Perspectives of a Canadian in the Old/Deep/New/Geographic South: This is where I ramble on about nothing in particular and post a few nice pictures.
Travel posts
A few blocks away from Rome’s Termini train station is the Papal Basilica of St Mary Major (Santa Maria Maggiore).
A circular plaza with a central obelisk and fountain provides a nice place for hanging out and selfie opportunities.
Inside the Basilica, it’s very big and also very beautifully decorated.
Over the front entry is a large very nice stained glass window (people for scale)
The adoration chapel
In the confessio
One more papal basilica to visit.
The Basilica of St. Paul Outside-The-Walls (Basilica di San Paolo Fuori le Mura) is located (not surprisingly) outside the walls of the original Rome, and is built on top of where St. Paul is buried. There’s a metro stop just a couple blocks away, so the Basilica is pretty easy to get to.
Going through the front entrance puts you into a nice little garden square with a large statue of St Paul in the middle.
Inside, the Basilica is very long, and like all the churches in Rome, beautifully decorated. On the walls just below the ceiling are mosaics of all the Popes, with the current pope lit up by a spotlight.
I counted about a dozen or so empty spots for future popes. Not sure what happens when those are all filled up.
In the Confessio beneath the main altar, you can see one side of St. Paul’s sarcophagus, and a length of chain that is supposed to have bound St. Paul.
There’s also a gift shop/book shop here, a little cafe where you can get some food and drinks (including beer…how many churches can you say you’ve had a beer at?!). There’s also an archaeological dig/exhibit, but it wasn’t open when we were there. Looked like it would have been pretty interesting to go through. Near the Basilica is an archaeological dig of a necropolis which looked pretty interesting through the fence.
Definitely worth adding to the list of places to visit when you’re in Rome.
I think the first time I saw the Trevi Fountain was in Roman Holiday. Looked like a pretty neat place in the movie.
We passed by the fountain on our second evening in Rome and stopped to take a few pictures. It was a good deal more crowded than it was in the movie.
The fountain is a pretty impressive looking structure, and pretty large. With all the people around, it’s kind of difficult to get too close for a good look at some of the sculptures.
Near the end of our trip, we stopped by the fountain again to see what it looked like in daylight. Just as nice, just as crowded.
The piazza around the fountain teeming with people. I can only imagine what it’s like during the height of the tourist season.
St. Peter’s Square/Oval is impressive. It’s big, it’s grand, it’s busy, and there are lots of things to see.
I’m in St. Peter’s Oval! (couldn’t find the Square) pic.twitter.com/MUHbQJaCoO
— imabug (@imabug) November 28, 2015
To get into St. Peter’s Square required passing through security check points and sending things through x-ray scanners (like at the airport). Once inside, the square (really an oval shape) is pretty big. The size of the “arms” that wrap around most of the square make it seem not as large though, but you could definitely fit a few football fields in there comfortably.
While you’re busy looking up and admiring all the sculptures at the top of the arms looking down on the square, don’t forget to look down. In a few places you’ll see stone medallions embedded in ground marking various things. Around the central obelisk are markers for 8 cardinal compass points, while slightly off to either side of the obelisk are markers that indicate the center point of each of the arms.
There are also markers for the astrological signs, positioned where the shadow of the obelisk falls at noon of the day each sign starts.
A marker marks the spot where Pope St. John Paul II was shot
The Basilica is huge. HUGE. You can find plenty of stats and lots of pictures about it online, but it’s one of those things that until you see it in person, it’s hard to appreciate the enormity of the place. Seriously, it’s really big.
Look at all the tiny people!
Everything in the Basilica is just stunningly beautiful. Murals, sculptures, paintings, everything. Take your time wandering around.
The feet of the statue of St. Peter are pretty worn from people rubbing them.
The main altar, built over top of the tomb of St. Peter. The baldichin (the canopy over the altar) is 20m tall!
If you can, make sure to go on the Scavi tour (the necropolis underneath). It’s quite a fascinating tour that takes you beneath the Basilica and to the tomb of St. Peter. You need to book it well in advance and the tours are limited to small groups.
It’s also worth the effort to climb up to the cupola at the top of the dome of the Basilica. Tickets are pretty inexpensive, and for a little bit extra you can pay for the elevator ride up to the dome level and climb the stairs the rest of the way. Totally worth it I think. It’s a lot of steps to climb even after the elevator, but it’s definitely worth the effort.
The churches in Rome are without a doubt, spectacular and breath-taking. Even the simplest and smallest churches there that I saw made the ones I’ve seen here in the US seem plain looking by comparison.
We visited the four papal basilicas, the Pantheon and stopped in at a few random churches we happened to be walking by. It’s not hard to find a church in Rome. They’re more numerous than Starbucks in the US. Seriously, you can’t walk past more than a few buildings without encountering a church.
One of the first churches we wandered in to was Basilica dei SS Ambrogio e Carlo on Via del Corso.
Most of the other churches were similarly decorated. If you leave Rome without having stepped into a church or two, you’ve missed out on admiring a lot of artwork.