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Unloxit 2024
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Unloxit 2024

Some travels both domestic and distant, kicking off with the very first day of the year.. Leia mais
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  • BlogarithmsUnloxit 2024Viajante

    Seven days, seven hills

    5 de dezembro de 2024, Itália ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    My final excursion this year is a week in the Eternal City. Not having been here since the 1970s but having enjoyed it then, I'm keen to see how much has changed and how much hasn't. And I'm looking forward to immersion in its fantastic history. I'm staying in a smart, if somewhat isolated, quarter on the Gianicolo Hill (known to the Romans as the Janiculum and not actually one of the seven hills). The views are glorious and the statue of Garibaldi, the 19th century independence leader, gazes over it.

    There's a fountain on every corner in Rome, from the grand to the humble and including the useful. Down the hill, Trastevere used to be very much the wrong side of the river but has spruced itself up, with all sorts of quiet corners and scenic river views. The colours of late autumn have not yet gone but Christmas is clearly on its way.

    Finally the drain cover "Senatus Populusque Romanus" says it all. By the way. the small cobblestones are called sampietrini after they were first introduced around St. Peter's. They can be a hazard to pedestrians in wet weather and a nuisance to scooter riders (not that as a pedestrian I care too much about them) but are very much part of the scene in a small way.    Leia mais

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  • BlogarithmsUnloxit 2024Viajante

    Walking with celebs

    8 de dezembro de 2024, Itália ⋅ 🌧 11 °C

    What a fantastic place Rome is for name dropping! First, the city of Julius Caesar, Augustus and Titus (in whose reign the Colosseum was completed). Then. Michelangelo, Raphael and Bernini! Some of the classical sites are fenced off for security or restoration to prepare for the Jubilee Year of 2025, but both the Roman and Renaissance creations are magnificent. One of the baroque sculptures seems to be reclining for a selfie. Dog walkers exercise in the grounds of the Castel Sant'Angelo, while seekers of religious relics satisfy a thriving trade.

    Away from the grander monuments, I find a quirky base to an obelisk, one of Rome's best gift shops (which does chocolate as well as coffee) and a flower market where Christmas is in full swing. But not forgetting one of Rome's other communities, "stumbling stones" in the Jewish quarter commemorate a World War II atrocity.    Leia mais

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  • BlogarithmsUnloxit 2024Viajante

    The other side of the tracks

    9 de dezembro de 2024, Itália ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    Rome of course isn't all about the Forum or the Trevi. There's another new world to explore in some less fashionable but equally fascinating quarters such as Testaccio and Esquilino. Street artists are continuing the tradition of Michelangelo and Raphael. After some rain, there's the particularly nice Piazza Vittorio Emanuele and the "Palace of cold" claiming to be the first gelato factory in Rome. The markets are either getting ready for Christmas or getting through an ordinary working day. It's good to wander around the quieter locations as well. There's a great contrast in the memorials to John Keats, the poet who died young, and those to wealthy families.

    And that wraps up 2024. I hope for more of the same next year and that you have enjoyed reading this.    Leia mais

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    Final da viagem
    31 de dezembro de 2024