In life you have to make choices. We had one day to spend in Rome and knowing
this, Greg booked a driver to give us an overview tour. We
decided that we would concentrate on old Rome and leave the Vatican for another
time.
Our driver Max Rocca of easitalytours was terrific. While the frenetic Roman traffic buzzed
around outside our car, he calmly and effortlessly drove while telling us what
we were seeing outside our windows. And we
were given time to walk around and explore each of the places that were
highlighted on our tour.
Our first stop was to the Piazza Navona. It’s quite a sight as you approach it through
the narrow street. All of a sudden there
is a beautiful, large open space with three magnificent fountains including the
Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of Four Rivers) by Bernini.
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| On the Piazza Navona |
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| Detail of Bernini's Four Rivers Fountain |
From there we went on to the Pantheon. The
Pantheon was originally commissioned by Marcus Agrippa in 31 BCE and rebuilt by
Emperor Hadrian in about 126 AD. My
photos don’t do justice to this beautiful, graceful building.
Then we had a brief stop to admire Bernini’s Pulcino della Minerva, this nice little
elephant sculpture that holds up one of eleven Egyptian Obelisks found in Rome. Here he is front and back. He sits in front of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, an important Roman Catholic church of the Dominican order.
That’s all for today, folks!
