OMNES VIAE ROMAM DUCUNT
Page 32 No 15 , Year 15 , May 2018
OMNES VIAE ROMAM DUCUNT
A short phone call was enough to make an agreement . Let ' s go to Rome ! The three days before departure we spent making plans . What each of us would take , what we should wear , which are the best walking shoes , what we would eat ... All three of us have been to Rome before . It is interesting that when you once visit this city , you wish even more to come again . It is so wonderful . It is not said in vain that all paths lead to Rome . And our way led us . As our journey was a pilgrimage as well , we returned home with full heart and soul . We hope we will be able to share a bit of the spirit with you .
After our arrival the first sights to see were The catacombs of St . Callixtus and locations where Christians used to meet during the time of the persecution of the Church . Before entering the catacombs we put on some more clothes because it is always 18⁰ Celsius there no matter what outside temperature is . The catacombs are considered to be the cradle of Christianity and Early Church . Painting , sculpture and epigraphy offer us the most valuable material to learn about the customs and life of early Christians .
It was hot , very hot . What else could we expect in August ? We found solace / rescue in drinking water which is to be found everywhere in Rome . Fountains are definitely Rome ' s speciality . There are more than two thousand of them . The most famous is the Fountain of Trevi . Although we are not superstitious , we threw a coin in the fountain , to come back again . It is said that people throw around 3000 € in the fountain on daily basis and Caritas employees use the money to buy food and to help the poor . There are also fountains at Piazza Navona , one of the most beautiful squares in Rome . We could not make up our minds . But out of four basilicas , we agreed that the most magnificent one was Saint Paul ' s outside the walls . We visited it the first day . There we also met armed forces which you can see at every corner . The reason for that is unfortunately a great number of terrorist attacks in Europe . At the entrance to every famous landmark you go through a very rigorous control . Regardless of this we felt safe . We heard that everything was expensive . In the end we were pleasantly surprised with the prices that are almost the same as in other European cities .
When you walk through Rome , it is like travelling through time . It is like walking through history , art or religion textbooks ... But it is not all about the stone . It is Italians who give life to all those buildings and sites . We spent our free time sitting at the squares absorbing the life itself . We tried their specialities , we bought nice souvenirs and made a lot of photographs . Selfie stick was very useful . Rome is equally beautiful during the day and in the night time . It is crowded with tourists from all over the world . It is the meeting point of different cultures , times and religions ...
A special experience was the Audience with the Holy Father Francis at St . Peter ' s Square . After all , you cannot come to Rome and not see the Pope . We visited the pope crypts and prayed at Pope John Paul II tomb . We also visited Croatian papal institute of Saint Jerome and we met Croats who study there . We visited The Capitoline Hill , the smallest hill of Rome , Forum Romanum , Palladium Hill , Monument of Victor Emmanuel II , Pontifical Gregorian University , Spanish Steps . We also visited Moses by Michelangelo , Colosseum , Castel St . Angelo , Pantheon , four Basilicas ...
The program was pretty dense . We mentioned just a part of what we have experienced . It is all more grand and colossal in nature than on photographs . We hope that you will also visit Rome one day and fall in love with the eternal city . And we are looking forward to our next adventure .
Text and photographs by Gordana Aralica , Željka Maršanić and Lorina Aido / Translation by EE journalists