Day 2

What a busy day it was! Having a free Saturday in Rome was most definitely a wonderful experience, and the shenanigans that were had were wonderful! I have to say, after we had finally finished our 10 hour day, my feet felt like they were going to fall off!

After having an early start, a small group of us headed off to the metro station to go to the Via Appia (part of the ancient Roman triumphal route). After successfully catching the metro to San Giovanni Baptiste; Ash, Marianne and I headed to go and have a look at the magnificent church. The scale of the building is just massive, and frankly, quite overwhelming! The ceilings were impossibly high, and the grandeur of the place was just unreal. The beauty of the building was really quite phenomenal. After ogling at the building’s vastness, we went and had a coffee. Well, actually, I had my first hot chocolate and it was absolutely delicious! The cup it came in was more like a bowl than a cup.

We managed to finish our hot chocolate just before the bus to the Via Appia arrived, but we then realised that we had no idea where to get off! So, I asked a little old lady for help and she then referred us on to her friends sitting behind her and soon the whole bus was giving us directions and trying to help us! It’s also quite lovely how excited people get when they hear that you are from Australia. We managed to get off the bus a short walk from the information point, which was quite handy considering the long trek we had in front of us. We each hired a bike from the information point and headed up the Via Appia to the Church of San Sebastiano. I really must note that I had not ridden a bike in about 10 years, so it was quite an experience. My legs are now incredibly bruised from failing at dismounting and pedalling! Marianne and Ash had a great time laughing at my inevitable inability to ride a bike properly! But, after about 20 minutes I got the hang of it a bit better- I’d forgotten how much fun it was!

When we reached the church we had a tour of the Christian catacombs built underground, and learnt of the legend of San Sebastiano and saw his crypt which is in the church. Although it was much smaller compared to the previous churches we had seen, it still had a beautiful reverence and was full of beautiful artworks including a Bernini sculpture, and another by one of his pupils.

We went on further down the road and finally reached the real Roman road! I have to say it was an amazing experience being able to stand on the road on which so many of the people I have studied had ridden after a huge victory! So, of course we did what any self-respecting Classics student would do and took photos of our own triumph on the Via Appia.

We travelled a little further up, caught a glimpse at the tomb of Cecilia Metella (but didn’t have enough cash to go in), saw an old abandoned mediaeval church and then headed back to the information point. After returning our bikes, we backtracked about 40 metres up the road to the Church of Quo Vadis, where Saint Peter apparently saw an apparition of Christ, who he asked ‘Quo vadis domine?’, to have Christ reply ‘Back to Rome to be crucified a second time’. Saint Peter apparently saw footprints of Jesus on the ground, and thus the Church of Quo Vadis was built around that point.

Then, we headed back to Rome to see more beautiful monuments, but first we had lunch at a nice little place near the Colosseum. In this afternoon we; saw the Colosseum, a bit of the Forum (it had closed just 15 minutes earlier!), the Arch of Titus, the Arch of Constantine, Trajan’s Column, the Pantheon, a few more churches, and Plaza Novana (built on top of Domitian’s Circus). We also managed to squeeze in a little bit of shopping before heading back to the British School. However, the day wasn’t quite over!

We headed out to dinner to a restaurant called ‘La Carbonara’ (we ended up catching a taxi in a group of four- we were just too tired to walk anymore!) and the food was absolutely amazing. So, after a delicious meal and a glass of wine, it was finally time for bed!