Exploring Europe - Venice, Rome & Vatican
- In Travel
- 07:19 PM, Aug 24, 2015
- Varsha Sriram
One of the biggest advantages of living in Europe is you are blessed with the opportunity to visit many countries. One such visit to Venice and Rome holds a very special place in my heart because it was our honeymoon. Rome and Venice have been the theme of many historical and romantic Hollywood movies which enticed us to choose Italy as our first holiday destination together as a couple.
Since we live in Amsterdam, we took a flight to reach Venice. The main source of income for Venetian people is tourism so everything in the city might initially seem a little touristy but Venice still looks enchanting. Venice is a town without roads and mostly canals. The easiest mode of transport within Venice is the waterways, locally called as the Vaporetto. We first decided to take the Vaporetto to the islands of Murano and Burano which are a few minutes away from Mainland Venice. Murano is famous for its Murano glass. Numerous shops line the streets of Murano with its famous glass wares on display. Though these beautiful creations are too expensive to own, they were very pleasing to look at as we walked along the streets.
Picture 1: Murano Glassware
Burano which is famous for lace making is now a popular tourist destination. We were amused to see the neatly lined colorful houses which were painted to aid the fisherman to recognize their houses through the fog when they returned late at night. No two houses adjacent to each other have the same color.
Picture 2: Venice-Burano Houses
That night we returned back to Venice mainland and checked off an important thing off our bucket list: A trip on the Venetian Gondola (boat) in the Grand Canal and through the famous Rialto Bridge which is one of the architectural icons of Venice. Rialto Bridge, one of the four bridges across Grand Canal, is built on the narrowest point across the canal and connects the districts of San Polo and San Marco.
Picture 3: Rialto Bridge and Gondola
The next day we decided to spend our time on Mainland Venice, so we visited San Marco, one of the most important districts of Venice. San Marco has many famous spots like the St. Mark’s Square which is central square surrounded by St. Mark’s Basilica popularly called as the Church of Gold, The Bell tower (Campanile) and The Doge’s Palace which are tourist hotspots. Since the queues to the Basilica were long we decided to take a trip up the Bell tower. The Bell tower is one of the popular landmarks and what we see today is a modern day reconstruction after it collapsed over a hundred years back. We took the elevator and reached up the tower and were pleased to have a bird’ eye view of Venice, with all the brick color rooftops of tiny houses, Dome of the Basilica and the Grand Canal. We could not visit the Basilica and the Palace but we decided to make it on another trip to Venice. Finally after a romantic walk along the streets and by lanes of Venice we headed to the train station to catch our train to Rome.
Picture 4: St. Mark’s (Left-St. Marks Basilica Dome; Top right-St. Mark’s Square; Bottom right- Aerial view from Bell tower)
Picture 5: Aerial view of Venice City
Historic Rome
We reached Rome late in the night so after resting we left early to explore the ‘Caput Mundi’- The Capital of the World. The moment we started exploring Rome the first thing that hit me were the monuments that have survived the tests of times to this day, making you believe in the expression “Rome wasn't built in a day”. This city has innumerable tourist attractions and ruins of historic importance in almost every nook and corner.
Our first stop in Rome was the Roman Colosseum (for obvious reasons), one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Having seen this marvel in war films like Gladiator, we were pretty excited to see this World famous amphitheater. When we reached, we saw long queues waiting to get inside. Luckily we skipped the queues since we had a Roma pass. Although what is left today is just the skeleton of what it was in ancient times, this majestic man-made wonder could hold up to 70000 spectators. The Colosseum has a breathtaking view that sends you back in time to imagine the grandiose of this great arena irrespective of the fights that happened here. Right across the Colosseum is the Arch of Constantine (partly in scaffolding), which is one of the three triumphal arches of Rome built to commemorate Constantine I’s victory over Maxentius.
Picture 6: Roman Colosseum
Picture 7: Arch of Constantine
We then made a quick stop to see the ruins of the Roman Forums and the Imperial Forums. The Roman forums, the center of Roman life of yesteryears, now contains ruins and excavations of arches, temples and basilicas. We then experienced a ride on the local bus to reach the Pantheon, the Temples of all Gods. The Pantheon with several inscriptions of the pediment, is a must visit to see dome structure with the Oculus, a feature of the Byzantine and Neo Classical architecture. We stopped for quick bite at a typical Italian restaurant at a square opposite the Pantheon.
Picture 8: Pantheon
Picture 9: Oculus
A trip to Rome is incomplete without a visit to the Trevi Fountain which is the star attraction of Rome having featured in many Hollywood movies. This place is always buzzing with crowds irrespective of the time of the day. Popular legend says that throwing a coin ensures you will return to Rome and not to miss out we followed the tradition as well, of throwing the coin in the fountain.
Picture 10: Trevi Fountain
On our second day we made a stop at Piazza Venezia, which boasts of having one of the biggest monuments in Italy, the Victor Emmanuel II monument built as a tribute to the first king of Unified Italy. This monument currently hosts the museum of Italian unification. The view from the top of the monument gave us a bird's eye view of the city of Rome. After being greeted by some showers, we moved to Piazza Navona, a big open square where you can have a relaxed stroll looking at the monuments and fountains. The famous fountain among the lot is the Fountain of the Four Rivers which represents the four major rivers of the four continents through which papal authority had spread: the Nile representing Africa, the Danube representing Europe, the Ganges representing Asia, and the Río de la Plata representing the Americas.
Picture 11: Piazza Navona (Fountain of Four Rivers in front)
We hopped onto the Metro to reach the Spanish Steps. These steps are one of the well-known meeting places in Rome and are also one of the most enjoyable squares. The view of the steps set against an obelisk and a beautiful church in the background was a beautiful sight to see. It is a good place to spend time in the evenings.
Picture 12: Spanish steps
Celestial Vatican
Our final day was planned for the Vatican City which is across the river Tiber and is the religious and political headquarters of the Vatican Papal State - the sovereign state of the Catholic Church. After waiting in long queues to enter the Vatican museums we were enthralled by the humongous collection of arts and artifacts inside the museums. The colorful ceilings throughout museums were so skillfully done. Finally, we saw the Sistine Chapel, the center for any Papal conclave with the Michelangelo painting on the ceiling (unfortunately we weren't allowed to click photos here). We ended our visit to the Vatican by visiting the world’s largest church, St Peter’s Basilica. We decided not go up the dome of the cathedral since there were long queues, but the paintings on the dome were simply stunning.
Picture 13: St. Peter’s Square
Picture 14: Museum ceilings and tapestry
Picture 15: St. Peter’s Basilica (right), Dome of the Basilica (left)
Right across the St. Peter’s square is the Castel Sant'Angelo (popular in the movie/book Angels and Demons). Unfortunately, we had to skip the visit to the castle as we totally exhausted by then.
Picture 16: Castel Sant’Angelo
Even a week is a short time to see Rome as it is very rich in history with breathtaking architecture. This was our first trip in many trips that followed throughout Europe. Although we could have seen more scenic places, this trip had a charm of its own and will always stay close to my heart.
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