August 1, 2018

We left the hostel at 9:15 and took the Metro to St. Peters Square. We only wanted to go to St. Peters Square and go into the Church. This was going to be a “free” day. After getting off the Metro, we could not walk more than 50 yards before someone would come up and try to sell us “Skip the Line” entrance tickets to the Vatican Museum. The prices ranged from 48E each to E75.00 each.

If you pay to go into the Vatican Museum, you enter the Sistene Chapel and then the Basilica from another entrance, thereby skipping the line to get into the church. Am I being very cynical by saying “If you pay the Vatican – you can skip the line and maybe go straight to heaven and skip hanging around with the riff-raff who cannot afford to pay to get into heaven”. Or maybe there should be help for the beggars that are outside of the churches.

I was very disappointed at the price and all the hawkers trying to sell us tickets. The actual price to enter the Vatican Museum varies from E17 to E38. At the very minimum (E17) the Vatican Museum has an income of 78 million Euros per year.

I understand that monuments and museums need funding. Especially those ancient monuments like the Colesium etc, which you pay to get inside. I don’t mind donating when I am in a church, as we did in Ulm. However, there is a tourist tax for every person staying in any accommodation in Rome from hostels to hotels, E4.00 per head. Approximately 4.2 million tourists visit the Vatican Museum every year. Not all of those tourists are going to spend a night in Rome. If only half of them spend a night in Rome that is 9.6 million Euros per year just on hotel tourist tax.

All we really wanted to see was inside the Basilica and St. Peters Square. The line for the Basilica was a two hour wait. I didn’t want to pay to go into the Vatican Museum.

We had a wander around the square trying to decide whether to join the “free” line. I asked the Swiss Guard, if we could get into the garden area.  No you can only access the garden from the Vatican Museums. 

As we left St. Peter\’s Square we noticed a small church.  Although we didn\’t see the Sistine Chapel, we thought this painting on the ceiling was very impressive.

We opted to continue on our journey visiting the free things – Piazza Navona, Panthenon, Tivoli fountain, Spanish Steps etc.

We had a wonderful day. I was the tour guide and had the map.

Before we started the walking tour, we stopped for a coffee and a sandwich at a small café near the Castle. It was a very peaceful area, with nice music, the prices were reasonable and the coffee was good.

We crossed over the Tiber, passing the law courts of Rome.  A very impressive building.

The first place we came to was the Piazza Navona. A large gathering place with fountains and a pointy thing. The square was surrounded by restaurants and gelato cafés. Erected in the centre of Piazza Navona, the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers) was designed by Bernini in 1651. The four statues represent the most important rivers of the continents where Christianity had spread.

As we came towards the Piazza we noticed what appeared to be an archaelogical site. The Piazza is built on the site where the Stadium of Domitian (Circus Agonalis), founded in 86 AD, once stood. It could hold approximately 20,000 spectators, which came here to see different athletic competitions. The stadium was re-discovered when they began excavations for a new metro line. They retained the excavations and have a very good exhibition of how the stadium (or Circus) was constructed.

After the Piazza Navona, we negotiated the small streets and a very poor map to the Pantheon not to be confused with the Parthenon in Athens. The Pantheon is a Roman temple dedicated to all the gods of pagan Rome. At the beginning of the 7th century the building was donated to the Pope Boniface IV, who transformed it into a church. Churches are free to get into in Rome. The roof is open and when it rains, there are small holes in the floor that allow the water to drain away.

There were signs around the building stating this was a place of worship and to be quiet and respectful. However, there were a lot of people inside and the noise echoed around the building.

We carried on our walking tour of Rome to the Trevi Fountain. The weather was hot and there is not much room to get a good photo of the fountain. Lots of people, including myself were trying to cool off, putting their hands or hats into the cool waters of the fountain.

The Trevi fountain is the largest fountain in the City measuring approximately 20 meters in width by 26 meters in height. The myth of the Trevi Fountain, originated in 1954 with the movie \”Three Coins in the Fountain,\” goes like this:

• If you throw one coin: you will return to Rome.
• If you throw two coins: you will fall in love with an attractive Italian.
• If you throw three coins: you will marry the person that you met.

In order to achieve the desired effect, you should throw the coin with your right hand over your left shoulder.

Over one million Euros are thrown into the fountain each year and there are signs stating not to take money out of the fountain, as it belongs to Rome.

Finally we got to the Spanish Steps. The Spanish Embassy is located in this square. The Spanish Steps (Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti in Italian) were built at the beginning of the eighteenth century connecting Piazza di Spagna and the Church of Trinità dei Monti.

Ralf went to get some photos from the top of the steps and I waited in the shade. There were a lot of hawkers asking for money. I don’t carry the money when we are on vacation, it was easy to say “I have no money”. My little bag, is not from any fancy fashion house and when I say I have no money they look at my little bag and walk away.

This concludes your Free Walking Tour of Rome.

From the Spanish Steps we took the Metro back to the hostel.

It was very hot and we wanted some gelato. The gelato near the touristy area is more expensive and smaller portions. We waited until we got closer to the hostel and had a huge gelato at our new favorite Gelataria.

We cooked pasta at the hostel and spent the evening chatting to other guests. It was a really nice evening again, although we were told off for making too much noise after 10:00. Reminds me of Dick getting us into trouble at the last GOBA, when we were told to be quiet.