Rome, the Eternal City

A Youth Backpacker in Europe

Part II Chapter VII

Rome, the Eternal City

 

If Rome, or Roma in its native language, which is also the phonetic translation of he city in Mandarin language, was not built within a day, then visiting Rome is surely not a one-day affair.

People call this the “Eternal city” because of its uninterrupted history as an important centre of power for more than two millennia. I call this the eternal city because of the energy that sprawls across the city and creeps in slowly in the soul of every visitor. From my experience, the city had never fallen asleep and that was what made it go ad infinitum, or eternal.

Limited by historic importance, Rome is connected by only two underground lines. It seems unattainable, especially during peak hours when the smell of perspiration in the non-air-conditioned and jam packed undergrounds becomes almost unbearable or powerful enough for a massacre order.

However, the good news is with all the major historical Roman Empire structures, for examples, the Colosseo, Palatino and Foro Romano, erected in close proximity  with each other, foot accessibility is highly viable.

In fact, exploring the city by foot should be recommended as there is no other way better than walking to really immerse oneself in the immense energy constantly released by the city. However, with the famous chaotic traffic, the city is surely not a safe place for accident prone travellers.

Although the aforementioned tourist attractions are just a stone throw away from each other, to visit all of  them in a day would be a painful experience. Stayed in Rome for four days, I literally visited the same area of Rome for the first three days just to allow myself to digest the dazzling array of impressive, splendid, magnificent and gigantic structures. I reckon the only battle was sore foot.

However, these are not all. Whether or not I was visiting the Colosseo on that particular day, my ideal beginning of the day was always to stop at Colosseo station, spent time admiring the ancient oval structure whilst accompanied by the fresh start of Rome traffic,  before continued with my remaining agendas.

From the iconic Colosseo, it was extremely pleasant to stroll through the archeologically vital Foro Romano, and then to pass by the giant white Piazza Venezia, and then to arrive at the arguably most visited fountain of the world – Fontana di Trevi, before finally reaching Piazza di Spagna for a taste of high end fashion, or an indulgence of Italian ice-cream.

My Milanese hosts told me to really get see the living  culture of Rome, I have to visit to Trastevere. However, it was unfortunately that I wasn’t able to allocate time for it. That of course I spent half a day visited Lido di Ostia for a taste of equally bitterly cold Tyrhennian Sea in September and also another day with my host in Rome.

However, with Italian pizza so cheaply available at every corner, with a spoilt choice of Italian ice-cream, with a friendly host in Rome, I do not find myself refraining from visiting the city again.

To answer why Rome is always such a buzz to people around to world, you really have to go there to understand the reasons.