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Urba eterna or "eternal city"
Rome. It differs from other European key cities (London, Paris, Berlin)
very much. Rome as a much older and world wars escaped city holds large
historical heritage from ancient times when it was metropolis even by
modern standards (historicists say that in Rome was at least 1-2 million
people at ancient times). You can see it on every step - city center is
full of ancient ruins appearing here and there - between the buildings, in
the middle of parks, even besides the railway lines. I got impression that
Romans have built their city through centuries in conformity to these
ancient relics, maybe that's why dominant colours are brown, dark red and
dark yellow, and even in newer appartment houses far from the city centre
they tries to comply with these rules. That makes Rome looking very
coherent but also a bit stagnating - creates the feeling it's the city
with rich past but without the future. Definitely, this is not the place
for talented architect to experiment with his ideas - Rome hasn't almost
any modern architecture and it hasn't almost any highrises too. But it's
all belonging to the feeling of Rome - old, authentic stuff which hates
antything new and progressive. Rome doesn't need skyscrapers to overawe -
the imperial history and it's relics does it much stronger.
Buildings' maintenance mostly is in bad or medium condition, but the city
is quite clean compared to other large cities. Tourists in Rome are
everywhere, bearing in mind that November isn't considered as tourism
season there, I wonder how the city looks in summer. Sadly, the beggars
also are everywhere - haven't been in city with so many beggars before.
Traffic is just crazy, noone pay much attention to the signal lights -
neither drivers nor walkers. The good thing is that there are many panda
crossings. I didn't see traffic jams too. Regarding to public transport,
Rome has only 2 metro lines and trains are always full of people, because
they goes through Termini central station. The transport with main (Fiumicino)
airport is very good, express trains leaves every 30 minutes. Fiumicino
airport itself is great organized - although very large, it is
intelligible. People in Rome are nice but maybe not as kind as in other
countries where I've been.
In overall, Rome is a very great city which provides many both impressive,
and charming places, lovely weather (especially in October-November) and
just a glimpse of the Western civilization roots. Strongly recommended!
 Classing by points. ROME.
Amount of must-see places: 5/5
Historical architecture: 5/5
Modern architecture: 1/5
Nature: 3/5
Parks: 4/5
Safety: 4/5
Public transport system: 4/5
Walking comfort, traffic: 3/5
Eating: 3/5
Weather: 4/5
People: 4/5
Maintenance of buildings: 3/5
Cleanness of streets: 4/5
Overall feeling: 13/15
Total points:
60 of 80
ROME PHOTO GALLERY! |
