Rome Day 7

19th Dec 2009

Today is effectively the last day that we had in Rome, as we need to wake up early to do the checking out tomorrow and head to the Ciampino airport to catch our early flight departure towards Paris, France. The itinerary for today is the Roman Forum/Palatino hill, the Isola Tiberina and Trastevere.

Anna, the best hotel personnel in Rome Marriott Grand Flora Hotel

The Roman Forum by itself took off half of our day here and there are so much history in itself that I believe that most people will be bored to death reading it in unless you are particularly interested in the history of ancient Rome (Not that I could regurgitate the whole history anyway…). Most people, myself included, will just be happy enough to just scroll down/through to just see the photos and to save time, lets just scroll through the photos below with some short description.

The entrance to the Roman Forum/Palatino Hill

This is one of the many ancient structures in Palatino Hill
- The Severan structures

This place really has beautiful sights!

Stadium used during the ancient roman times

This is the side view of the Palatino Museum. As you can see,
the weather seemed like it is going to rain so we skip this for the
time being until the rain comes... then we have shelter ;)

One of the ancient residential

Fallen leaves in the Farnese Gardens Domus Tiberiana

Path way in the Farnese Gardens

My lovely wife and I in the Farnese Garden

Temple of Castor and Pollux...or was it Basilica of Aemilia?

The temple of Venus and Rome

Basilica of Maxentius

The Temple of Saturn

The Temple of Vespasian and Titus
The Arch of Septimius Severus against the Santi Luca e Martinas

The Santi Luca e Martinas

The Santi Luca e Martinas from another angle

Overview of the Roman Forum

Beautiful floral at the Capitoline Hill

One of the two giant statues at the Capitoline Hill

Replica of the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius

The Piazza del Campidoglio

Isola Tiberina is a tiny boat-shaped “island” sitting in the River Tiber and I supposed that is how it got its name. Ironically, there is also a river goddess by the name of Tiberinus, so the big question is which one comes first? Was the name Tiber created in reference to the goddess or the goddess Tiberinus in reference to the river? Oh well, its not really my concern but what concerned me is how unique this little island is. The island is located in the southern bend of the Tiber River. When you are on the island, lookout for the staircase leading to the base of the island and you could take a stroll there and it will lead you to a café at the tip of the island. We did not visited the café though but had enough fun feeding the wild ducks and birds in the river with our sandwiches. So remember, always bring some bread out so that you will be greeted with much joy by the birds! J

Ponte Cestio, the bridge connecting Isola Tiberina to Trastevere

Beautiful wild ducks at the river at the bottom of Ponte Cestio

Trees surrounding the Isola Tiberina

View of the Tiber River from atop the Ponte Cestio

Next, we headed to the little city beyond the River Tiber, Trastevere. This place is famous for its many pubs and restaurant. I have intended to have dinner in on of the many restaurants here as suggested by Fodor’s but my wife has other things in mind. We ended up doing gifts shopping! There are many shops around here selling local goods and we managed to get plenty of gifts here for both relatives and ourselves. I bought 2 pair of leather shoes which only sets me back €100 i.e. €50 per pair. My wife bought a pair of boots at the same price and two other pairs of shoes for my sister-in-law and my brother-in-law. While she shops for other stuffs, I just wondered outside for some delicious local pizzas and took some shots of Trastevere evening shots.

Delicious freshly baked pizzas!Cost around €1.50-€4.00 per slice

Santa Maria in Trastevere

The houses along the streets of Trastevere
The evening view of the streets in Trastevere

The evening view of the streets in Trastevere
-Another angle

The evening view of the streets in Trastevere
- Al fresco restaurant fills the street

From tomorrow onwards, its Paris!


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