OK. I've just about had it with crappy internet connections and Blogspot's software. A couple of posts to go and my version of Homer's Odyssey is completed. It's taken me hours to buy a train ticket and upload photographs. But boy will it be worth it when I look back on the last week.
For Rome's just blown me away. It's somewhere I expect many readers have been (a first for a while after my adventures in the Near and Far East). So I feel this post has added pressure. But that's never something that's really bothered me. So here's my version of the Rome you probably know and love ...
I'm carefully ranking Rome right up there with my favourite cities in the world and it's questioned my previously posted formula. I think it's scored so highly 'cos I've come here from a very long stint in developing countries. But then that's probably why I loved New Zealand so much because I'd had a couple of months in South America. So let's just ride along that 'everything's shiny again' highway and enjoy the comforts of the First World. High shower pressure, super fast internet connections (I think it's an Internet Explorer issue actually!), drinkable tap water, people queueing patiently for stuff, men and women smelling like angels (unlike me who can't wait to buy some EdT) and an over-whelming sense of why, if only, a lot of the 'over exuberant' money can't be used to solve the issues of places like Nepal.
Because of the connection issues this post is all out of chronological alignment but what do you care. Just like Rome. It's made up of a variety of parts and has a variety of faces. Firstly, Vatican City.
Boy how they miss that cheery faced fellow who lit up the 1980s. Pope John Paul II calendars are still available on the streets of Rome so if you haven't completed that Christmas shopping yet?! Actually, I was surprised at how impressed I was with the Vatican City. I committed a day to the Vatican Museums and St Peter's Basilica. And what a full day. It was brilliantly opulent and full of artistic delights. The Museums are vast. Over 5 hectares at the last count. It's just amazing to think how previous Popes collected the world's best artefacts including a host of Egyptian antiquity. In fact I've been surprised how many Egyptian obelisks are kicking around Rome. I think it must be because of the Napoleon link (he stormed into Italy remember). One opinion is give them all back. Another is that the Egyptian's were busy destroying them all (or at the very least not caring about them) so it's ace that the European's have preserved them. You decide which you think is best. My favourite from the Egyptian section is this Pharoh/Roman hybrid statue. In fact. The more I find out about the Romans the more I realise that they 'borrowed' a lot of inspiration from Greece and Egypt. And I thought they were pioneers (they were in many fields to be fair especially running water and the flushing toilet).
But it doesn't take long for the real reason why you're in this country to hit home. Renaissance art. One of my new passions in life and a huge reason why I'm so in love with this place. And Italy's attitude to it's masterpieces is refreshing. 'Have you got your camera with you young man. Then please. Go ahead. Why not take a snap of this work of art for you to enjoy for years to come. What's that? Intellectual property rights. I wouldn't worry about it. Rpahael's been dead for about 5 centuries.'
And here is Raffaelo Sanzio's final work just before he breathed his last. The Transfiguration of Christ standing at about 6M high and 4.5M wide. In my opinion it's breathtaking ...
Bit by bit, and Ancient Roman statue after Ancient Roman statue, the Vatican Museums turn into a busy cakewalk toe to toe with about a thousand other people. They ease you into the private apartments of Popes from days gone by when luxury wasn't measured in the size of your widescreen TV but in how many adornments you'd commissioned. Here's the Carnet Geografiche (a little bit of Italian there of which mine is coming along easily thanks to a sentence structure I can understand and vowel sounds that aren't alien to me - gracie).
And what a way to decorate the rooms you look at most often in your days running the Catholic Church. I'll say this to the Papal State. They knew their art onions. Here's another work of genius by Raphael. His Stanza alla Segnatura which I love for many reasons. A) it's The School of Athens depicting their philosophy club led by Plato and Aristotle. B) Plato's (I think) role has been painted as Leonardo da Vinci (left protagonist below). C) the figure lying down in the middle of the painting is another of Raphael's compatriots - Michelangelo. D) the bald head and beard look is clearly 'de rigeur'.
And then, just when you're reaching the end of your bun fighting skills, you see it. For up a modest flight of stairs and romantically (like all of this city) tucked away in a secluded corner of Vatican City sits the surprisingly modest architecture of the Sistine Chapel. It's not vast and flashy. It's not got massive bronze doors. It's entrances wouldn't look out of place in Knockin Parish Hall. But step inside and you realise why it's here that the Catholic Church's highest dignatories are locked away from the outside world until they can decide on the deceased Pope's successor. Or until Dan Brown can write another of those blockbuster 'hit parade' novels.
Michelangelo, a sculptor by his greatest attribute, please take a long, congratulatory, bow!
The Last Judgement's the altar piece ...
And shared by many other open mouthed admirers. The guards do their best with the un-enforceable 'please don't talk or take pictures' but a) you want to quietly discuss it's merits and b) you're in the habit of snapping away now and that's more addictive than sheesha!
The ceiling frescoes are all from the book of Genesis with the deserved and cracking (literally) stand out being the Creation of Adam. If you've not seen this image ever before then your school teachers seriously let you down. That or you never watched 'The South Bank Show' in 1980s England.
And here it all is. The scene that would have greeted Pope Julius II who commissioned Michelangelo to spend his life between 1508-1512 decorating the ceiling and completing the altar piece (controversially erasing work by Botticelli among others!) in 1541. It's said that the brilliantly dark theme of The Last Judgement (souls are pulled from their resting place in the earth to face Christ) is a reflection of Michelangelo's battle with his own faith.
And that's all just before lunch (if only there was time for lunch in the Vatican City) because in the afternoon you've got a date with the 12 Apostles who flank Jesus Christ and balance precariously on the front of St Peter's Basilica ready to fall on you as approach at the slightest sign of a windy day in Italy's capital.
The Pope has retained his own protectorate, the Swiss Guard, who help create a sense of medieval times on the hill that's home to the Vatican City. These guys (carefully selected for their skills AND looks!) certainly know how to stand still for long periods. They'd give the Buckingham Palace boys a run for their money in the 'who can stand still the longest' competition. And no that's not a good idea for a reality TV show. But the Swiss Guard must have been laughing when the Pope-mobile was launched. 'No more need to keep our eyes out for snipers lads. Nothing'll get through that perspex. Now hold your lance straight.'
Inside SPB is seriously impressive. It's 167M long to kick off. It's high altar is placed right above the Tomb of St Peter who is buried on the spot where he became a martyr at the hands of Emperor Nero. For this site in Rome was home to Nero's stadium (Nero was from Rome's pagan era) but Emperor Constantine (Rome's first Christian embracer) built the first basilica here in 400AD. The bronze for this 29M high baldachin was taken from the Pantheon! And someone Holy ordered the sunlight to pour in through the back window just to add a little something to the wonderful, peaceful scene. Like it needed it. I say peaceful and it's remarkable that it was despite everyone who followed me from the Sistine Chapel! Another example of how well behaved people are in Europe.
And it's officially Christmas. Even the home of Catholicism have stuck their tree up. Start counting down kids! That Batman toy is almost yours. Me. I'll settle for a present of travelling less than a thousand miles in a week.
And when your day in the Vatican City is done and it's time to return to Italy the view from the Pont Sant'Angelo is pretty impressive. Just check out the vast flock of birds top right. I've never seen so many birds in one place. Insert your own gag Old Man.
The day or two before the Vatican City I was on the same bridge and visited Castel Sant'Angelo in slightly different weather. A day of being soaked (for the first time in what felt like forever) was worth it.
The Castel is where Popes retreated to in times of conflict during the 12th to 14th Centuries and is connected to the Vatican City by a secret underground tunnel. The current Castel was built over the remains of Emperor Hadrian's Mausoleum who was the first Roman Emperor to bring burials inside the boundaries of Rome's city walls. The terrace that (for me) had wet and windy views of Rome inspired Puccini's Tosca. But my favourite thing was the old chests that contained all of the Papal riches. I can just imagine gold chalices and candelabras clattering around in these!
Rome's been such a joy because it's got a collection of art museums that are absolutely free (of money) yet full (of atmosphere). They're called chiesa's or basilica's (what's the difference Sally Els?!). Churches! I've never been anywhere in the world where works of art (that are priceless and would cost The National Gallery in London a Queen's ransom to own) are so freely available to admire and, again, photograph (remember kids I'm not flashing). Here's my fave artist Caravaggio showing off his unmatched use of chiaroscuro (the contrast between light and dark) in The Madonna of the Pilgrims in situ in the Chiesa di Sant'Agostino.
And all these chiesa's/basilica's are home to some surprisingly modern styled skulls and crossbones ...
Mind you. Modern Italy is home to some pretty cool artists themselves. It's a shock seeing graffiti again. Especially on trains (or in this case Rome's Metro). In the developing world they can't afford spray cans so there's none of this 'modern day Michelangelo' stuff!
And don't even get me started on the collections of art in Rome's plethora of world class museums. I thought I'd seen the world's best in London, New York and Paris but today (in terms of Renaissance which I consider the finest art form because of it's exponents ability to replicate real life) blew those and anything else here in Rome away.
The Galleria Borghese started life as the private art collection of Cardinal Scipione Borghese in the early 17th Century. He accrued a magnitude of fine art so incomprehensible that for the current owners (the Italian state) to place 6 Caravaggio's in the same room seems almost complacent. But that they are not. For a visit to the GB feels like stepping into a private collector's home. You have to book a ticket online in advance, you attend an allocated two hour time slot with no more than 359 other people, you must check all your bags and you're not allowed to even let your camera glance in the direction of exhibits this good (OK Rome - I'll give you this one). And the star exhibits just keep coming and coming and coming. Raphael, Titian, Botticelli, Rubens and mosaics from Ancient Rome that are my favourites I've ever seen. Masterul works of art depicting gladiators. They look like they were styled and completed last week. But maybe best of all is that I'd now say there's a finer sculptor than Michelangelo in the history of the world. He's Bernini and he's left an indelible mark on Rome's streets not to mention the GB.
And so I've waxed lyrical a lot and not even got onto Ancient Rome. See! I told you I liked this place! I spent a complete day doing the Museo Capitoline beside the Roman Forum and thought the statue of Marcus Aurelius was astounding. In the middle of the Piazza del Campidoglio Marcus Aurelius sits astride his horse.
And he does something very similar inside the Capitoline Museo a few yards away.
I'm sure you can work out that the one INSIDE is the original. The flaking gold leaf probably gave it away! It's inside because it was weathering too quickly outside and considering it's about 2000 years old and a treasure of incomparable style and grace the Italians felt they needed to protect it. I couldn't agree more. Worth the flight to Rome on it's own?!
The Capitoline had Roman statue after Roman statue after Roman statue. Many copies of Greek ones! They were found mainly around the Roman Forum but also across the Republic/Empire. From where they were all moved to the Capitoline for us to enjoy. One of the masterpieces was the Dying Gaul (dug up from Julius Caesar's garden - genius!) and the backdropped Wounded Amazon. One of my fave shots of quite a few crackers from this week. I'm so going to miss taking photographs for a living!
Across the city (and beautifully close to the brilliant Mosaic Hostel where I've had a dorm room to myself all week!) was the long named Museo Nazionale Romano Palazzo Massimo alle Terme. Inside it? Even more Anicent Roman artefacts including some incredible complete room paintings that are so precious you can only view them with a guided tour. It's bizarre to see 2000 year old Roman 'wall paper' looking so great. Just like this other Wounded Amazon (some of the themes of Ancient Rome were popular and repeated). 'If you need any help getting that arrow out of your back then I'd be more than happy to give you a hand or two.'
But maybe this is what you've all been wiaitng for. Me and the Colosseum! Snapped by a Japanese guy who liked my thanks in his local dialect. For visiting Anicent Rome for a day (or two) is a very international affair. You may have heard it's popular and you will speak Spanish, Japanese, English and Italian in the course of a day exploring, taking photographs, having photographs taken of you and taking photographs for other people (I really should have bought a bigger memory card at Queen Alia International Airport in Jordan). Here's some more of that brilliant blue sky!
The Colosseum I liked but I'm not sure I loved it (sorry Dad). It's brilliantly old and I can appreciate the skill of it's architects and the way it must have dominated the thoughts of so many Romans. For it's big and, even now, dominates the current skyline of this part of Rome east of the River Tiber. (I used it to navigate my way through Rome's back streets this afternoon). I hate to think how imposing it must have been all those years ago.
And I say this not because of it's size but what it was about. Something terrifying and mind blowing. Human beings taking the lives of other human beings in the name of entertainment. And persecution of a new religion thrown into the mix as well. I can only think that the cross next to the floor of the Colosseum commemorated those Christians. A religion that in a strange twist is now the most powerful force in Rome!
The thing I disliked about the Colosseum was how protected it is! I think it's 'cos I've got used to scrambling over ruins in the developing world where they're not quite so protective. So the issue is probably with me and not Rome! And I did scramble carefully by the way. But those sub-terranean chambers (where the gladiators prepared, where the tigers were leashed snarling at their handlers and where Ridley Scott so dramatically put you in Gladiator) are strictly off limits. I so wanted to walk through the main passageway where the gladiators were taken back to their schools in secret so they couldn't be seen by the public. Awesome. And unobtainable. This shot was from one of the entrances that were designed to empty or fill the Colosseum in minutes. I think it would have been more of this 'underground'.
A ticket to the Colosseum (or handy Roma Pass for me) includes entry to the Ancient Roman residences of it's aristocracy and royalty up on the adjacent hill. The Palatine was massive and is a site that I'd argue is one of the most important in the archaeological world. The intact home of Emperor Augustus was amazing (Roman wallpaper that hasn't been shifted to a museum but is right where it was painted) and columns that still dominate the modern city skyline.
The Palatine connects the Colosseum and Roman Forum in one direction with the Circo Massimo (Circus Maximus) in the other. It would have only been a short walk downhill for Rome's most important politicians, artisans and Emperors to go about their daily lives. Mostly under structures that would have towered over their heads in a way that Asia are doing their best to replicate these days. But even now the Palatine strikes a pose in this shot taken from across the Circo Massimo and showing off one of Rome's many SPQR (representing the power being with the people - the Republic) fountains.
The Roman Forum is the complex where a history lesson comes to life. 'OK kids. That's the spot where Julius Caesar was cremated. There's where the Roman Senate sat for the very first time. That Temple of Saturn is where Rome's gold and silver was stored.' It's sadly way more ruinous than I'd hoped but just because it is what it is I loved it. In fact. I may have enjoyed the Palatine and Roman Forum more than the Colosseum. Here I am overlooking it all.
But I say that. The Colosseum's very, very stylish when night's fallen on your day of exploration. In the foreground is the Arch of Constantine. And by the way. I've learned that Constantine founded Constantinople (current day Istanbul) when the Roman Empire split and the Greek speaking Byzantine Empire was the last remaining element of 'the Romans'. Where are those History teacher application forms?!
Roma, Roma, Roma. It's all religion, Caesars and sunny skies. If you've not seen it and it's this close to you guys in the UK ... credit crunch or no credit crunch ... book your tickets now. You won't be disappointed. It's a better city than London or Paris and second in the world to Tokyo.
And finally here's that prize I promised. And this will be the final one of If Indiana Jones Can Do It! And handed over on 29 December bash providing you're there! A simple, open question. What is this? I'm the judge and my decision is final. Answers by email, blog comment or postcard (the latter option may not be quite quick enough).
Looking forward to the entry frenzy and blog you for the penultimate time from my final destination having seen first Florence and then Venice. I guess it has to end sometime ...
