Rome Pt 7 - Walking around Rome (3 Aug - 10 Aug)

Today was our last full day in Rome and we were still pretty worn out from our trip to Pompeii, so we decided to have a slow start to the morning and to get our packing done.  We headed out around 2pm, when it was just starting to cool down (from 39 to 37 degrees) and caught a train out to the Spanish Steps.

The Spanish Steps are a stairway of 135 steps that was built in 1723-1725 to link the Spanish embassy with the Trinita dei Monte church.  It was quite an impressive set of steps, but I'm sad to say that we were pretty hot and worn out at this point, so we probably didn't give them all of the attention they deserved.

Column of the Immaculate Conception near the Spanish Steps

This is one of the reasons we didn't hang around for too long - it was packed!

Spanish Steps

Trinita dei Monte Church at the top of the Spanish Steps

The Barcaccia Fountain

Trinita dei Monte Church at the top of the Spanish Steps

Our next stop was the Quattro Fontain (The Four Fountains), four late renaissance fountains which are situated on all four corners of Via delle Quattro Fontane and Via del Quirinale.  They were built in 1588-1593 by Muzio Mattei under the commission of Pope Sixtus V.

The River Aniene - A tributary of the Tiber which provided Rome with water via the aqueducts (East)

The Goddess Diana - Symbol of Chastity (North)

The Goddess Juno - Symbol of Strength (West)

The River Tiber in front of an oak tree and a she-wolf (symbol of Rome) (South)

We then walked through the Piazza Barberini, big plaza names after the Palazzo Barbarini, a palace built for the Barbarini family (remember the three bees crest in the Vatican?)

Piazza Barberini (I took this shot so I could remember where we were when I sorted the photos)

Triton Fountain in Piazza Barberini

One of the cool things about the Piazza was that it has been used, until the 18th century, for the public display of unknown human bodies for public identification.  Wouldn't you love to have that outside your palace.  "Francesco, there's another body on the lawn!"

Column of Macrus Aurelius (built in 193AD)

Close up of the Carvings

Top

The carvings tell the story of Marcus Aurelius' Danubian wars that ran from 166AD to his death.

Obelisco di Monetcitorino

The Romans brought back many obelisks from their conquest of Egypt.  The one above was built by Pharaoh Psammetico II (595-589 BC) in Heliopolis, Egypt.  It was brought to Rome in BC by Emperor Augustus.

Close up of the Obelisco di Monetcitorino

To end a very hot day (and to act as bribery for the kids) we headed back to the Della Palmos Gelateri.

This time I had Cheesecake, Twix and Biscotti, Kris had Mint, Expresso and Lemon.  Tomas had Strawberry and Chocolate, Cameron had Mint and Chocolate and Alana had Kit-Kat and Mint.

The soy selection

Tomas with his

Some of the selections

After the ice-cream we headed back to the apartment.

The next day we were picked up by the owner of our apartment and driven back to the airport.

All-in-all it was a great trip and the kids said they really enjoyed it. The heat was a real killer though and definitely slowed us down and made me rethink all the big walks I had planned.