.... and I haven't heard a church bell!
Took the bus to The Spanish Steps and following the directions given by the lady in the ticket kiosk got off after 7 stops but we were no where near it - obviously the bus did not stop at all of the stops so our 7 was more like 10!
I don't think anyone went to Church this morning as everyone seemed to be where we were as most sights were very well populated.
Having climbed up the 138 steps the obvious thing to do is to climb down them so we did taking in the sights around the Piazza di Spagna as we did so.
Following a walking tour we had picked up we then made our way to the Trevi Fountain for another spectacular sight of both monument and people.
Leaving the Trevi Fountain we moved on to the Pantheon an awe inspiring incredibly well preserved building cum church which was built in 118AD.
The concrete dome has an oculus which is the only light entering the Pantheon (apart from the front doors) and the engineering of the dome was a truly incredible feat and remains the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome - interestingly we saw a TV programme last night on the Pantheon and a professor from Otago Uni along with another from somewhere else in the World have recently done some study on the construction of the Pantheon and published some research paper.
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| The oculus |
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| Inside the Pantheon |
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| Sherry outside the Pantheon |
In the near vicinity is the Piazza Navona which has been built on the site of an ancient stadium and which has taken the shape of that stadium - all around the piazza are buildings of Baroque architecture.
The final stop on the walk was the Campo de Fiori which during the week is the famous open air market but being a Sunday there were a few arty stalls - we hope to go back on Tuesday to take in the atmosphere of the fruit and vegetable market
Buon Sera
