Visiting the Domus Aurea with Through Eternity Tours

When I first moved to Rome I lived near the Colosseum and walked through the Colle Oppio park, passing by the ruins of Trajan’s bathhouse, a few times a day.  Shortly after, a section of Nero’s “Golden House”, the Domus Aurea, was opened in the park – then closed  and reopened numerous times.  In the 18 years since, I’ve never been able to coordinate a visit, so when we were invited by Through Eternity Tours on a private, small, walking tour of the site, I accepted without hesitation.

A brief history lesson:

Before the Colosseum was built, the area from the Palatine Hill all the way up the Oppian hill, almost to Santa Maria Maggiore on the Esquiline hill, was residential and considered the countryside.  The big fire of Rome in 64 AD burned this area down and Emperor Nero, taking advantage of a law that gave him the right to reclaim the land, took possession of this vast area and decided to build an enormous palace.  It stretched from the Palatine hill, over the Celian and Oppian hills, all the way to the Esquiline hill.  No one knows for sure how big it was, but estimates are between 100-300 acres.

Nero also commissioned a 35 meter tall, bronze statue of himself at the entrance, called the Colossus Neronis, made to look like a Greek god of the sun, which was so, uh, colossal, that later on in the middle ages people started calling Flavian’s Ampitheater, built after Nero’s death by Vespasian in the middle of what was an artificial lake, the Colosseum.

The Domus Aurea

Needless to say, it was a not only large, but also amazingly adorned.  So much gold leaf that it was called the “Golden House”.  Precious stones, ivory, frescoed walls, mosaics – you name it.

Then:

Now:

After Nero’s death, on the section of the palace on the Oppian hill, where a large part of the palace was, both Titus and Trajan built large bathhouses, filling in the palace with earth that was probably dug out of what is now Trajan’s Forum.  For a long time people thought the ruins of the Domus Aurea were just part of the baths of Trajan, but later it was realised that they were part of something much larger.  And since it was all buried, the frescoes were preserved until they were discovered in the 15th century.

The story goes that a young Roman fell into what he thought was a cave (grotta in Italian) and he discovered the fresco paintings.  Soon after, lots of artists, now considered some of the best artists of the Renaissance, would shimmy down by rope and study the frescoes by candlelight.  This style, later to be called “grotesque”, which comes from the term “grottesche”, or “cave-like”, was a huge inspiration to the renaissance masters.

The Tour

All visitors wanting to tour the Golden House have to do it with a guide by appointment.  Since we went with Through Eternity, our tickets and appointment were all sorted and we entered, put on our hard hats, and got a tour by the site’s employee, with our Through Eternity guide present to add detail, context, and explanations that went beyond the expertise of the staff that lead you around.

The visit is well done – there’s a few videos that help show you where you are and what you’re looking at.  There’s a virtual reality headset that literally puts you in the 2000 year old house, spins you around, takes you outside to feel the sun on your face and see the grass blowing next to you.  It is so incredibly well done that you really feel like you’re there.

Our Guide and guides in general

The best, and in my opinion, essential part, was Enrica, the tour guide who works with Through Eternity.  The amount they show you in the actual Domus Aurea is interesting, and they do a good job explaining what it was and what it looked like and what challenges they face in maintaining it and uncovering more of the art within, but to really have it click, you need someone like Enrica who can frame the visit around a bigger discussion of history and the Roman Empire in general.

After the tour, which lasts about an hour and a half, Through Eternity takes you to the most amazing rooftop terrace overlooking the Colosseum for an aperitivo and drink and further discussion about what you’ve seen and the history of Rome.

Before we had begun our tour, Enrica had brought us to the front of the Colosseum and gave us an overview of the entire area, explaining the changes the area saw from the Roman Republic through the Julius/Agustus line to Nero and up to the middle ages.  This helped a lot when we then went into the Domus Aurea because with all things historic, context is everything.

Afterward, on the terrace, we continued our discussion about history, and about the challenges tour guides currently face.  To be a licensed guide in Rome is no easy task.  It takes a hell of a lot of knowledge and passion, and to be good at it also requires tireless people skills.   Unfortunately, many companies and platforms have tried to capitalise on experiences by making any old Joe a tour guide and selling his time.

There’s a big difference though between someone who wants to make a few bucks by leading tourists around, and someone whose entire life is history and being a professional guide.

The Domus Aurea is a one of a kind archeological site, and Enrica is a one of a kind guide.  I strongly recommend the combo to everyone.  And, of course, organising it all with Through Eternity means you get to do this at the end:

Cross-Pollinate blog readers receive a 10% discount on all Through Eternity tours.  Does not include the Underground Colosseum or Early Entrance Vatican tours.  Use the promo code:  BEEHIVE on their site when making a booking.

 

 

Winter in Rome blogger weekend

It’s easy to conjure an image of Paris, New York, or London in the winter.  But what about Rome?  For most people, it’s a city famous for its piazzas, public fountains and other statues that adorn the city; outdoor monuments like the Pantheon and the Colosseum.  It’s a place to have a long, leisurely dinner al fresco and a coffee at a sidewalk cafe.  It’s true – the summertime in Rome is dreamy, and it’s a living, outdoor museum.  In the summer, the days are long, light is gorgeous, and the sky is always clear and blue.  However, it can also be hot, crowded, and expensive in the summer.

Visiting Rome in the winter is like visiting an entirely different city.  There are a number of relatively unknown advantages, such as cheaper stays, shorter (or no) lines, and some activities and experiences that just aren’t available in other seasons.  And it’s still just as beautiful – we might get some dark, rainy days, but more often than not, the weather is fairly mild and the skies are still clear and blue and the city is just as magical as it is in the summer.

For the last 3 years, to take advantage of empty rooms in our hostel, The Beehive, and to make up for the fact that not many people really have an image in their heads of Rome in the winter, we invite around 10 bloggers and social media experts to come and stay and experience #winterinrome. We put together a weekend of activities, tours, walks, and meals – some that we do ourselves and others from friends and colleagues doing interesting things.  The goal is for these bloggers and social media influencers to spread the word (and images) of what Rome is like in the winter – to help promote our city in the off-season.

Our weekend began with an eat-with-locals dinner experience from BonAppetour, a start-up that makes it possible for you, as a visitor, to score a meal at the home of a local.  I’ve written about a previous experience with them and what they do here.

On Friday we started the day with a great food tour in Trastevere, by Eating Italy Food Tours.  Our guide, Domenico, who also runs Tram Tracks, (an unforgettable, live music/dinner alternate reality experience aboard an old tram), took us around the neighbourhood, tasting all kinds of goodies, from supplì, to the best porchetta and pizza bianca ever, to creme brûlée and vin santo at a restaurant whose wine cellar is 160 years older than the Colosseum!

We then did an e-bike tour around the Roman Forum, Imperial Forum and Colosseum with The Roman Guy, who then took everyone out to find the best cocktails in Rome.

Saturday was vespa day with Scooteroma, visiting street art and covering lots of ground.

Lunch was made back at the Beehive by Viola (my 10 year old sous-chef) and I, and then the group headed back out with Personalised Italy to visit San Giovanni and San Clemente.

That night we had our monthly Storytellers night back at the Beehive, with tales of getting “busted”, and then were treated to a Tuscan dinner, prepared by Pamela Sheldon Johns of Poggio Etrusco.


On Sunday we were taken by Context Travel to the Palazzo Massimo, Rome’s best underrated/unknown museum and saw frescoes and mosaics that date back to the 2nd century BC – we’re talking entire rooms of villas preserved in ways that blow Pompeii out of the water.  This museum deserves an entire post not just for the collection inside, but because it’s an amazing example of how certain sites never make the “bucket list” even though they have some of the most important and insightful works inside.

Lunch was hosted at the Gatsby Cafe at Piazza Vittorio, a laid back, hip, vintage cafe on three levels with food provided by other locals such as Panella, Radici Pizzicheria and Gelateria Fassi – all gems in an area that doesn’t get the acclaim it deserves.

For more information, pics or just to follow along with the rest of group, here’s a list of the bloggers and sponsors that participated:

 

Denya Pandolfi  - Grazie a Te  Facebook & Instagram:  @grazieateblog  Twitter: @denyapandolfi

 

Diana Simon  - Browsing Italy & Browsing Rome:  Facebook, Instagram, Twitter:  @browsingitaly @browsingrome

 

Elyssa Bernard - Romewise  Facebook, IG, Twitter:  @romewise

 

Estrella Gomez  - La Casa Bloga  Instagram: @lacasabloga Twitter:  @lacasabloga

 

Jared Chuba - What If We  Facebook: @whatifweblog  Instagram: @what.if.we Twitter:  @whatifweblog

 

Katie Dawes - The Hostel Girl  Facebook:  @thehostelgirl  Instagram & Twitter:  @the_hostelgirl

 

Natalie Kennedy - An American in Rome  Facebook & Instagram:  @anamericaninrome  Twitter: @natalierae

 

Orna O’Reilly - Travelling Italy  Facebook: @orna.oreilly Twitter: @ornaOR

 

Robyn Woodman - Curated Travel  Facebook:  @woodmanrobyn  Instagram & Twitter: @robynwoodman

 

Saskia Balmaekers & Carola Willemsen - Ciao Tutti  Facebook, Instagram & Twitter:  @blogciaotutti

 

Tom Weber -  The Palladian Traveler  Facebook: @ThePalladianTraveler  Twitter: @tompalladioink

 

Trish McNeill - Go, See, Write - Facebook, Twitter: @goseewrite Instagram: @michaelshodson

 

Viola (our 10 year old sous-chef and helper) took many of these shots.  She can be found on Instagram @ristoviola

 

Scooteroma
Instagram & Twitter:  @scooteromatours

 

Personalized Italy
Instagram & Twitter: @personalitaly

 

Context Travel
Instagram & Twitter:  @contexttravel

 

The Roman Guy
Instagram & Twitter:  @theromanguy

 

Eating Italy Food Tours
Facebook:  @eatingeuropefoodtours
Instagram & Twitter:  @eatingeurope

 

BonAppetour
Facebook:  @BonAppetour
Instagram: @bonappetourofficial
Twitter: @bonappetour

 

Gatsby Cafe
Facebook & Instagram @gatsbycafe

 

Pamela Sheldon Johns
Facebook:  @poggioeetrusco @italian-food-artisans
Instagram:  pamela_sheldon_johns
Twitter: @PamelaInTuscany

Virtual Reality Tour of Rome by LivItaly Tours

I was recently invited to go on a special tour of the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill with LivItaly Tours – special because they’ve added VR glasses/goggles so you can see computer generated recreations of the sites while in them.

We – my 10-year old daughter and I – met with a group of other bloggers at the nearby Caffé Propaganda in the Celio neighbourhood, just next to the Colosseum, where we had a drink and demo of our glasses.

They work with your smartphone through an app you download in advance.  Once at a site, you select it in the app, and it recognises your motion, so as you turn the view changes.

We started off at the Colosseum, talking about how it got its name and the colossal statue of Nero that was once next to it – and that thanks to the VR glasses, we could see again.

Being on a group tour means jumping the substantial line, which even in November was pretty long.

Now, I’ve been in the Colosseum many times, and have had a number of guided tours there too, but for my daughter, despite being born in Italy and living here, this was her first time.  She’s currently studying the Greeks in school, so this was an interesting way for her to connect the dots to the ancient world.  She was full of questions, and our guide, Rachel, was full of answers.  The glasses were appealing to my daughter not only because of the cool/fun factor, but because many of the monuments and ruins from the ancient world require a lot of imagination to see what they were really like, and visualising them with the glasses makes it come to life much easier.

Next we headed up the Palatine Hill, where the emperors had their palaces, and saw over the Circus Maximus, the world’s largest sports arena.

For the final part of the tour, we heading into the Roman Forum, once the downtown of the Roman Empire, and thus, kind of the center of the entire world.

The entire tour probably lasted between 3-4 hours, and we were engaged the entire time.

I’m a big fan of walking tours in general.  There’s a number of quality tour companies in Rome and in general they are all worthwhile – the more you’re able to invest, the more likely you’ll have a smaller group size and a more knowledgeable guide.  Visiting many of these sites on your own, without any additional information or guide, can be an underwhelming experience, so I do recommend doing a tour.

Having the VR glasses was a nice addition too, especially for kids, who can be hard to keep interested.  I also felt that our guide was great with kids too – she was happy to get questions and visibly pleased to be able to answer them in a way that kept more questions coming.

The price of their tours are slightly higher than other similar tours, due to the VR glasses, but you get to keep them afterward, and they work for other sites as well (and for other VR apps).  They also offer a guide that’s full of recommendations that go behind the sites – food, markets, shopping, etc.

For more information, check them out at:

LivItaly Tours 

Skype: livitaly.tours 
Vicolo del Divino Amore 18a, Rome

 

Touring the Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s with Through Eternity

I’m just going to jump in and say it – if you go to the Vatican museums on your own, unguided, you’re wasting your time.

I’ve lived in Rome, on and off at first, for the last 20 years and had been to the Vatican only once.  I suppose part of that is because it’s what happens to people when they live near a tourist site – you assume you can go anytime because it’s right there, and prefer to wait for a time when it’s less crowded, which never happens.   That’s a good explanation for why I didn’t go for the first 5 years of living here.  The reason why I’d never gone back in the following 15 years is because the experience, frankly, wasn’t enjoyable.  I’ve had visits to the dentist’s office that were better.

Does anyone really enjoy the Vatican museums?  I’ve wondered this often as I hear our guests recount the days they dutifully spend there, first in line outside, then being herded through the labyrinthian hallways to catch a glimpse of the Sistine Chapel.  Despite it being on everyone’s must see list, I’d never heard anyone go on about how amazing it was and how they wish they could have more of it.  For the art historian, I can see how it would be like a kid in a candy store.  But for the average Joe, I always wondered what they actually got out of it.

When my wife said she’d booked us on a 5 hour tour of the museums and St. Peter’s with Through Eternity, I first felt that this would be a great opportunity to see if I could finally, with authority, substantiate my negative opinions of the museum.  Then reality hit and I wondered how on Earth I was going to make it through 5 hours of anything.  Then I just gave up worrying about it and went with it, as zen and open as possible.

Spoiler alert – the Vatican is pretty incredible.  However, it’s not an easy museum, and it’s not optimized for its visitors in any way.  And I’m 100% convinced that it wouldn’t have been worthwhile had I wandered through it by myself without a guide.  In the end, we were there 6 hours, and all of it, except the overpriced food, was great.

A visit to the Vatican Museums is a big commitment and as is true with all big commitments, you should be well informed.  For example – know that if you go on your own without booking ahead, you’re looking at a really long wait to get in:

Perhaps an hour?  Maybe more?  As the picture shows, these folks look like they’ve been there a while already, and this line stretches all the way down the street and around the corner.  This is, of course, the line for those who decided to show up without tickets. If you buy your ticket online and print it before arrival, you can jump this queue and go right to the entrance.  From there, visitors are divided into two categories: individuals and group tours.  If you’ve booked a tour with a guide, then you get even further preferential treatment.  We walked straight past the line for individuals and went right in.  I don’t even think we came to a full standstill.  For a museum that gets about 25,000 visitors A DAY, that’s pretty incredible.

Once inside, you’re part of a crush of humanity, all wandering slowly, trying to determine where to put your attention – because there’s so many options.  Our guide, Mario, told us that if you were to spend a few seconds in front of each painting in the entire complex, it would add up to about 25 years.

Here’s the thing – there are some wonderful,  beautiful paintings in the Vatican Museums and if you want to visit unguided, you can stroll around and look at lots of pretty paintings and sculpture on a variety of themes, like Jesus, Jesus and Mary, Mary by herself, the Apostles, Jesus being crucified, Jesus being resurrected…  I think you get my point – Catholicism is the main attraction.  For someone who’s not religious, and doesn’t recognize the characters in the paintings or the stories being depicted, there’s only so much you can take of this.  Maybe I’m just shallow and uncultured, but in the 1500′s it would have been amazing to see a painting that was realistically portrayed of a biblical scene.  It would have been amazing to see a painting of anything that you had never before seen in real life – like a certain city or an animal or maybe the seaside.  Throughout history, paintings were the only way to really see into someone else’s imagination, or a depiction of something outside your reality.

In 2016…  less so.

My point is that I think realistically and honestly, it’s hard for many people to get out of paintings what people got out of them centuries ago.  We’re jaded.  We’ve seen it all – and in full motion, in 3D, and Photoshopped to perfection.  Seeing pretty pictures just isn’t that amazing anymore.  What makes them amazing, and interesting, is to understand them and the time in which they were made and the history behind them.  It’s the technique and how it evolved.  It’s the politics and motivations that surround them.  It’s the life of the artists themselves.  It’s all about the context, and to get that, you either need to study art seriously, or you need a guide.

Mario, our guide, was not only well informed and passionate, but also theatrical and compelling.  Our visit combined the history of art, and how artists cultivated different techniques in different periods, to the history of religion itself and how religion and politics were (and in many cases still are) inseparable.

The visit to the museum, at that point, became a lot more than about just art.  I think to fully understand Western history, you need to understand Rome, and to fully understand Rome, you need to understand its relation to the church.  To understand that, and even more, to see it, you need to visit the Vatican Museums.

Some other tips about visiting the Museum & Saint Peter’s Basilica:

* The food is terrible and overpriced, so bring a pack lunch.  If you leave after the museum to go eat, and then want to visit St. Peter’s, you’ll have to queue again, whereas if you go from the museum to St. Peter’s, you don’t have to.

* Bring little kids – if you’re crazy, a masochist, and/or a glutton for punishment.  It’s just too crowded, too slow going, and too complex for them to enjoy it (in my opinion as the father of 3 daughters).

* Get there by metro or bus.  You could walk, but it’s exhausting to stand for hours in a museum.  Get there on a full tank, because you’ll be leaving on an empty one.

* Don’t forget to wear something that covers or can cover your knees and shoulders.  It’s a sacred place, and God is weird about knees and shoulders.

* You don’t need a passport.  Yes, the Vatican  is technically a separate country, but there’s no border patrol.

* Plan to go up the dome of St. Peter’s.  You can pay to take an elevator from the bottom to halfway, inside of the dome, looking down into St. Peter’s, and then you climb up through the dome itself to the very top.  If you’re into taking photos, this is a must.

* If you want to hear the Pope’s audience on Wednesday or Sunday, get tickets in advance online, come pick them up before, and them come super early to get a good seat (like 5:30 / 6 am).  Francesco is a popular Pope.  He fills the house.

* Most importantly, go by yourself, and you’ll just be spending hours looking at old, pretty pictures.  Book a tour with a well informed guide.

Thank you to Through Eternity who hosted me on this tour.  Through Eternity is one of only a handful of tour companies we have recommended over the years and if you are staying at our hostel, The Beehive, guests there get an additional discount using a promo code.

Alternative London – Street Art Tour and Graffiti Workshop

Both my daughter and I have been to London before.  We’ve seen Big Ben and St. Paul’s Cathedral, have visited the Tate Modern, and have walked the Portobello Road market.  We had a number of nights in London this trip, just her and I, and were looking for something different – something we could do together, and couldn’t do at home.

We were happy to find out about Alternative London and get off the beaten track into one of my favorite neighborhoods,  Shoreditch.  We decided on this particular tour and workshop because we liked the idea of doing and not just seeing.  We wanted to be exposed to something cultural, but also to create something.  Extra points went to the fact that it was one of the most affordable things we did on our trip (£25 per person for a 4/5 hour tour and workshop).

Organized by Alternative London, a local artist’s cooperative who do a variety of artistic tours and workshops – art walks on the streets and in local galleries, as well as bike tours and food/pub crawls.  We booked on-line through their website for an 11am Saturday tour with a meeting point by the Old Street tube station on the Northern Line – easy to get to from anywhere in London (took us about 20 minutes from Soho).

Our guide, Rae, an artist/skater who is clearly passionate and deeply involved in the local art scene, told us all about the history of graffiti and street art, and the differences between the two, in an intelligent, animated, and entertaining way.  She touched on the political and the economic messages without any hint of preachiness.  She was thought provoking and light hearted at these same time.  She was great with her subject, but also great at connecting to all of us on the walk, something that not all guides do well.

After the walk, we took a short break to get something eat, and then after a brief lesson on stencil making, retired to their double decker art bus to get started making our own.

She then gave us a demo of different techniques for spray painting and we took turns on a few boards outside before working on own stencils.

Those of us who wanted, had the option of buying a canvas bag or t-shirt for a few extra pounds, to paint our stencil on.

London  has a lot to offer and the choice of museums alone can be overwhelming.  If you want to do something that supports the local art scene, gives you a street-eye view of what’s going on, and makes you really feel the pulse of the East Side, this is a great, affordable thing to do.

Plus, you get to take home your own handmade, one-of-a-kind souvenir.

Alternative London
The Alternative London Bus
1-3 Rivington St
London
EC2A 3DT
Email: info@alternativeldn.com