August 20th : Rome, Italy
Trajan’s Marketplace
Another busy day in Rome. This one felt as little bit cooler, but it was likely due to our choices of attractions. We had somehow managed to miss Trajan’s marketplace during our frequent visits to the central city area, so we addressed it as our first stop after breakfast.
Trajan’s marketplace is opposite the ruins of the Roman Forum on the other side of Via Fort Imperiali, right near Trajan’s column. The museum which preserves this large area is accessed via a smaller utility road, not far from our Hotel.
Once inside, you work your way down five levels to the original ground level, which is below street level.
It is easy to imagine the hundreds (some say thousands) of merchants who would have sold their wares at this location. Some of the stores were inside and even had what would appear to be lockable doors.
At the top, near the main museum are the remnants of an early Roman village which was obviously merged into the marketplace. The view from here is not bad, and many of the rooms, stairs and floor are still in decent condition, given their age.
A lot of the marketplace was roped off though, which is a little disappointing. We did spent a good hour or so there exploring.
Once we had finished roaming the ruins, we walked to Repubblica and caught the Metro to Piazza del Popolo which contains a massive Eqyptian stone column. We walked south from the Piazza to the mausoleum of Augustus (which was undergoing some kind of work and was cleanly inaccessible).
Crossing the Tiber, we headed south west and entered the Castel Sant Angelo which has dominating views of the city and the Vatican. Originally, the Castel was a mausoleum (not unlike Augustus’s) but over the centuries it had been fitted with fortifications, and increased in height.
We spent a good deal of time exploring the many levels before departing and heading north for the Metro. We took the Metro to Spagna station, and walked north into Villa Borghese which is Rome’s largest park land.
We spent several hours walking the tree lined streets looking at monuments, lakes and water features until we snacked on a late lunch. By now we were really starting to wilt, so we started to make our way back to the Hotel.
On the way we picked up some gelato to cool off, and I bought a new pair of shorts (realizing that shorts would be in use every day from this point on, due to the heat).
We again ate dinner locally, up the road from the Hotel, but returned to the previous restaurant (from the previous night) for dessert (Dolci).
After dinner, we returned to the Hotel and prepared our bags for departure the next day. Our next stop: Venice.