Rome For Travellers

Are You a Tourist or a Traveller?

The vast city of Rome, wrapped in a cloak of antiquity and shaped around the renowned river Tiber, is a city which throbs with people. On trains, busses, cars, and planes, the daily influx pours into Rome. Rome is a hub and an axis for the whole of Italy. Centrally placed in the country, international visitors arrive in Rome whether their destination is the north to Tuscany and on to the lakes and the mountains, or whether they head south to the famed Amalfi Coast and the azure seas of the Mediterranean.

The Roman Forum

But it is not just tourists and workers who pour into Rome; - it is native Italians also. Italians come to Rome to see for themselves the history and the culture of this ancient city. For not only is Rome a hub, Rome is also a destination in itself - perhaps one of the most famous tourist destinations on earth.  The magnificent structures of the past, so well preserved, so well known, draw tourists and travelers from every country of the world, and from the far corners of Italy,  - all coming to experience the city of Rome and its famous and historic structures.

Castel Sant Angelo

 The Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps - all so well known, so familiar from tv, from movies, from computer - from Wikipedia… This is a city of history where around every corner and on every horizon there is another towering dome, another ancient church, a two thousand year old wall, a colonnade of crumbling columns as tall as a four storey building.

Galleria Alberto Sordi

Everywhere tourists pour over small maps, peer at cell phone screens, follow flag waving tour guides. But this  microcosm of antiquity in the centre of Rome is so concentrated that a  map is scarcely necessary. Every corner, every street and every piazza holds another ancient edifice to experience and admire.

Ponte Sant Angelo

If the tourist hubbub is not for you, turn off from the main pathways and take a side street. There will always be something new to discover. Or stop for a while at a street-walk cafe and take the time to people-watch over a glass of wine or a bite to eat. Breathe in the air of Rome. Become one with Rome. Fall in love with Rome - as so many others have done before and will do again.

pippy.mccurdy@gmail.com
www.unusualstays.com ( A New Zealand Blog of unique places to stay)