{"id":11652,"date":"2012-10-15T20:01:16","date_gmt":"2012-10-15T20:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cncadventures.com\/?p=11652"},"modified":"2020-06-21T20:25:49","modified_gmt":"2020-06-21T20:25:49","slug":"last-day-in-italy-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cncadventures.com\/?p=11652","title":{"rendered":"Last Day In Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rome, Lazio, Italy, Monday, October 15, 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Porta San Paolo<\/p><\/div>\n

Today is the last day of our journey other than the trip home. We knew this day was coming and can honestly say that our emotions are all over the place. We have enjoyed every single place we visited and are still very much enjoying the experience of waking up knowing there is something new to see and discover. We could do this quite a bit longer. On the other hand, we have been on the go for three months straight and it may be nice to sit in one place, rest our stronger yet weary bodies, talk to family and friends, and wear a different outfit!
\nFor the present, we will make the best of today and try to enjoy the last hours we have in Italy. They are calling for heavy rain and it did rain a bit while we ate breakfast. Right now it is just cloudy so we are going to go out and see a little of Southern Rome and let the weather and our mood dictate things from there. We carry our anti rain gear in our day pack as this usually prevents rain and leave our sunglasses here as this usually makes the sun come out.<\/p>\n

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Pyramid of Gaius Cestius<\/p><\/div>\n

We walk about 3 miles to the Testaccio neighborhood of Rome. We get slightly off track along the way but are paralleling the mapped route so it doesn’t cost us too much. Soon we see the pyramid which is the start of our tour of the day.
\nThe pyramid of Gaius Cestius was built in 12BC by a wealthy magistrate who like many of his peers of the day, liked Egyptian architecture. It took almost a year to build and is smaller but proportionate to the pyramids in Egypt. It was incorporated into the Aurelian wall built to defend Rome from attack.<\/p>\n

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Keats Gravestone<\/p><\/div>\n

We are also standing outside Porta San Paolo, one of the 18 original gates of the city. Just beyond the pyramid lies the Protestant Cemetery. This was created in the early 1800s and contains the graves of Romantic poets, John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley, as well as many diplomats including Antonio Gramsci, the first leader of the Italian Communist Party.
\nWe find the poets graves although we cannot claim to be poetic readers. Keats died in his twenties, mostly unknown and wanted to have an unnamed stone, so it just says here lies a young English poet whose name was writ in water. We also find another grave that is dedicated by a Captain to his ships crew who perished. It is a very interesting cemetery with many of the stones telling a short story about the deceased.<\/p>\n

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View of St. Peters<\/p><\/div>\n

Leaving the cemetery, we walk into a quiet neighborhood, with little to no traffic. It is hard to believe we are in a major city. We make a short visit in a modern church and then peak in a keyhole up the street because that is what our walking guide says to do. This address has the symbolic cross of the Knights of Malta so may have been used as a shelter for pilgrims. Looking through the keyhole, you get a beautiful view of the dome of St. Peters Basilica perfectly framed by the arches of the garden. We continue down the quiet lane and turn into the Basilica of Santa Sabina. It was built in 425 over the house of a wealthy Roman matron who was martyred by the sword. It is a large open space with some tombs on the floor. The wooden cypress doors contain some of the oldest wooden reliefs of early Christian times.<\/p>\n

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CNC and Cypress Trees<\/p><\/div>\n

Next to the church we walk into the orange gardens of Parco Sevello. We see more cypress trees than oranges and at the end of the park, there is a sweeping view towards the Vatican all the way around to Rome near the colosseum. We see from this view that the clouds are breaking up and some blue sky is starting to show. That is good as we are enjoying our walk.
\nWe end up above the Circus Maximus, where we decide to walk to the restaurant we like and eat a early afternoon meal in case it rains later. We enjoy another nice meal, possibly our last in Rome, and I read about a few more churches we can see that are not too far from here. Instead of walking the 1.5 miles back to the BNB, we can do about the same distance, see a few more things, and then take the metro back. This is what we opt to do as it allows us to enjoy a bit more of the city.<\/p>\n

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St. Peters Chains<\/p><\/div>\n

We work our way over to the St. Peter in Chains church. The church contains the chains that held St. Peter and a Michelangelo statue of Moses.
\nWe walk along to Via Urbana where after passing it by once, we stop in the church of Santa Pudenziana. This church has now been engulfed by the surrounding neighborhood which is why we missed it on our first pass up the street. St. Peter lived in a house on this site for several years converting a senator and his two daughters Pudenziana and Prassede to the Christian faith. The daughters would help bury the bones of Christian martyrs.<\/p>\n

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Remnants of Jesus Manger<\/p><\/div>\n

We continue on to find the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore. This church was built in the 5th century over an ancient temple. The inside has some spectacular original mosaics from the 5th century. It also has a relic that contains remnants of the manger that baby Jesus lay in.
\nRight around the corner is the small Church of Santa Prassede. It may have been built over her home. Prassede was one of the Senators daughters that St. Peter converted. She helped hunted Christians hide but not all were lucky. Twenty three of these Christians were discovered one day and executed in her presence.<\/p>\n

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Popes Mom Square Halo<\/p><\/div>\n

The Chapel of Zeno in the church has beautiful Byzantine mosaics and was built by Pope Paschal to honor his mother, Theodora whose image is in the mosaics with a square halo indicating she was still living when the work was done. There is also a jasper column relic which is said to be a fragment of the one to which Christ was bound before his crucifixion. We have just seen three beautiful churches that contain relics and mosaics but yet we had them mostly to ourselves. We are maybe a mile and a half or so from the forum and are amazed that these sights are mostly off the tourist radar. It is a nice way to end our day and trip. Having been to Rome before enabled us to wander and see other sights that deserve time which most people do not have when trying to see the major sights of the city. Our explorations fit right in with how we wanted to travel on this trip and we will leave Rome with new memories.
\nMetro ride back to the BNB, we have to go through our belongings, purge some unwanted items, and get ready for our long journey home. Fittingly, it starts to rain extremely heavy around 1900 and we are happy that we ate earlier so we can just stay in. Good night from one of the greatest cities in the world.
\nCNC
\n” We should come home from adventures and perils, and discoveries every day with new experience and character.”- Henry David Thoreau<\/strong><\/p>\n

Expenses
\n3E- Metro from Termini to BNB
\n20E- antipasto Misto, fettuccine bolognese, cannelloni, wine, bread
\n89E- BNB<\/p>\n

Miles Walked – 9.4 Miles<\/p>\n\n\t\t