Exploring Rome by car hire
From ancient times, Romans have been piling the present on top of the past, blithely building, layering, and overlapping their more than 2,500 years of history to create the haphazard fabric of modern Rome. The result is a city where antiq¬uity is taken for granted, where you can have coffee in a square designed by Bernini and go home to a Renaissance palace. Normal life in Rome is carried on in an extraordinary setting. Don't be self conscious in your wanderings about the city. Poke and pry under the surface of things.
Walk boldly through gates that are just ajar to peek into the hidden world of Roman courtyards. But do it with a smile, to show the people you meet that you're truly interested in them. Warm and straightforward, the Romans are pleased to show you the nooks and crannies of their hometown.
The good-humored Romans have their prob¬lems, of course. The city is noisy, polluted, af¬flicted with hellish traffic, and exasperatingly inefficient. But at least the traffic problem is be¬ing tackled. Sizable areas of the city center have been designated for pedestrians only. The pol¬lution problem is less easy to cure, and far too many of the monuments you will want to see are shielded in fine green netting, while work pro¬ceeds on cleaning and repairing them.
Keep your sightseeing flexible. You'll have to plan your day to take into account the wide di-versity of opening times which will mean mix¬ing classical sites with Baroque, museums with parks, the center with the environs. However you do it, be sure to take plenty of time off for simply sitting and observing the passing pag¬eant of the city's teeming streets.
Inevitably, the environs of Rome are overshad¬owed by the five star attractions of the Eternal City.
However, the surrounding region, known as Lazio (Latium), has plenty to offer in its own right ancient art and archaeology, medieval hill towns and abbeys, Renaissance pleasure gardens, lake and mountain scenery, and an easygoing pace, not to mention great local wines and homemade pasta. Intersperse city sightseeing with jaunts into the countryside. A breath of country air and a change of scenery can enhance your enjoyment of Rome and give you a new perspective on its many delights.
Our exploration of Rome is divided into 10 tours. where Rome itself began, amid the ancient rums, and follow with a look at the Vatican and its museums two separate tours. The next six tours explore various places of interest in central Rome, while Tour 10 takes you on a short trip outside the city walls. With the exception of Tours 2 and 3, which concentrate on the Vatican Tour?, which explore the Villa Borghese, which crosses the Tiber to the Trastevere dis¬trict, and Tour 10, out the Appian Way to the Catacombs, these Rome tours begin in or around Piazza Venezia.
The Museidon Card, valid for two, four, or seven days and costing from 13,000 lire to 48 000 lire provides entrance to city museums and some monuments. It's sold at participating museums, APT offices, and some hotels and tobacconists but think twice before buying it because not many of the major museums are city run. At the end of the chapter are three excursions into the surrounding countryside.
Although all the places we suggest visiting could be seen on a day's trip from Rome, some itineraries combine several destinations and could be broken by an overnight stop somewhere along the way, to maintain an easy pace. If you're driving, you'll find good roads, but you may run into pockets of local traffic in the suburbs. Try not to schedule your excursions for Sundays, when the Romans make their weekly exodus and create traffic jams on their return.
A word of caution: Gypsy children, present around sites popular with tourists throughout Europe, are rife in Rome and are adept pickpockets. One modus operandi is to approach a tourist and proffer a piece of cardboard with writing on it. While the unsuspecting victim at¬tempts to read the message on it, the gypsy children’s hands are busy under it making like piranhas with the contents of a purse.
If you see such a group (recognizable by their unkempt appearance, often with cigarettes hanging from prepubescent mouths), do not even allow them near you they are quick and know more tricks than you do.
Also be aware of Italian perpetra¬tors who ride by on motorbikes, grab the shoul¬der strap of your bag, and step on the gas. Keep your bag well under your arm, especially if you're walking on the street edge of the side¬walk, or wear a money belt. Don't carry more money than you need, and don't carry your pass¬port unless you need it to exchange money. Numbers in the margin correspond to points of interest on the Exploring Rome map.
Walk boldly through gates that are just ajar to peek into the hidden world of Roman courtyards. But do it with a smile, to show the people you meet that you're truly interested in them. Warm and straightforward, the Romans are pleased to show you the nooks and crannies of their hometown.
The good-humored Romans have their prob¬lems, of course. The city is noisy, polluted, af¬flicted with hellish traffic, and exasperatingly inefficient. But at least the traffic problem is be¬ing tackled. Sizable areas of the city center have been designated for pedestrians only. The pol¬lution problem is less easy to cure, and far too many of the monuments you will want to see are shielded in fine green netting, while work pro¬ceeds on cleaning and repairing them.
Keep your sightseeing flexible. You'll have to plan your day to take into account the wide di-versity of opening times which will mean mix¬ing classical sites with Baroque, museums with parks, the center with the environs. However you do it, be sure to take plenty of time off for simply sitting and observing the passing pag¬eant of the city's teeming streets.
Inevitably, the environs of Rome are overshad¬owed by the five star attractions of the Eternal City.
However, the surrounding region, known as Lazio (Latium), has plenty to offer in its own right ancient art and archaeology, medieval hill towns and abbeys, Renaissance pleasure gardens, lake and mountain scenery, and an easygoing pace, not to mention great local wines and homemade pasta. Intersperse city sightseeing with jaunts into the countryside. A breath of country air and a change of scenery can enhance your enjoyment of Rome and give you a new perspective on its many delights.
Our exploration of Rome is divided into 10 tours. where Rome itself began, amid the ancient rums, and follow with a look at the Vatican and its museums two separate tours. The next six tours explore various places of interest in central Rome, while Tour 10 takes you on a short trip outside the city walls. With the exception of Tours 2 and 3, which concentrate on the Vatican Tour?, which explore the Villa Borghese, which crosses the Tiber to the Trastevere dis¬trict, and Tour 10, out the Appian Way to the Catacombs, these Rome tours begin in or around Piazza Venezia.
The Museidon Card, valid for two, four, or seven days and costing from 13,000 lire to 48 000 lire provides entrance to city museums and some monuments. It's sold at participating museums, APT offices, and some hotels and tobacconists but think twice before buying it because not many of the major museums are city run. At the end of the chapter are three excursions into the surrounding countryside.
Although all the places we suggest visiting could be seen on a day's trip from Rome, some itineraries combine several destinations and could be broken by an overnight stop somewhere along the way, to maintain an easy pace. If you're driving, you'll find good roads, but you may run into pockets of local traffic in the suburbs. Try not to schedule your excursions for Sundays, when the Romans make their weekly exodus and create traffic jams on their return.
A word of caution: Gypsy children, present around sites popular with tourists throughout Europe, are rife in Rome and are adept pickpockets. One modus operandi is to approach a tourist and proffer a piece of cardboard with writing on it. While the unsuspecting victim at¬tempts to read the message on it, the gypsy children’s hands are busy under it making like piranhas with the contents of a purse.
If you see such a group (recognizable by their unkempt appearance, often with cigarettes hanging from prepubescent mouths), do not even allow them near you they are quick and know more tricks than you do.
Also be aware of Italian perpetra¬tors who ride by on motorbikes, grab the shoul¬der strap of your bag, and step on the gas. Keep your bag well under your arm, especially if you're walking on the street edge of the side¬walk, or wear a money belt. Don't carry more money than you need, and don't carry your pass¬port unless you need it to exchange money. Numbers in the margin correspond to points of interest on the Exploring Rome map.
Labels: Venezia
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