Of Gods and Men... and Markets

Of gods:
Checked out The Pantheon (meaning: temple of every god). It was once a Roman temple (until the 7th century), then a church dedicated to St. Mary and the Martyrs. The original building (built some time between 27 BC – 14 AD) burnt down, the current structure was then completed by Emporer Hadrian on the same site.

It was cool. Line moved really quick and the inside was impressive. The dome has an oculus (a hole at the centre of the dome) which is the church's main source of light and cooling. Apparently there's a drainage system below the floor that handles the rain that falls through the oculus.

Of men:
Also went to Il Vittoriano (a monument dedicated to Victor Emmanuel - the king dude who unified Italy). Was quite big - in fact it's the biggest monument in Rome. Rather controversial as it's construction meant the destruction of a big chunk of the Capitoline Hill with a medieval neighbourhood. On the upside it had nice views from the top. Decided to pass on the free museum to the sacred flag of Italy inside.

Of markets:
Went to a little arts and craft market in Monti. Some cool things - very hipster vibe which we felt too nerdy lame for.

Of other things:
Oh also saw an interesting column with a decorated frieze winding around it.

Had OK food throughout the day. Pasta for lunch was OK. Then got a big "boat" (container) of fried, breaded anchovies from Zizzi and some funghi pizza from another random place (chef who makes the pizzas at Zizzi didn't come in til later) for dinner. Anchovies were delicious as always. Pizza nothing special. Supermarket gelato was surprisingly good - though hazelnut much better than the weird siciliana trifle flavour.... Don't think we did anything else. Overall a pretty relaxed day of wandering around.Read more