Sunday and Monday in Romewent far better than the first day. After breakfast at the hotel, we got tickets to a bus tour with Greenline and got to see and learn much more of the city than if wed only walked around by ourselves. The tour came with earbuds we could use to hear all about the sites as we drove by and stopped at each one.
We got on the bus just a block from our hotel, Hotel Borromeo, at Stop 2 of the tour at The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore which I shared a picture of in my First Day in Rome blog. Stop 1 was just a bus resting place near the train station, so there was really nothing to see there. Also nearby Stop 2 were the Piazza Vittorio, Basilica of St. John Lateran, Basilica of St. Peter in Chains, and Via Cavour Opium Hill, but we didnt go to any of those places. In fact, there was entirely too much to see and we didnt get to even half of them listed on the tour bus info packet.
At Stop 3, we drove around the Colosseum. The Roman Forum, Palatine, Arch of Constantine and Arch of Titus were also in the area. We had tickets to visit the Colosseum for Monday, so we passed by
and listened as the recording informed us the famous statue depicting the abandoned twins Romulus and Remus suckling from the who raised them was there at the bottom of Palatine Hill. I recalled hearing the story from my cousin who is a professor of Classical Civilizations at Gonzaga, but also learned that when the boys grew up they fought over where to create a city - Romulus killed Remus and founded the city of Rome. Pretty neat. (Professor Dave, if youre reading this, please add or correct any inaccuracies.)
Stop 4 of the tour offered Circus Maximum, the Mouth of Truth, which is a cool sculpture of a mask that will supposedly bite the hand of liars, Temple of Vesta, Trastevere, the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, and the Municipal Rose Garden. This rose garden has over 1,000 species of roses from all across the world. Prior to its life as a rose garden, this location was home to a Jewish cemetery. Paying homage to its origin, the paths take the shape of a menorah, and there are other symbols located on the grounds as well. We didnt get to visit, but supposedly one can walk around for hours and hours and still not see it all.
Stop 5 on the tour was Piazza Venezia, Altar of the Fatherland and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Campidoglio, Theatre of Marcellus, Trajans Column, Mercati di Traiano, Largo Argentina, Campo de Fiori, and the Pantheon. Wed seen the spectacular Altar of the Fatherland the previous night on our taxi ride home from the Vatican, so we made sure to get off at this stop. When I asked him parla inglese? and he said only a little, I asked what the building was and he told us in basic terms it was a memorial for the soldiers who fought in the wars - pretty excellent explanation given what we learned. While we didnt go inside, we were able to take in the grandiosity of the building and walked around the square to have some gelato before hopping on another bus and continuing the tour.
At Stop 6 was St. Peters Basilica, the Vatican Museums (which wed visited the previous day), Castel SantAngelo, a fortress on the Tiber river, and Piazza Navona where three famous fountains are on display. One of the funniest moments on the trip was on the bus later in the day when Eric asked about one of
the ballisticas. I replied with, The what? The ballistica, he repeated. Ooooohhhh, the Ba Sil I Ca! We enjoyed a good laugh at that one for the next couple days each time we went by a basilica.
The sites at Stop 7 were Villa Borghese, Borghese Gallery, a museum, Bioparco, a zoo, Piazza di Spagna and the Spanish Steps, and Trinit dei Monti, the church at the top of the Spanish Steps built in the 1500s.
The eighth stop on the hour and a half (without getting off) ride around town was at Piazza Barberini and nearby Trevi Fountain, Barberini Palace, Quirinale Palace and also overlapped with Stop 7s Villa Borghese and Borghese Gallery.
