Openshaw Gene - Rick Steves Rome 2013

2013

Rick Steves & Gene Openshaw

National Museum of Rome

Roman Forum

Dining near the Pantheon

Since 1973, Rick Steves has spent 100 days every year exploring Europe. Along with writing a bestselling series of guidebooks, Rick produces a public television series (Rick Steves' Europe), a public radio show (Travel with Rick Steves), and an app and podcast (Rick Steves Audio Europe); writes a nationally syndicated newspaper column; organizes guided tours that take over ten thousand travelers to Europe annually; and offers an information-packed website (www.ricksteves.com). With the help of his hardworking staff of 80 at Europe Through the Back Doorin Edmonds, Washington, just north of SeattleRick's mission is to make European travel fun, affordable, and culturally enlightening for Americans.

Connect with Rick:

facebook.com/RickSteves

twitter: @RickSteves

Gene Openshaw is a writer, composer, tour guide, and lecturer on art and history. Specializing in writing walking tours of Europe's cultural sights, Gene has co-authored 10 of Rick's books and contributes to Rick's public television series. As a composer, Gene has written a full-length opera (Matter), a violin sonata, and dozens of songs. He lives near Seattle with his daughter, and roots for the Mariners in good times and bad.

2013

AVALON
TRAVEL

Rome is magnificent and brutal at the same time. Its a showcase of Western civilization, with astonishingly ancient sights and a modern vibrancy. But if youre careless, youll be run down or pickpocketed. And with the wrong attitude, youll be frustrated by the kind of chaos that only an Italian can understand. On my last visit, a cabbie struggling with the traffic said, Roma chaos. I responded, Bella chaos. He agreed.

While Paris is an urban garden, Rome is a magnificent tangled forest. If your hotel provides a comfortable refuge; if you pace yourself; if you acceptand even partake inthe siesta plan; if youre well-organized for sightseeing; and if you protect yourself and your valuables with extra caution and discretion, youll love it. (And Rome is much easier to live with if you can avoid the mid-summer heat.)

For me, Rome is in a three-way tie with Paris and London as Europes greatest city. Two thousand years ago the word Rome meant civilization itself. Everything was either civilized (part of the Roman Empire, Latin- or Greek-speaking) or barbarian. Today, Rome is Italys political capital, the capital of Catholicism, and the center of the ancient world, littered with evocative remains. As you peel through its fascinating and jumbled layers, youll find Romes buildings, cats, laundry, traffic, and 2.7 million people endlessly entertaining. And then, of course, there are its stupendous sights.

Visit St. Peters, the greatest church on earth, and scale Michelangelos 448-foot-tall dome, the worlds tallest. Learn something about eternity by touring the huge Vatican Museum. Youll find the story of creationbright as the day it was paintedin the restored Sistine Chapel. Do the Caesar Shuffle through ancient Romes Forum and Colosseum. Savor Europes most sumptuous building, the Borghese Gallery, and take an early evening Dolce Vita Stroll down Via del Corso with Romes beautiful people. Enjoy an after-dark walk from Campo de Fiori to the Spanish Steps, lacing together Romes Baroque and bubbly nightspots. Dine well at least once.

Use this legend to help you navigate the maps in this book.

Rick Steves Rome 2013 is a personal tour guide in your pocket. Better yet, its actually two tour guides in your pocket: The co-author of this book is Gene Openshaw. Since our first Europe through the gutter trip together as high school buddies in the 1970s, Gene and I have been exploring the wonders of the Old World. An inquisitive historian and lover of European culture, Gene wrote most of this books self-guided museum tours and neighborhood walks. Together, Gene and I keep this book current (though for simplicity, from this point we will shed our respective egos and become I).

In this book, youll find the following chapters:

Orientation to Rome includes specifics on public transportation, helpful hints, local tour options, easy-to-read maps, and tourist information. The section suggests a schedule for how to best use your limited time.

Sights in Rome describes the top attractions and includes cost, hours, location, and contact information.

The Self-Guided Walks andTours lead you through the heart of Rome, connecting the great monuments and atmospheric squares. Youll tour the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, Trajans Forum, Capitoline Museums, and the Pantheon. Youll visit the pilgrimage churches, including the grandest of allSt. Peters. Youll see the Vatican Museum, Borghese Gallery, National Museum of Rome, St. Peter-in-Chains Church, and Baths of Diocletian. Youll explore Trastevere, the heart of the crusty, colorful neighborhood across the river; learn about the Jewish Ghetto, the citys medieval Jewish quarter; and take a spin on the ancient Appian Way.