ONE WEEK IN ROME - PART 11

FROM THE FICTIONAL DIARY OF A BRITISH TRAVELER

Go back to part 10 if you missed it.

During my stay in Rome, I heard that many Romans complain about the poor efficiency of public transportation?
Is that a problem for a traveler? Indeed yes, if one is visiting Rome with a tourist mentality, so focusing on the main spots. Once one enters into the point of view of a real traveler, it becomes an opportunity because, when walking, there is the possibility to see a lot of things that otherwise would remain unknown.
With the help of the staff of San Lorenzo Guest House I planned my next march (after the training I had during the week I beleive to be ready for the Olympics)

Santa Maria Maggiore

The final destination was the Caius Cestius pyramid and I got there through a long tour.
Walking along the Aurelian Walls, where you can see houses in the walls (it's Villa Gentili-Dominici, the biggest villa inside the center of Rome) and then along the Termini station I reached Piazza dei Cinquecento, in front of the station. Then I walked to reach the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the four main basilicas in Rome along with St. Peter, St. John Lateran and St. Paul.

Moses by Michelangelo

According to the tradition, it has been built on the place where it snowed in August during the IV century AD. From Santa Maria Maggiore I walked to Colle Oppio, keeping aside od the Beths of Trajan, to reach the Basilica of San Pietro in vincoli to admire the Moses by Michelangelo Buonarroti. It's woth to enter to the faculty of Engineering, junt aside of  the church, to see the kloster and the well in the middle of it.
Going down though the Scalinata dei Borgia (Borgia's Stairs), I reached Via Cavour and the Via dei Fori Imperiali. What could I say about this street that connects the Colosseum with Piazza Venezia? Simply you walk across the history because the Forums were the center of the political life in ancient Rome.

Via dei Fori Imperiali

Piazza Venezia is the crucial point of the traffic in the center of Rome . I was told that, at the beginning of Via del Corso, there is a retractable footboard, but it is currently not working, from where a traffic policeman attempts to keep evereything in order. He must be a real artist.

But now is time for a break.

THE FAN

Link to part 10