Rome by Day......

Sunday, 4th July 2010

Our earlier arrangment for the return transfer from Siena to Rome with the company which picked us up at Fiumicino to Siena four days earlier was somehow not confirmed. So the concierge at Hotel Athena arranged for a local company to send us to Rome which turned out to be a blessing actually. It cost 370 Euros instead of 480 Euros as agreed with the earlier company. Our driver and guide, Manuele, had just returned from a month-long holidays in Thailand - and was so excited to tell us his great experience in the Far East. He was full of praise of the hospitality of the Thais and was so surprised at how cheap it was to holiday in Asia. He said he felt that he was living like a king in Thailand - he loves sea-food and said the lobster in Phi Phi island near Phuket cost only 5 Euros as compared to 100 Euros which he has to pay in Siena!

And Malaysia would be his next holiday destination!

It took slightly more than 3 hours to reach our hotel in central Rome. Our hotel, Pace Elvetia, was located in the city centre, within walking distance to almost all the tourist sites. After a quick lunch, we decided to do a walking tour of Rome and below is a photoblog of the sites we covered during the afternoon.

Hotel Pace Elvetia is at Via IV Novembre..

and the Fontana de Trevi is 400 metres away...

one end of Via Nazionale..

one of the main shopping streets of Rome..

just about 100 metres to the right of the hotel..

scenes along Via Nazionale..

an art museum along Via Nazionale..

Palazzo delle Esposizione...

the Bank Negara of Italy...

a little church along the street..

the Via Nazionale is lined by many shops which were having

their summer sales with discounts up to 70%

it was hard to ignore these shops..

a lot of time was spent in the shops...

Piazza della Republica

at the other end of Via Nazionale..

the fountain at the centre of the piazza..

the Termini Stazione, the central train station

of Rome was a short walk from here..

the above 5 pictures were taken at the

San Carlo Quattro Fontane..

an intersection where its 4 corners were decorated

with a sculpture and fountain...

Palermo also had a similarly designed square called

the Quatro Canti...

Piazza Barberini..

the group had agreed to meet up at the Spanish Steps

or Piazza di Spagna before going for dinner...

the Spanish Steps is one of the most popular

tourist sites of Rome..