Travelling with Nick: A Visit To Rome

It has been said that 'everyone should visit Rome at least once in a life time'. I was of that mind myself and I decided that it was now time for my wife and I to pay that visit, before we got too old and decrepit.
We made the trip in the middle of May 2013. It certainly was one of my better decisions and I would add my voice the quote referred to above.
I am going to give a plug to the hotel we stayed in, Best Western Hotel Piccadilly, purely because it turned out to be ideal for our stay. It is about four hundred metres from the San Giovanni Basilica which was our starting place for touring the famous buildings and monuments of Rome. The Colosseum is less than a two kilometer easy walk to the East of San Giovanni. Alternatively you could take the Metro (underground tube train) at the San Giovanni station. I would certainly recommend taking the Metro to see the other sites/sights especially if travelling to San Pietro and the Vatican.

Having said that, the one abiding impression I have, of the historic heart of Rome, is, that if you are reasonably fit, all the famous buildings and monuments are within reasonable walking distance of each other. That is certainly what we did, over a period of four days. We had a couple of small maps given to us by the hotel which, like most other tourists, we used to navigate ourselves from one site to the other. It wasn't always easy purely because we tended to over estimate distances. We often over shot the location/road (Via) we were looking for and sign posts to the buildings/monuments are few and far between.

The Rome tourist board could certainly do better in this regard but it may take the view that too many direction signs would detract from the historic appearance of the city. I must say that I could expand on my view of the overall presentation of 'Historic Rome' and the appearance of Rome in general. I am afraid it would be somewhat negative so I am not going to indulge myself. I don't want to take anything away from what was a very enjoyable trip or the undoubted magnificence and richness that is Rome.

The other thing I want to say about my impression of 'discovering' Rome, is, that once you have found a hotel that is reasonably close to the historic centre, then you don't really need a map. One could just keep walking with eyes wide open and you will be overwhelmed by what you see with every single step; whether this be first century or seventeenth century architecture or sculpture. There is nowhere on Earth that has so much to offer in this regard, in such a relatively compact space.

I am not going to say any more. If you, as I hope you do, want to find out more about any of the buildings featured in the following photographs then you will be spoiled for choice for sources of that knowledge on the internet.

Arrivederci,

Nick
ps There are more photos on this Youtube clip accompanied by some light music -

http://youtu.be/9nKvHFxn6Jc