TRAVEL: THE ETERNAL ROMA
Nothing makes me happier than to experience a new city or to take a vacation or revisit some of my favourite cities in the world and enjoy seeing them again.
There are so many beautiful cities in the world that have their special charm: the picture postcard perfect beauty of Paris where each tuft of grass is manicured carefully; London throbbing with life and activity; the near magical Marrakech straight out of the pages of One Thousand and One Nights with its souks and snake charmers; and New York with its skyscrapers and maddening traffic.
However, even if you are a well-travelled person, nothing prepares you for the splendour of Italy and the utter grandeur of Rome when you see it for the first time. Many years ago, when I went to Rome I was totally blown away.
Nothing prepares you for the utter grandeur of Rome, whose greatest artwork is the city itself. But its attraction for tourism also has to do with its sense of security and freedom
Rome is a magnificent open-air museum and numerous times and ages exist in it coexist. For me, there is no other city in the world that can be compared to Rome; it gives you a new perspective of time and space and takes you on a time travel.
Every single part of Italy is beautiful, with the elegant cities and rolling green mountain landscape in the north, the breathtaking natural beauty of the lake resorts, the romance of Venice and in the rustic beauty of the South with colourful houses on the seashore. Every inch of Italy is filled with natural beauty and one can never be quite sure as to which part is more beautiful.
Rome, however, is extraordinary because it is the ultimate showcase of the zenith of human creative genius. So much of art is displayed at each and every corner you turn that it overwhelms you. The city is a blend of ancient and modern where magnificent old buildings stand proudly alongside modern architecture.