Italian road trip – Day 6 – Rome

Day 5 ended with us exhausted, crashing onto our beds and having a sound night’s sleep after a paradoxical search for a hotel with available rooms in what is one of the largest cities in the world with plenty of hotels. But that’s how things were that night. We woke up to a beautiful day and we set out to explore Rome.

I had set a grand goal: to show my companions the Rome I knew from 1999, ten years earlier. The part I hadn’t worked out yet in my enthusiasm, was that I’d explored Rome in three weeks, by myself, and now I was going to drag four people in tow to see a lofty list of places in a single day. Make no mistake about it, there were repeated protestations as the day progressed, but it was hard to hear them as I walked ahead at a military pace…

When it was all said and done, after putting my incredibly patient companions through a full day of exploration with little food or drink (there was no time, we had to see everything on my list…), I set another goal: reach a seaside town called Ladispoli by nightfall and find a hotel. Yeah, I did that to them, too! I didn’t let them sleep, I packed them into the car and off we went. I still can’t believe they put up with me. I know I wouldn’t have. Now that I’m in my 40s (this was back in 2009 mind you), I know I wouldn’t do this to myself or to others. The pace was too hectic, we couldn’t take things in. By the end of the day, it was all a blur. Thank goodness we took photos, or else we wouldn’t remember much.

Enjoy our memories from that day!

Rome, Italy

Looking over Rome, Italy

Rome, Italy

Piazza del Popolo, Rome, Italy

Rome, Italy

Interior, Anglican Church, Via del Babuino, Rome, Italy

Anglican Church, Via del Babuino, Rome, Italy

Rome, Italy

Piazza di Spagna, Rome, Italy

Rome, Italy

Vatican, Rome, Italy

Rome, Italy

A vertical panorama of Trajan’s Column, Rome, Italy. The original file is 55 megapixels in size.

Rome, Italy

Outside the Colosseum, Rome, Italy

Trajan celebrating his victory over the Daci, near the Colosseum, Rome, Italy. Interesting historical fact: Trajan was also a Dac, born near Turda in what is now Romania.

Rome, Italy

Colosseum, Rome, Italy

Rome, Italy

Piazza della Repubblica, Rome, Italy

Rome, Italy

Church just off Piazza della Repubblica, Rome, Italy

Basilica S. Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, Rome, Italy

Rome, Italy

Places

The Rupea Fortress

We visited the Rupea Fortress a number of years ago, before the restoration work began. Now the work is complete and it’s amazing to see the difference. We visited it recently and took another set of photos. Those are coming soon. In the meantime, here is a set of the photos taken back when it was still falling apart.

There’s a lot of history packed into that hilltop where the fortress is built. Archeological digs found evidence of settlements dating back to 5500-3500 BC. When Romania was known as Dacia, before it was conquered and colonized by the Romans, the place was known as Rumidava. Afterward, it became known as Rupes, from the basaltic rock of the hill where it’s built. When the Saxons colonized Transilvania, the fortress became known as Castrum Kuholm, the word “kuholm” refering once again to the same basaltic rock. There is more information here, should you be interested.