Tuesday 15 November 2011

Walking around Rome

It is always exciting visiting a city and looking at all the sites, but what I find most enjoyable is wandering around the streets, soaking up the atmosphere, seeing how people live, and how their city looks from day to day.



This is what I enjoyed the most during our stay in Rome. This small street is just round the corner from our hotel and it had interesting shops and lots of eateries and bars where you could sit outside, weather permitting




This is Via della Croce, and I took this photograph while we were having our pre-supper drinks: it had just rained, so the normally busy street was deserted




I love narrow cobbled streets and their mystery



What always hits me anew when I go to Italy is the colours of the buildings




sienna




terracotta




and sometimes a combination of the two




how do they manage to make distressed look like an artform, so pleasing to the eye?



you look closely and it still looks great



you look even closer and it looks better





What could be more beautiful than this?












And then there are the long narrow passages with a fountain at the end, and as you walk towards the fountain you know that it is going to be a courtyard, with apartment blocks surrounding it




this one was just off Piazza di Spagna





and a different view of it





we came upon this one just before crossing the Garibaldi bridge on the Tiber




on a much grander scale this is in the Palazzo Barberini,





or, you walk into a passage and find this





and a closer look.




And the fountains, everywhere you go - this one is at the Palazzo Barberini




this one is around the Via Cavour area




and what about this odd little one? This was on Via del Babuino, between Piazza del Spagna and Plaza del Poppolo





And I love the arches that link the buildings over a street




and the unexpected courtyards that you come upon by pure chance as you are wandering




this was at the Conservatorio di Musica 'S. Cecilia'





Italians love stationary shops and it always is a delight to wander in but aren't the colours in this one amazing?






Bags, purses, pencilcases, albums, and oh those notebooks





and look at all those pens




We crossed the Tiber to get to the Trastevere district





and visited Galleria Alberto Sordi on Via dela Croce on the way back





and what about this? Aren't the proportions absolutely perfect?





We walked up Via Veneto because I had not visited it last time I was in Rome and wanted to see the place where all the celebreties used to hang out all those years ago





and looked in on Cafe de Paris where Fellini used to hang out and where the 'Dolce Vita' was based.








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