Our first trip to Rome - August 2007
We visited Rome in 2007, before I began to keep trip diaries but by this time, I was already doing digital photos and uploading them to my albums on PicasaWeb with captions. So even though there was no diary, there was a picture by picture comment which has allowed me to recreate our trip quite easily.
It was our first time in Rome. We had been in Venice, Milan and Pisa back in the 70s but had never been anywhere south of there.
We were told that visiting in August was a bad idea because it can get very hot and humid and because many of the stores and kosher restaurants are closed during the month of August; that is when people take vacations.
The truth is that looking back, it was hot but not unbearably so, and the majority of the restaurants and kosher food places were open for business. Most of them were located either in the Ghetto not far from the Great Synagogue; there was also a smaller selection in one of the Jewish residential areas near the Piazza Bologna, a couple of subway stops north east of the Termini train station.
We have been back to Rome a number of times since then and the kosher food scene has continued to improve and expand. Unlike many other cities in Europe the cost of eating out is affordable and our favourite dishes are the fried cod and fried Jewish artichokes.
On this our first trip, we stayed in a hotel and on later trips we discovered the availability of vacation apartments which are affordable and which offer the kosher traveller so much more flexibility.
We arrived at the Rome airport in the morning after a pleasant overnight flight from Toronto. Again, because it was our first time there, we took the easy way out and had pre-arranged a sherut type shared cab from the airport to our hotel. If I had to do it again, and if I did not have too much luggage, I would probably take the express train from the airport to the Termini main station.
A word about the water in Rome. Unlike all the places that you have been in where you cannot drink the water because it may upset your stomach, the water in Rome is clean and plentiful.
Rome's never been a city limited in water usage. By the first century, thanks to the aqueducts, the city had 1,000 liters of water available per person, per day. Today, there are 500 liters available. Per family. Still, though, more than enough.
And lots of that water still freeflows out through the fontanelle (little fountains) placed around the city. The water's brought in from outside the city. It's safe. Fresh. Super-cold. So do as the Romans do: Save your €1.50 and refill your water bottle at the fontanelle. There are 2,500 in the city, so you shouldn't have trouble finding them.
One last tip: If you plug up the end with your thumb, the water will spurt out of a handy hole on the top, providing you a makeshift water fountain. See, modern Romans are good engineers, too!
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| Hotel Britannia |
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| Breakfast Room in the Hotel |
We unpacked and went for a walk to the train station to pick up our Roma Pass; well worth it if you are going to at least two higher priced museums and if you can use the free transportation for three days.
We walked by the Piazza Teatro Del Opera and admired our first views of some of the amazing architecture in this town; the first of many more to come.
After picking up our pass we began a walk toward the Trevis Fountain, walking thru the narrow streets that make up so much of the downtown area of Rome.
We arrived at the Trevis fountain and there was a major issue there! Apparently every so often, they turn off the water in the fountain so that they can clean out the area. This was the day. Not so bad for us who were going to be there for a few days; but devastating for the many tourist who had come by cruise ship that morning and who would leave that afternoon. It is an awesome sight but we could only imagine at this point just how beautiful it would look with all the fountains flowing with water.
We decided that we would return on another day and headed in the direction of the Campo di Fiori, and would stop off on the way at the Pantheon. Rome is an amazingly easy city for walking. It is quite flat and there are sights all along the way where you can stop and tour. And of course, there is water everywhere, so even in the heat you can cool off. We were amazed by the number of motorcycles that we saw parked everywhere.
We arrived at the Pantheon. It has a very Romanesque look from the outside of the building and looking at the columns, we were sort of expecting a very square or rectangular structure when we ventured inside. Boy were we fooled!
The inside has a huge dome. The word Pantheon literally meaning All Gods is an adjective understood as "temple consecrated to all gods"; it was commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome, and rebuilt by the emperor Hadrian about 126 CE.
The building is circular with a portico of large granite columns. A rectangular vestibule links the porch to the rotunda, which is under a concrete dome, with a central opening to the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. The height to the opening and the diameter of the interior circle are the same, 43.3 metres (142 ft).
It is one of the best-preserved of all Roman buildings. It has been in continuous use throughout its history, and since the 7th century, the Pantheon has been used as a Roman Catholic church. There is a beautiful square or piazza in front of the building.
In the square in front of the Pantheon.
As we walked past the Pantheon and headed toward Campo di Fiori, we passed many large structures and could not see any entrances to the buildings. At one such structure, we saw the large "garage" doors open and looking thru realized that the doors of all these buildings were really the entrance to a large courtyard and parking lot for the numerous residences that the building housed. From the outside, they looked rather plain; but once inside, it looked beautiful and rather protected and safe.
Campo de' Fiori (literally Field of Flowers) is a rectangular square south of Piazza Navona in Rome, Italy. It houses a farmer's market and souvenir sellers by day and many restaurants and bars by night. It had a very authentic feel to it and we spent some time browsing the many stands that dotted the square.
From there we walked to the Piazza Di Navona, another of the large squares in Rome which houses many interesting sculptured statues.
We were now headed back toward the Trevis Fountain with our destination being a small pizza store that was under the local hashgacha. It was a unique pizza store because it was fleishig. Pizza with pepperoni and salami; and no cheese. It was delicious; but unfortunately not long after we visited this place lost its hashgacha.
Near the Trevis, we met these gladiators who tried to kidnap Fran; when I tried to intervene, it was off with my head!
By now the large crowds had left the Trevis back to the cruiseship, and the water was slowly beginning to be refilled in the fountain area. Guess we will really see what it looks like over the next day or so.
It had been a long day and we had covered a lot of ground, but there was still much daylight left and people tend to eat dinner late, so we headed back to hotel; showered and headed out for our first look at the Coliseum.
We had scheduled a tour of the Coliseum for late that afternoon when it would be a bit cooler; we were supposed to meet the group at the Arch of Constantine which is just outside the Coliseum.
Today tourguides at the Roman Coliseum, probably the most visited tourist site in Rome outside of the Vatican, casually mention that it was built by 20,000 Jewish slaves brought back after the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Second Temple.
The destruction of the Second Temple is one of the most important events in the history of the Jewish people and one of the most depressing.
It is a sign that God has withdrawn, though not abandoned, His people. The Gemara states : "Why was the 2nd Temple destroyed? Because of "sinat chinam" - baseless hatred of one Jew to another". The antidote is "ahavat chinam" - love and concern for the wellbeing of your fellow Jew.
All around the area are these amazing shady trees; standing beneath them, the temperature is easily 10 to 15 degrees F cooler than in the sun. The trees are called Pinetas; or as we know them in english Pine Trees.
We met up with our group and our guide and we walked up the Palatine Hill which overlooked the old palace of the Caesars. The Palatine Hill is the centermost of the Seven Hills of Rome and is one of the most ancient parts of the city. It stands 40 metres above the Roman Forum, looking down upon it on one side, and upon the Circus Maximus on the other.
The main hall of the Palace.
The site of the Palace Swimming Pool.
Looking down on the Hippodrome where they had Horse and Chariot Races.
As we entered the Coliseum, we were amazed by how large and massive the interior space appeared to be. They told us that the arena held 80,000 spectators at one time. It was so well designed that with its 76 exits for the common folk and 4 special exits for the Royal Family, it could be totally emptied in 15 minutes. There is a word used to describe this phenomena which is "vomitoria". A vomitorium is a passage situated below or behind a tier of seats in an amphitheatre or a stadium, through which big crowds can exit rapidly at the end of a performance.
The vomitoria of the Colosseum in Rome were so well designed that it's said the immense venue, which seated at least 80,000, could fill in 15 minutes. (There were 80 entrances at ground level, 76 for ordinary spectators and 4 for the imperial family.) The vomitoria deposited mobs of people into their seats and afterward disgorged them with equal abruptness into the streets--whence, presumably, the name.
This person was stretching in the coliseum; I said to her...."it has been standing for two thousand years...you will not move it!"
When we exited the Coliseum, it was already getting a little dark. We glanced up and saw the roman columns of the Forum, that we would visit the next day. The concrete columns are originals and the white plastic ones are where the ruined ones used to stand.
It had been a very long day; so our feet were aching. We hopped on the Metro and took the train for a few stops to an area near the Ghetto and then it was a very well deserved meal at Yotvata, an Italian dairy restaurant, where we experienced carciofi alla giudìa, fried artichokes, a famous Jewish Italian delicacy. Very delicious!
The Arch was built in 81 CE by Emperor Domitian, the brother of Titus, to commemorate the victory over the Jewish revolt and the destruction of the Bais Hamikdash. The left side of the arch depicts the spoils of Jerusalem that were carried to Rome, including the Menorah, the Shulchan (Table for the show bread) and the silver trumpets. On the right side of the arch, you see Titus triumphantly entering Rome.
We walked through the Roman Forum and saw the various remains of the temples of Rome.
We continued through a number of side streets to the area of the Jewish Ghetto and approached the Great Synagogue - Tempio Maggiore
The present Synagogue was constructed shortly after the unification of Italy in 1870, when the kingdom of Italy captured Rome and the Papal States ceased to exist. The ghetto was demolished and the Jews were granted Citizenship. The building which had previously housed the ghetto synagogue (a complicated structure housing five scolas in a single building) was demolished, and the Jewish community began making plans for a new and impressive building.
Commemorative plates have been affixed to honour the local Jewish victims of Nazi German and of a PLO attack in 1982.
Designed by Vincenzo Costa and Osvaldo Armanni, the synagogue was built from 1901 to 1904 on the banks of the Tiber, overlooking the former ghetto. The eclectic style of the building makes it stand out, even in a city known for notable buildings and structures. This attention-grabbing design was a deliberate choice made by the community at the time who wanted the building to be a visible celebration of their freedom and to be seen from many vantage points in the city. The aluminum dome is the only squared dome in the city and makes the building easily identifiable even from a distance.
The dome of the synagogue.
Netilat Yada'im at the Roman Jewish Museum.
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| The Main Street in the Ghetto - Portico d'Ottavio - lots of kosher restaurants |
After a quick lunch, we headed back over to the Great Synagogue, where we had reserved a tour of the Ghetto in english. The tour was given by a local member of the synagogue and she walked us thru the ghetto pointing out historic sights. The interesting thing that she did was to bring along an old illustrated book and showing us the illustrations was able to point out that the current buildings looked the same as they had then.
The first thing she showed us was an overhead shot of the area and her finger is pointing to the ghetto, with the square domed building just on top of her finger being the Great Synagogue on the banks of the Tiber.
Walking along the narrow streets of the Ghetto
Outside the shul is a memorial to victims of a terrorist attack in 1982. Ever since there has been a very active and vigilant police presence stationed outside the shul.
We now walked a short distance to the Metro and took the train to the Spanish Steps, a set of steps, designed in 1717, climbing a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by a church at the top. The Scalinata is the widest staircase in Europe. It was made famous for American audiences by the 1953 film, Roman Holiday, starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck.
We had walked for miles on this day, and took a break at the welcoming fountain at the foot of the steps, where it was time to fill up our bottles with fresh cool spring water.
From there it was a very short walk to the Via Corso which is the famous shopping street in Rome which leads down to the Palace and Monument in front of the Roman Forum.
Looking north to the Spanish Steps (above) and south to the Monument Vittorio Emmanuel (below) in front of the Roman Forum and the Coliseum.
We had covered most of downtown Rome in a day (who says you can't see Rome in a day?) and when we reached the next fountain, we could not resist taking off our sandals and getting our feet cooled by the cool water in the fountain.
For dinner that night we headed by subway to the Piazza Bologna area, where there were a number of kosher eateries. The one we chose, Gan Eden, was meat and excellent. It has since closed and relocated to the Ghetto where it has been renamed BaGhetto. It has two locations on the Portico D'Ottavia across the street from each other; one meat, one dairy; both excellent. It was a beautiful night and we ate outdoors.
The next morning, we had reserved a time slot to tour the Villa Borghese, one of the most amazing museums that we had ever seen. What stood out were the fantastic sculptures by Gian Lorenzo Bernini that dotted the museum floor. We hooked up with an english tour and it was fascinating and informative. Well worth the visit.
David with his slingshot.
Outside the Museum, the gardens are beautiful (as is my model!!).
We decided to head back over to the Trevis Fountain to see if the waters were flowing...one the way, there were some beautiful shopping alleys (the earliest kind of interior shopping malls).
Well, the water was flowing and the crowds had returned to the Trevis Fountain!
We were winding down our visit, and went to the Da Michele Pizzeria for lunch (no longer kosher) and then took the Metro over to the Vatican for a quick look. The lineups stretched for miles and since it was quite warm, we took some pictures of the large square in front of the Vatican and headed back to the hotel to pack.
As we had really enjoyed Gan Eden the night before, he headed back for an early dinner and reflected over a map of Rome as to how much we had accomplished in a very short visit. But it had certainly piqued our interest, and we resolved to return.
