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Travelling with Stabilo #19: Rome Walkabout

经纬游踪 #19: 漫步罗马

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Rome is such an amazing city for travellers. With its history and culture, there is something unexpected and something to see virtually around every corner or every street. The best way to see Rome, of course, is by feet. We stayed in a nice bed and breakfast called Relais Merulana Guest House, which is somewhere between the Roma central station and the Coliseum. There is a subway station very close by. However, we chose to instead walk to the historic centre on foot.

罗马是一个能让游客着迷的城市。每一条街道，每一个角落，都可以让人感受到悠久的历史和深厚的文化。步行游荡才是罗马正确的打开方式。我们住的民宿，Relais Merulana, 位于罗马火车站和斗兽场之间，离地铁站很近，交通非常方便。可是我们还是决定步行去罗马的古市中心。

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Along the Via Merulana, cars are everywhere as it was morning rush hour. Various shops lined the street, selling clothes, coffee, and baked goods. Our first stop could clearly be seen looming in the distance: Basilica Papale di Santa Maria Maggiore. This classic Roman style church is one of the four papal churches (churches owned by the Holy See) in the world, and is the largest church in Rome. In front of the church is an obelisk named the Column of Peace which has a bronze statue of the Virgin Mary up on the top. The front façade of the Basilica was mostly built in the 18th Century, although parts of the 13th century original building remained. A bell tower stood on top, the tallest bell tower in Rome. On the top of the front façade there is a marble statue of Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus, with the statues of St Joseph and the three Wise man behind her.

在 Via Merulana 大马路上车水马龙，充斥着赶着上班的人们。路边的衣服店，面包店，咖啡店，混合着散发去城市的气息。我们的第一站，罗马圣母大殿，就在路的尽头。圣母大殿是全球四座宗座大殿(梵蒂冈圣座直辖教堂）之一，也是罗马最大的天主教堂。在教堂前方有一座名为和平之柱的石柱，柱顶上立了圣母玛利亚的铜像。现所见的教堂立面是十七世纪所建，融合了部分十三世纪的原建筑。教堂上的钟楼是罗马最高的钟楼，钟楼旁的教堂门顶上放了个圣母的大理石像，圣母身后是圣若瑟和三博士。

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The Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore dated back to the 5th Century, and was built on a worshiping site of Pagan origin. As such, some of the parts in the Basilica is very old, for example, the Athenian Marble Columns are believed to be from the original Basilica or possibly before that. There are also various statues, mosaics and frescos depicting Christian stories related to the Virgin Mary. Underneath the altar, there is a room containing the relic of Holy Crib, from Jesus manger. A giant statue of Pope Pius XI kneels before it on the opposite side. Underneath the statue lied the remains of St Jerome. A large part of the ceiling was painted with gold, with elaborate and extravagant decoration covering the arches and domes. The body of Pope Pius V can also be found in-cased in gold in the Sistine Chapel of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore.

圣母大殿的原建筑在五世纪时一个古神庙上改建，因大殿里有很多历史悠久的结构。例如教堂主殿里的大理石柱是在五世纪前已经屹立在此。教堂里有各种各样的雕像，镶嵌和壁画，细诉着圣母玛利亚的故事。祭坛下的地下室安放了圣物 - 圣婴之床，乃为耶稣出生的马槽遗留下来的一部分。圣物对面是教宗庇护十一世跪地的雕像，雕像底下是圣叶理诺遗体埋藏之地。教堂顶部用了金漆和壁画，带出了教堂的神圣和奢华。这里也是教宗庇护五世的镶金的遗体的安放处。

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Coming out from the church, we continued towards the city centre. Narrow lanes and small alleyways branched out from the main street, lined with Palazzo style small apartment and buildings. Little Italian Fiats tightly parked on both sides of the streets, making the already crowded street even narrower. It's exactly what we expect Italy to look like! Every second corner there would be a square or fountain, small but nicely decorated. We had a blast just strolling along the footpath.

从大殿出来，我们继续往市中心进发。狭窄的巷子和小径从大路分支出来，巷子的两边都是欧式风格的小楼放。本已拥挤的小径因停满了参差不齐的菲亚特小车而更加狭窄。这和我们想像的意大利简直是一模一样！差不多每个街角都会有个简洁漂亮小广场或小喷泉。就这样在罗马的街上闲逛真的是一种享受！

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Eventually, we reached one of the most famous and apparently most overrated attraction of Rome, the Spanish steps. The Spanish steps is essentially a set of all white, aesthetically pleasing steps in the middle of Rome. Its name originated from the fact that it was built to provide access to the Bourbon Spain Embassy on top from the Palazzo Monaldeschi below, which was part of the Holy See in the 16th Century when the staircase was built. For us, it was especially overrated, as it was under maintenance and we couldn't even go on it. However, that didn't stop tourists standing around at the bottom of the staircase doing selfies with the famous landmark. At the top of the stairs, we could get a reasonably good view of suburban Rome, with domes and red roofs scattered around the city.

我们走到了一个世界一流却虚有其名景点，西班牙阶梯。这是在罗马市中心的著名阶梯，在十六世纪为连接山上的西班牙领事馆和山下附属梵蒂冈圣座的广场而得名。这是看上去很普通的台阶，而且因维修而封闭了。可是台阶下还是有很多游人在跟这些楼梯自拍。西班牙阶梯顶部的风景不错，可以看到散落在罗马各处的圆顶和红屋顶。

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Following Via del Babuino, a street famous for luxury label stores such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Gucci, we reached Piazza del Popolo, one of the main squares in downtown Rome. There were two fountains with statues on them, standing on the east and west side of the square. The obelisk at the centre of the square dates back from the 10 BC and was originally from ancient Egypt. Piazza del Popolo is literally the Square of the People, and many people were here to relax. There was even a bubble maker entertained children and adults alike by making huge and beautiful bubbles. We walked uphill to the Pincio Terrace above the square, which offered an amazing view of Rome, with a straight line of sight to the magnificent St Peters Basilica. It was really nice to be able to look at the bustling city and its unique architecture from above.

沿着Babuino 大道，经过无数的香奈儿，LV, Gucci 等名牌店，我们到达了罗马人民广场。这大广场上的东边和西边都建了喷泉互相呼应，而广场中间的方尖碑是公元前十年从埃及来的遗硛。人民广场上有很多游人和市民在游玩休息，我们还看见了有人吹大泡泡娱乐大众。从广场可以爬楼梯到达山腰的Pincio 平台，在这里可以饱览罗马的风景。在这里的正前方就是梵蒂冈的圣彼得大教堂。从高处观看这个生生不息的现代古城真是别有一番滋味。

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Our next stop was the Trevi Fountain in the middle of the city. We have heard things above how crowded it is, and indeed, when we got there it was so crowded that it was actually pretty hard to get close to or get a good view of the fountain. The architecture though was pretty amazing. We have seen a fake version in Seoul, South Korea, but the real deal is many times better. All the details in the different statues decorating the fountain is magnificent and viewing the fountain at different angles gives offers a unique interpretation of the architecture. The Trevi Fountain was built in the 16th Century, and its name indicates its location at the junction of three roads. Another square that is as beautiful is the Piazza Navona, a long rectangular plaza located closed to the River Tiber. Three beautiful fountains stand at the centre and the two ends of the square, and it is the perfect place to sit down at a café, have a sip of coffee and watch the world go by.

下一站是许愿池，另一个著名景点。许愿池旁人头涌涌的，花了九牛二虎之力才挤到水池边。许愿池的确是一个首屈一指的建筑，真身比之前在首尔看到的假许愿池漂亮多了。水池上大理石像栩栩如生，在不同角度可以看出不一样的感觉。许愿池意大利语的名字是三路交界的意思，因为这水池正好在三条道路的交接点。除了许愿池，罗马还有一个很漂亮的广场，叫纳沃纳广场。这个在台伯河附近的长方形广场有三个喷泉，分别在广场中心和两则。非常适合在广场上一边喝咖啡一边休闲的看着人来人往享受人生。

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Our last stop of the day was the Pantheon, an ancient Roman temple dedicated to all gods built in the 31 BC. It is one of the best-preserved buildings from Ancient Rome. In front of the Pantheon we see people waving flags and holding up signs. It looked they were holding a protest which is quite a sight to see. Inside the perfectly circular temple was statues dedicated to various people, including the tomb of the famous painter Raphael. The perfectly circular dome has a circular hole on top that allows sunbeam to shine at the centre of the temple at mid-day. Unfortunately, at this point my camera ran out of battery, and I wasn’t able to capture any of the spectacular design in the interior of the temple.

我们最后一站是万神庙，一个建于公元前三十一年的古罗马神殿，是保留得最完整的古罗马建筑之一。万神庙前刚好有人高举横幅游行抗议，十分有趣。正圆形的神殿里有个正球形的顶，顶上正圆形的洞让阳光在正午十二点时可以射到神殿的正中央。神殿里有好几座石像纪念不同的人，包括被埋在这里的大艺术家拉斐尔。可惜走到这里，照相机没电了，只好默默的用眼睛用力记录这神殿里令人赞叹的设计。

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At the end of the day, after hours of walking we felt tired, but happy and satisfied. It was an amazing experience to walk through Rome and experience to history and culture that the city can offer. There were still a lot of architecture, ruins and squares that we didn’t have time to visit and would love to be able to come back again. They say that if you face away the Trevi Fountain and throw a coin, you will be able to come back to Rome only if the coin lands in the fountain. Well, we threw a coin backwards and with a splash, it landed right into the fountain. So I guess Rome, we will see you again someday.

走了一天，我们非常疲惫，也非常开心满足。能够这样漫游罗马感受这个古城的一切还是挺幸运的。我们有很多地方没有时间去，所以还是很想再回去的。他们说，在许愿池拿着硬币往后抛，如果硬币掉进水池就可以再回罗马。我们把硬币一抛，果然扑通一声进水池去了！所以，后会有期吧，罗马！

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