Rome – seven hills in seven days
Seven hills in 7 days? While we might not have ‚climbed‘ all of the famed seven hills, on which Rome is believed to have been founded in 753 BC, there was definitely plenty of walking and climbing during our trip to the ancient city fron 14 to 20 October – us being 8ab’s group of Latin students accompanied by my dear colleague Branka Vujic and myself. These daily walks to the respective places of interest- which, unfortunately, while not unsurprisingly, also once more proved to be extremely popular with the regular tourist as well – were overwhelmingly greeted with great enthusiasm by our students, despite the fact that for many of them it seemed to be the early morning hours at which, for obvious tactical reasons, we chose to start our excursions,.
Most of our trips in the city, beginning with probably the most famous landmarks of them all, the Colloseum and the Forum Romanum close by, were, thankfully, to enjoy pretty favorable weather conditions, as can be seen from some photos completing this little contribution. The sunny atmosphere surely contributed to keeping our spirits high even when there was some little physical effort involved exploring the place like when we were eagerly climbing the steps to the dome of St. Peter’s not the least to be rewarded with a magnificent view of the city and the surrounding landscape. Some students‘ enthusiasm even went so far as to ask for shorter recreational breaks, such as happened after ascending Pincio, which was to be followed by a leisurely walk down the famous Spanish steps. No minor, temporary setback of a physical nature could keep individuals from soon rejoining the team effort …
That there are also places of interest in or not too far from the city mostly spared from th excesses of mass tourism was once again to be demonstrated for instance by our trips to the catacombs of Domitilla, the Baths of Caracalla and indeed the ancient harbor of Ostia. On the other hand being a school group conveniently afforded us the privilege of gaining fast and easy as well as free access to many of those renowned sights including the said Colloseum, Palatine hill and Forum Romanum, only to mention a few. Not to forget the fact that while meeting the recently elected American pope Leo was not an option students could probably still get a sense for why Vatican city is regardedd the center of Christian worshipping.
All things considered I would guess this meant a worthwhile and memorable experience for everybody participating in the effort.
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