mass of red-roofed buildings that was modern, urban Rome. It seemed as though the old was fighting for its place in the new.

It was the Old Rome we had come for. We'd heard of the Spanish Steps and the Trevi fountain of course, but having lived in the lands they conquered, we wanted to walk the home roads of Caesar, Augustus, Hadrian, Nero - the people and the places that had carved our modern world from the ancient. We had four days to 'do' Rome. It wasn't really enough.

Practicalities:

Our first piece of advice is somewhat personal: Do not leave for Rome after just returning from a three day driving tour of Scotland with your daughter. Unfortunately, the period for cheap flights was about to end, so we crammed what should have been two separate vacations into a nine-day period. As much as I would not trade any of the time we spent on either trip, we did have a small exhaustion problem. The point is, if you want to enjoy your holiday, remember to take time to relax.

As well, if you have millions to spend and luxury is a must at all times, then much of what follows is not for you. If you prefer to spend your hard-earned cash where it will give you the most pleasure, read on.

As usual, we advise you to:

- Book well in advance for rooms and flights. The savings can be enormous.
- Book during the off-season, but near enough to it so that the climate is still likely to be enjoyable.
- Get a guidebook. Make sure it was published within the last two years, as Rome has undergone considerable upgrades and changes since the Millennium year. As well, good restaurants can go through the entire lifecycle of birth, mid life crisis and death in five years.
- Buy a detailed street map. With few exceptions, Roman street names change every few blocks, and the generalised maps in tourist brochures and guidebooks are useless except as unneeded accessories to getting hopelessly lost.
- Accept that you cannot see everything no matter how long the visit.

When you are there, you can throw a coin into the Trevi fountain to ensure that you will return to Rome to see things you may have missed, but in the meanwhile relax and enjoy yourself. We blew off the Vatican for this trip (oh, my GOD!) and all of the outlying areas like Ostia.

Flight Tips:

- Arrive as early as the company advises. Cheap flights are occasionally overbooked and people arriving just in time for the flight can be turned away.
- Bring some bottled drinks and snacks in your carryon, if you have the space.
- Board at the rear entrance of the plane - you'll get on quicker and you'll have more choice of seats.
- Do not travel with 'the most irritating person on earth'; one of Lariel's many pet names for me. Do I deserve this? 'Of course,' Lariel would say. I was paying for the whole trip, so I had hoped that lessened my massive annoyingness. But as this snippet of conversation from the trip shows, I deserve my reputation.

Lariel (exhausted from Rome car fumes and street noise): WHY ARE YOU SO CHEERFUL???

Me (in all sincerity): BECAUSE I'M WITH YOU.

Lariel: THAT'S VERY SWEET AND ROMANTIC. SHUT UP.

Our fundamental problem is that I don't hate cities. Lariel does. She hated Dublin, but loved the Greek, French and British countrysides as much as I did. Venice doesn't count as it is Venice, and it has no motor vehicles.

Rome has.

Like my beloved Montreal, it has traffic lights that are optional for suicidal jaywalking pedestrians and homicidal drivers. They don't even see a red light as a request worthy of notice. The cars are bad enough, but the scooters are worse - happily zigzagging across the road just to mow down any pedestrians naive enough to cross on the 'avanti' green man. Lariel's advice? Try never to cross the road. Or at least, pray very hard when you do.

Accommodation:

Rome is an expensive city to stay in. There are several religious houses available that charge a quarter of the going rate in hotels, though they demand occupation by only married couples or single persons. Not being either, we stayed at Planet 29, though we were told the Youth Hostel is very comfortable. For about half to a tenth of the going rate, we had a clean, quiet and comfortable (if a little dowdy) room near the main train station, and for us it was a perfect location. It was a five minute walk with our bags from where we were dropped off by the airport bus and was surrounded by museums and unique parks. We had the option of a kitchenette for five Euros a day extra, but as there are few supermarkets in the area, it wasn't really necessary.

Tips:

- Check the net for sites like the Rough Guide, which have comments on and recommendations of accommodation.
- It is always best to insist beforehand that you have a real double bed, or else you might find yourself with two singles pushed together. Mattresses that move in the middle of the night aren't fun.

Money:

How do you budget for a strange city? Check a guidebook for the lower end restaurant charges, transportation and costs of admission to places you want to see.

In Greece for example, food was quite cheap (5 Euros for an entrée) and we had a kitchenette. So I budgeted €15 (euros) for dinner (for both of us), €10 for lunch, and €5 for breakfast. We could spend less and then add it to a more expensive meal at any time.

Rome is not nearly that cheap, so I allowed for €30 for dinner, then €20 and €10 for the other meals. The subway and transport from the airport are a bargain, most of the sites' admissions are only around €6-8, so I added €20 more per day for a four day budget of €80 each day. We could save by having a cheaper lunch, having breakfast in, then put the money towards a big blow-out, or spending it on gifts on our last day.

Transport and Location:

We liked being near the train station (Termini) as it is also the main Metro and bus terminus transfer point. Rather handily, there is an airlink bus that meets Ryanair flights at Ciampino airport and drops off at the Termini; you really couldn't ask for a more convenient location.

We liked the Metro but it did take some working out. A ticket for €0.77 will allow you 75 minutes travel in any direction, regardless of re-entries. You must buy the tickets at the nearest newsstands before they close (around 21.00pm) or find yourself at the mercy of the vending machines. They require exact change (keep those €0.02 pieces) and a skill at dropping in the coins that would test the patience of a slots player in Vegas. You insert your ticket to have the time punched, and then go to the line you want, though it is never clear which way that is. Point for those who don't speak Italian: 'A Treni' means only 'to trains' and is not a stop or direction.Those signs are further down the A Treni corridor.

What is useful is to take the train to a location, get off, look about, and decide if you want to go to the next stop. Maybe you'd like to do the Roman Holiday thing and stick your hand in the Bocca della Verite, or see the Circus Maximus? Jump off, take a look and walk for about 45 minutes, and you can decide to stay or continue on to the next stop at no charge.

Eating Out:

Romans take their evening meal only about 20:00pm, and most restaurants may only open at seven after their siesta closures. So if you want a choice, either don't get hungry or plan your rest period before that. We found the best prices around the Piazza Navona and east of the Termini.

Practice your most oblique stares for the many beggars and hawkers, who will hassle you on the streets, at all major tourist locations and at any outside eating venues. Never leave money on a table or a beggar looking like Mother Theresa will stare at it while seeming to starve to death before your eyes.

More essential phrases? And they are essential; for not at least attempting a local language is rightly considered insulting and the embarrassment and hesitation is usually rewarded with gracious smile and an English response. Or you can keep your pride and get curt service and an increase in the bill. Like your local contractor, people serving tourists assume they are suckers unless otherwise proven wrong. Always ask Quando costa? and wait for (and count!) the change. Grazie. The bill is Il conto, per favore.

Where to go and what to do:

The best deal in all of Rome has to be the Forum. It's free and must be the greatest treasure to be so accessible. You can stroll through the ruins of the some of the greatest monuments in earth's history, decorated during our trip by scatterings of bright red poppies. Pass the Coliseum, enter the Via Sacra and walk with Nero, Caligula and Claudius. Julius Caesar? He rose to power and built much of what lies around you, only to be killed on the steps of the Senate to your right. His body was cremated and buried to your left, and on the same spot Marc Anthony gave his funeral oration. And, regardless of what Lariel feels, historical figures should be judged on their merits and not because they crucified Xena.

There are the gardens and temple of the Vestal Virgins, the remains of the Senate, the alleged burial place of Romulus - all with the Coliseum as a backdrop, and Lariel and I returned there three times in our four days, and were never any less amazed or stunned by what we saw.

Bring a bottle of water and sunscreen with you. We seldom saw a cloud in four days, and looking up at those columns can dry and burn you. There are fountains with cold, clean water scattered around the Forum and as a cola can cost more than local beer or wine, it's sensible to have a container to refill for free.

The Pantheon is also free and if, like us, you have grown used to seeing a broken pillar or maybe the bottom two feet of a Roman structure, seeing a complete Roman building from the second century AD in all its arrogant glory is very impressive. To see the size of the dome inside is a reminder of how advanced the techniques were, until rediscovered 1300 years later. Oh, and - as if it needed more - you can visit the tomb of Raphael here.

Things that are worth the price:

The Coliseum and the Palantine Hill can be entered with a combined ticket which costs €8; definitely the best dollar per mound of culture I know of. The Palantine Hill is where Rome began, and contains structures ranging from Iron Age huts to the Palace of Augustine, the remains of which lie scattered around. The magnitude of cast-off carved ancient stone, piled high in many areas, staggered us.

Be warned though - there is a dearth of information at each site; the Romans seem to prefer to let their monuments speak for themselves, and if they don't speak loud enough then you'll have to part with €3-€4 more to get guidebooks and audio tours. Make sure the guidebook you brought with you has a lot of information about the various sites, or you'll find yourself wondering what it is exactly that you're looking at.

Wandering about was our main pastime. We would take the North West line of the Metro to the Spanish Steps, and then walk south. We could enter the beautiful Piazza Navona to rest or have a meal at any of the reasonable restaurants in the area. We almost always stopped at the Trevi fountain. It is garish, overdone, but still fascinating with the gatherings of tourists, and it also has the best ice cream (at the Blue Ice down the street) and the cheapest postcard stalls. Then on to the Forum and Coliseum, and the South West line of the Metro, and the choice of walking or riding home.

Some more tips:

- See your favourite sites at least twice; once in the day, and again at night when they are illuminated and changed by the lighting.
- It's often best to try to avoid the main drags as the pollution and noise is terrible, and there are churches and squares along even the smallest back lane that are filled with classical art.

Culture vultures:

As I've already said, Rome is quite literally littered with culture and it really is an ideal location for anyone with an interest in ancient history, culture and archaeology. If wandering around the sites has merely whetted your appetite, there are easily half a dozen museums that are scattered around the city, most clustered under the ubiquitous title of 'Museo Nazionale Romano'. Again, make sure your guidebook has some good recommendations on which to visit, as the sheer number on offer can be quite daunting.

The price of admission tends to be around the €6 mark, but if you're intending to hit a lot, it may be worth investigating a combined tickets: access to all three National Museums (including the Diocletian baths) will set you back €12; the Coliseum and Palantine Hill €8; or the whole lot can be had for €20 and you get the baths of Caracalla thrown in for good measure. Also of note is the Museo Capitolino, which houses a superb collection of classical sculptures and statuary. Almost an exhibit in itself is the location, the Piazza del Campidoglio, which was designed by Michelangelo in 1538.

Religion in Rome:

Being the pagans that we are, we stuck around the temples and statues to the Old Gods. We had intended to trek across the river and visit the Vatican, but our interests and our timetable meant that we had to do some rapid re-planning and in the end, we decided to blow off Roman Catholicism in favour of spending more time with Apollo, Jupiter, Venus and the rest of the gang. The Pope could wait.

Of course, you don't have to travel to the Vatican to experience Christianity in Rome. The city has a rich history of the faith, and numerous churches and basilicas stand testament to the hold that the New Religion took once the Old had died out. And of course, it being Rome and the centre of the Catholic faith, the pilgrim doesn't have to travel far to experience Christianity - many of the faith's symbols and relics have been filched over the millennia, and have ended up salted away in Rome. A fragment of the true cross? No problem - head for Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. A rather sizeable portion of baby Jesus' crib? The preserved heads of two saints? Sundry body parts of other assorted saints? A medley of dead Popes? Rome has them all.

And for those of you with a taste for the macabre, don't forget the Church of the Immaculate Conception for that truly unique Christian experience - piles of monk bones, tastefully arranged for your viewing pleasure.

Final thoughts:

A city the size of Rome can be like a demon. Once you know its name, you feel more in control. Once you begin to know a city, even small sections of it, it is not as frightening or foreign. In our short time, we may have only explored the facade, but I was beginning to feel a familiarity with some of the neighbourhoods, and I know that, regardless of the Trevi fountain's powers, we will be back. For the time being, it will be good to know as we explore a Roman Villa in the English Cotswolds or the countryside of Gaul, that we know a little more of what these conquerors called home. We can understand where they came from in a more intimate manner, and perhaps gained some insight of the place and time that we live in, that they helped to create.