After having a look at the Colosseum we were to proceed to Vatican City . Transit from Colosseum to Vatican City was termed as "Panoramic tour"of the city . As mentioned we drive around and see whatever is there to see :-).
Lot of "No Entry" and "One Way" traffic boards come in handy and you cover lot of distance in going to a place which may be much closer :-)
So, let me take you on a Panoramic Sight Seeing Tour of Rome .Tour Manager is also supposed to double as guide. He was mostly on the mobile phone . What ever information is given about the sights is "googling " efforts of your's truly.
Just out side the Colosseum is The Arch of Constantine (Italian: Arco di Costantino) .
I choose to include photo of Temple of Venus & Roma mainly because of the inner architecture of the dome . It very very powerfully reminded me of the domes of Golconda , Bijapur and many more Indian structures.It can be seen just across the road on the East of Colosseum.Huge columns seen in background were part of ruins of Roman Forum.
Major land marks , ( on my side of the coach, you see due to curtains on the windows and the speed it was not possible to cover 360 degrees of view) during this panoramic tour are given below .
About one and half Km North of Colosseum ,was Basilica Saint Mary - Santa Maria Maggiore. A beautiful monument .
Lot of "No Entry" and "One Way" traffic boards come in handy and you cover lot of distance in going to a place which may be much closer :-)
So, let me take you on a Panoramic Sight Seeing Tour of Rome .Tour Manager is also supposed to double as guide. He was mostly on the mobile phone . What ever information is given about the sights is "googling " efforts of your's truly.
Just out side the Colosseum is The Arch of Constantine (Italian: Arco di Costantino) .
Click to see full photo.
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| Erected to commemorate the victory of Constantine over Maxentius , 312 CE |
Click to see full photo
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| The Arch is 21 m high 25.9 m wide and 7.4 m deep.Central Arch is 11.5 m high and 6.5 m wide. Side arches are 7.4 m and 3.4 m . |
Click to see full photo.
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| Temple of Venus and Roma as seen from Colosseum. Click to see full photo. |
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| Another view on Temple of Venus & Roma. |
I choose to include photo of Temple of Venus & Roma mainly because of the inner architecture of the dome . It very very powerfully reminded me of the domes of Golconda , Bijapur and many more Indian structures.It can be seen just across the road on the East of Colosseum.Huge columns seen in background were part of ruins of Roman Forum.
Major land marks , ( on my side of the coach, you see due to curtains on the windows and the speed it was not possible to cover 360 degrees of view) during this panoramic tour are given below .
About one and half Km North of Colosseum ,was Basilica Saint Mary - Santa Maria Maggiore. A beautiful monument .
Click to see full photo.
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| Besilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. |
About one to two Km S-SW from Colosseum : Basilica of St John Lateran.
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| Hazards of photoing from moving coach :-( |
About one to two Km W-NW from Colosseum : Church of Santa Maria di Loreto and Trajans Cloumn.
A check on google images reveals that the Church of Santa Maria di Loreto is a beautiful monument from outside as well as inside.Where as Trajans column is a marvel of construction.Built to commemorate the victory of Emperor Trajan,it is 125 ft high . Has a diameter of 11 ft,with internal staircase giving access to viewing platform at the top.Outer surface of the column is engraved with Roman history.
Within 100 meters of the above is a monumentally massive monument of monumental beauty is monument of Victor Emmanual II..I am adding two photos. one to show hazards of photoing from moving coach another even good photos can also be taken from moving coach.
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| Bad photo. |
click to see full photo.
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| Good Photo :-) |
This massive monument in white marble was built to honour Victor Emmanuel II , the first king of unified Italy.The structure is 443 ft wide and 266 ft tall . Relative sizes of tourists and the structure gives a fair idea if the hugeness of the monument . It has huge equestrian statue of Victor Emmanuel , two statues of Goddess Victoria riding a chariot drawn by four horses, many other statues , bass relief's and fountains .
As the monument was going out of view , on a hill of modest height , another monument came in view. This I found was Captioline Hill . This the , the smallest but most sacred and important of the seven hills of Rome.In ancient past it had many famous and beautiful temples . Around 15oo Pope paul III commissioned Michelangelo to build grand structure to indicate new spirit of Rome . The temple , Places and strustures today house museums.Two photos taken through the wind-shield given below.
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| Capitol, Rome. |
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| Capitol, City hall & Museums, |
A little while after we had passed the Capotoline Hill and gone about couple of kilometers we approached Victor Emmanuel II bridge across river Tiber . On the other side was a towering cylindrical building . It is Mausoleum Of Hadrian or more commonly known as Castle Saint'Angelo.Two photos of this majastic structure :_
Click to see full photo.
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| Saint Angelo Castle & Saint Angel Bridge. |
Click to see full photo.
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| Some restoration work is going on. |
While going over the bridge I clicked this massive sculpture ,
Click to see full photo
Research indicated that this is one of the four massive allegorical travertine sculptures on the bridge . Google images shows the bridge with all the four sculptures as also four columns with statues at either ends of the bridge . The bridge was worth a leisurely stroll .
In fact each and every monument shown and described above deserved a guided tour of sufficient duration . Any way it was brought home to us that in a "Group Tour" one can not have every thing . And this awareness was to remain with us throughout the tour.
After this next stop was Vatican !!!
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