Rome, Day 3

This morning we woke up and headed to the Catacombs of San Callisto out on the Appian Way. Even though the catacombs are outside of Rome, due to the laws of the ancient times, they were surprisingly easy to get to. A bus picks you up right outside a Subway station and drops you off right outside the entrance. And if you want, you can wander down the Appian Way and see more sites.

The Catacombs of San Callisto are the largest around Rome. Our tour guide told us that there are 3 floors and about 15 miles of catacombs, but only one floor is open to the public. We were able to go on a 30 minute tour and learn lots. They estimate that 500,000 tombs were here at one point in time. During raids, many items of worth were carted off and the early Popes' tombs were taken to safety during this time as well. Along with all the tombs, the catacombs were a site of early Christian Worship as it was outlawed in Rome in Christianity's early stages. We also learned of the entombing process and how the smell was kept down AND even were able to see thousands of years old dead people. Little creepy.

The rest of our day was a massive walking tour of the city. We went back into Rome near the Circus Maximus (where the chariot races used to be held) and then walked in a massive circle around the various neighborhoods. Our first neighborhood was Aventine Hill. It was mainly the older part of town. Circus Maximus is in this area, along with old Roman City Walls, churches, and beautiful streets. The Baths of Caracalla are also in this area. It was a massive and impressive structure even though it is 1000's of years old and in ruins. It used to be a wonderful public bath house and leisure center. Many of the floors still exist, the mosaics and some of the decorative stone work. The building must have been huge at one time and incredibly impressive. Apparently during one of the attacks on Rome, the water supply was cut off and since this is on the outskirts of the city center, it was left to fend for itself. At the end of the attack, it was left abandoned. What a shame.
We then made our way through the area known as Testaccio, named after a "mountain" made of broken pottery and other objects (which according to the guidebook should have been open, but wasn't.) Unfortunately, our guide book yet again led us astray with this walking tour. There are a couple of interesting cemeteries here of historical importance that you can wander through, they were closed. There is a really interesting pyramid here though.
After that slight bit of frustration with the guide book, the next 30 minutes of our day made me want to throw it on the ground and stomp on it. There is a park called Parco Savello that is supposed to have wonderful views over Rome and a beautiful old church in it, Santa Sabina, that is one of the first churches of Rome. Now we knew the church would be closed as it was around lunch time and most of the churches are closed. It was getting into the park area that proved to be incredibly difficult. The map given makes it look like its right next to the road. It is, but up a 30 foot cement wall. We had to walk all around the stupid thing AND then figure out how to get into it. By the time we got to the park to see the views, I had to go to the bathroom so badly we couldn't enjoy it. Another point of contention with the guide book is that of the bathrooms. They correctly inform you that there are not many public bathrooms in Rome, but that restaurants have to legally let you use their bathrooms. Not so at all. The Police will back the restaurant owners in NOT letting you use the bathrooms, we saw it happen (not to us thankfully.) And Frommer's response "opps."
Then we stopped by the Mouth of Truth. There was a long line, so we didn't put our hands in the stone's mouth. And I was still in a desperate search for a bathroom. The legend of the Mouth of Truth is really interesting (click on the link above.)
Our next neighborhood to wander through was the Jewish Ghetto. This part of town was absolutely beautiful and seemed very unchanged. It of course has a troubled history. We started at the sign signifying the place where 3,091 Jewish people were taken to Auschwitz, 15 made it out. If you look carefully while walking through here, you can catch old signs in Hebrew on buildings. A few of the buildings did have newer signs in Hebrew, but not a lot of them that we saw.





In the Jewish Ghetto, there is a wonderful piazza called Piazza Mattei that holds the Tortoise Fountain. You can make out the turtles being helped to climb into the fountain behind us.









By now the churches were open again. Near the Roman Forum and the Capitoline Museums, is this church. Santa Maria in Aracoeli was a beautiful church on the inside, but first you had to climb 124 steps in the hot sun. Not that I was whining about it. It was just a LOT of steps to climb up. The inside of the church was well worth it though. The marble work was amazing, along with all the art, and it was nice and quiet. This church even had chandeliers hanging! Santa Maria's big claim is the Bambinello. Its a small wooden carving of Baby Jesus. It was miraculously finished when the carver ran out of money, it has been stolen a few times and miraculously shown back up, children sing to it and praise it during the Christmas season, and people from all over the world write letters to it for help. I am sure that the list of what this little olive wood, bejewelled Baby Jesus can do is much longer, but this is all I can remember.



We then headed over to Tiber Island. At one point in time, I am sure that it was an actual island. Now it looks like a man made island. Everything is cement. It start 1000's of years ago with the Romans making the island look like the hull of a ship. There is a church there and a hospital. A lot of people were sitting out on the esplanade sun bathing, and there were even a few fishermen. I have no idea what one would fish for in a river running through Rome, but I wouldn't want to eat it. The water didn't look all that particularly dirty, but there was quite a bit of trash in it.

Then it was off to find somewhere to eat. Not going to lie. We tried using the guidebook again to help us in making this selection. We figured since it was a Sunday, in Rome, we may have some issues actually finding some where to eat. Especially since our usual breakfast cafe of the week was closed, and it is in a busy area. We found the restaurant fairly easily this time (we had already learned to consult other maps), but the place that was supposed to be open Tuesday through Sunday for lunch and dinner was VERY closed. Maybe the owners were confused on the date...
So... we went back to the same place that we ate at the night before. They all remembered us, which was spectacular. And the pizza is divine. And the chocolate mousse dessert. And the wine. And the Italian Appetizer. I might have to fly back to Rome just to eat here...