When in Rome… Sorry, had to say it.
Well, Rome was just wonderful! There was so much to see and do. We participated in a couple of tours and also had some great meals out. The first night we went to dinner at a very nice restaurant and had some incredibly good pasta and pizza and wine, finished off with gelato. Yum yum.
We signed up to a tour of the Catacombs of Domitilla, Basilica of San Clemente and Capuchin Crypts, which was so very interesting (and a little bit weird to say the least) especially the Capuchin Crypts. The Capuchin Crypt is a small space comprising of several tiny chapels located beneath the church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini. It contains the skeletal remains of 4000 bodies believed to be Capuchin friars buried by their order. Large numbers of bones are nailed to the walls in intricate patterns, many are piled high among countless others, while others hang from the ceiling as light fixtures. Some are complete skeletons. I really wish we could have taken photos but we weren’t allowed, due to it being a holy place, so here are some links (1) (2) (3). It’s very strange that the bones in the crypts had not completely decomposed, especially bearing in mind some of the skeletons still had skin on the face! The tour guide was really dramatic and said that scientists can’t explain why they haven’t disintegrated, especially when they are not underground and they have been exposed to oxygen and changing air temperatures. Normally bones would have decomposed within a few months (they have been there since 1631), but he said that perhaps they haven’t because there is a bed of consecrated holy dirt from Jerusalem on the ground in each room (he said this with a smirk on his face which kind of ruined the moment!).
As well as this tour, we walked around to see the must-sees! We loved the Pantheon.
On our last day we rose early to go on a tour of the Vatican. I will post this separately as it was too good to be lumped into the one post!
Our Photos
