SOLO EURO II: DAYS 12, 13, & 15...PARTIALLY [ROME]
this post is solely dedicated to rome. day 12, i spent the entire day in the city, but day 13 & 15 i spent the late afternoon after returning from day trips to neighboring towns.
day 12 was my last full day in rome. the first stop was this lovely little coffee place in the roma termini, the main train & metro station in rome. i came here every morning i spent in rome as most mornings included a trip on the train or metro. i enjoyed this place so much because you could see the trains arriving & departing.
my daily breakfast: a cappuccino & croissant.
after taking a metro ride to a random station, i had to take a bus ride which was a bitch. the bus was 45 minutes late and it was pretty far from the city center. i hoped for the best & knew worst case scenario, i would have to take a long walk back (which i did end up doing out of convenience).
the first stop if the morning was the mausoleo delle fosse ardeatine, the ardeatine cave monument. during wwii, the cave was the location of a mass killing by nazi troops as reprisal for an attack against the SS in rome the day prior. 335 italian civilians & prisoners were killed in the ardeatine caves; the nazis decided at least 10 italians would be killed for every nazi that was killed in the attack. the graves were open to visitors, but not the cave.
the next stop was the parco regionale dell'appia antica, the regional park of the appian way. the appian way was one of the first roads built by the ancient romans. it was called the queen of the roads as it was the longest at the time, at over 300 miles! the road was mostly used for economic & military purposes. also, spartacus was crucified on the road in 71 bc.
the appian road (c. 312 bc). crazy to think the stones are 1000s of years old!
so the internet told me the road was a popular walking trail, but i was in for a surprise. the site did say it is best to go on sundays as the road is closed to cars, but the site did fail to mention that there is no pedestrian walkway. therefore, you are literally walking down a highway with the wall next to you & cars driving at least 25 miles an hour at 2 feet away. this is completely legal, even though i did not see any other pedestrians.
the appian way is very long and my visit was on a portion that was closer to the city center (but still over 4 miles away). i heard the farther out you go, the more peaceful the stroll is and the more ruins. i knew there were a couple of catacombs along the way, but neither were open. it also may seem pretty obvious from the picture above, but it was hard to know what there was to see as often there was a stone wall blocking my view. i was hoping there would be cool sites to see along the way, but i did not run into anything. it was just a long walk which i honestly i would not have minded as much, but the cars were a bit scary.
a cool arch along the way
out of nowhere it started raining...A LOT. the gods were unhappy (there was lightning), i found shelter under a tree.
to keep dry, i decided to go to this random little vegan place. it was a buffet that charged you by the ounce. honestly, i had no idea what i was eating as it was all in italian, but it tasted good.
the next stop was probably one of my favorite moments, at the non catholic cemetery. it is pretty obvious, but it is called the non-catholic cemetery as this is where the non-catholics are buried, which includes many expats. i think i enjoyed myself so much as i was able to experience it on my own as there were no tourists inside and i had such little expectations. even though it was a part of my itinerary, the only reason i was visiting was because it was around other places I wanted to see.
the pyramid of cestius in the background, from 13 bc! the romans were very much inspired by the egyptians.
the plants were wild here. like a jungle.
there were also quite a few friendly cats. this one was my favorite.
this grave contains all that was mortal of a young english who on his death bed, in the bitterness of his heart at the malicious power of his enemies desires these words to be engraven on his tomb stone: here lies one whose name was writ in water. 24 february 1821.
english artist joseph severn, who died over 50 years later, is buried next to him. on his epitaph, its states devoted friend & death-bed companion of john keats. one can only hope for a love like that.
i had quite a bit of my day left, so i decided to get ahead on my itinerary and visit the casina delle civetta, the house of the little owls. the house is located at villa torlonia, which is away from the tourist areas of rome. the villa is known for being rented by mussolini during wwii.
this house was a highlight of rome & one of the most unusual places i have visited during my travels. it is a mix of art noveau, disney's snow white, & the winchester mystery house (the museum describes the designer, "the prince," as pretty cooky). the house is in a swiss cabin style, but has a ton of cute little details including owls (hence the name). it is like something out of a fairytale! i love the mix of styles & would love to live there. interestingly during the war, american troops sheltered in the house for the years.
my favorite exterior detail.
inside is a small museum on stained glass that is original to the house. even though the house is inspired by the past, much of the stained glass is very art noveau (a style i am very fond of). i took so many pictures. when i visited, i was the only one there besides another couple.
probably my favorite interior detail was the stained glass along the stairway.
for whatever reason, there were wild parrots
i picked up dinner at the train station & brought it back to my room. i had my one & only bolognese pasta & fried zucchini flower (a speciality of rome). it tastes like any fried vegetable.
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after returning from tivoli (next post) the next day, i went to the national museum of modern art. what is cool about this museum, is that the exhibit rooms are a mix of modern art & older art (the abstract, with the classic). i enjoyed my time, but wished i had an audioguide as modern art is not something i know much about. but first, was a snack break at roma termini station. as i have said before, this is where i got most of my snacks/meals in rome because of the convenience.
i got a pig-in-a-blanket, tiramisu, & a cappuccino.
on the stairway entrance, there are lion sculptures. i think it looks so cool. it reminded me of the childhood classic "between the lions."
like i said, the classic with the modern.
i am that weirdo that likes to mimic the art.
and that was the end of my day.
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my last day full day in rome, i spent the morning in bracciano (next post), but had quite a bit of my day left so decided to go to one more attraction in rome. i visited castel d'angelo, also known as hadrian's mausoleum. it was originally built by roman emperor hadrian as his family mausoleum (139 ad), but was later used by the popes as a fortress & castle (14th century). today, it is a museum. the ashes of hadrian, his family, & subsequent emperors were looted by visigoths. the castle has corridors to st. peters basilica in the vatican city, which allowed popes to seek refuge. the castle was also used as a prison & execution site.
i think the castle looks very military & reminds me of a concrete battleship.
legend says archangel michael appeared here to declare the end of the plague during the sixth century.
artsy fartsy.
vatican city (i think?) in the distance.
the castle had it's own cafe, so i knew i had to take advantage drinking an iced coffee at a castle. how often do you get to say that?
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so this hostel was...an experience. on first arrival, it seemed pretty swanky for a hostel (i later learned it is a hostel & hotel). i decided to stay here because it was walking distance from roma termini, the main train & metro station. starting with the good stuff: the room is modern, a tv is in every room (not common for hostels), downstairs there is a coffee (and alcohal) bar, & and there are locker drawers in the rooms. other than that, there were some pretty strange events.
my room was nice & luckily there was a very nice australian guy in my room who informed me that this co-ed room was all guys & me. we both agreed this was strange (most hostels will purposely not place one woman in a room of guys) & that we both did not reserve a 4 bed dorm (we both reserved a higher occupancy for a lower price). luckily, i met 2 of the guys in my room and they did not creep me out so i felt ok and spent my first night relaxed (honestly this was the best night of my trip, there was air conditioning & heavy blankets!).
my first dorm room (look how close my bed is to the next one!)
now the third event. when i returned to my room my first full day in rome, my key card did not work. i was worried i got in trouble for locking my backpack to a piece of furniture. i do not why i though this was a reason to get in trouble, but since i had such a rude interaction with a worker the night before i had no idea what to expect. to add, i was in luck that the same worker who was rude to me the night before was working the front desk. he told me they deactivated my key so that the front desk could tell me that the next morning i would be upgraded to a hotel room because the room "needed some plumbing work." i found this funny because the room seemed to have no problems. he said i should drop my stuff off at luggage storage in the morning & that when i got back from my day of adventure i could check into my new room. now they could have upgraded me because there really was maintenance, but i do not think so. honestly, i think they upgraded me because i was accidentally roomed me with only dudes. especially because this is more of a "glam" hostel with western sensibilities, i think someone was trying to fix their reservation mistake. i also suspect that is the reason because i know the australian guy did not check out and i was the only one who in that the dorm room the second night (meaning they had reassigned his room).
my second room. i will say it was really nice to have my own private bathroom & not worry about locking my stuff up. it also helped because i had a job interview the day i got back, so i could have private time to prepare.
they also gave me a water bottle, an apple, 2 packaged snacks (i had already eaten one), & a voucher for a free coffee.
now for a song. i have been having trouble picking songs relevant to my trip (it has been so long, i forgot what i was listening to at that time). recently, i started rewatching outlander (one of my favorite shows ever!) and remembered i had just caught up with season 4 right before my trip. because of this, i was listening to the soundtrack when i was in italy, especially the song "fraser's ridge." this song sounds like an adventure & i would listen to it often while takiing public transport to visit a new city. it would make so excited! enjoy...