The Pilgrimage

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Sunday starts at 11am and Largo Argentina, usually the hub of well-dressed Italians transferring between buses, is awash with non-Romans. You can tell the non-Romans and it has very little to do with ethnicity (although, that helps). We just dress differently (or wrongly). A sari or bootleg sports jacket. Maybe a thin wispy shawl. Listening in on the chatter, I can tell they're not speaking Italian. What language they are speaking is much trickier. Wizened old ladies in white saris with crooked teeth and small black crosses tattooed on their foreheads chatter away, second-guessing each other on the right bus to board. Eventually, we do get onto a Linie 40, express to Termini Station and on it, have to squeeze more tightly than most married couples do, that it's a gargantaun effort to validate my 1 Euro ticket. Nobody else even tries to validate their passes--no conductor is going to get through this crowd at any rate. Even if he does, the Pope will intercede--these people look like pilgrims on the way back from Sunday at St. Paul's.

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And so, the pilgrimage begins.


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[Pilgrimage: (1) one who journeys in foreign lands - WAYFARER; (2) one who travels to a shrine or holy place as a devotee. - Merriam-Webster]

In this context, I'm more wayfarer than devotee. Getting to the Rome Mosque (or officially, the Rome Islamic Cultural Center) is a trek for the first-timer. Located on the outskirts of the town amongst soccer and rugby pitches, I attempted to get close to this outfield location by taking a Linie 217 bus from Termini. After snaking through increasingly unfamiliar neighborhoods, I ask an old man in broken Italian for the Via Paroli stop (which was planned out for me by the excellent website of Rome's public transit service)

Anti-Termini

Most European cities I've been to are anchored by a grand railway station (several, in the case of London and Paris), so it was quite a disappointment to come upon Termini and be greeted by a modernist Facade that is nondescript and slightly Fascist. If you did not already know that this was Rome's main station (or a station, at all), then the building (alas) gives no clue. Except for the largest asphalt-covered bus interchange in Rome, which is based right in front of Termini on the grandiose-sounding Piazza dei Cinquecento (loosely translated, Five Hundred Square).

Termini, however, is still Rome's major public transport hub and between the public buses, regional trains (Trenitalia), trams and the Termini Metro station (which is the only point where Rome's 2 metro lines cross), you can get almost anywhere from here and will probably get here from almost anywhere.

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With some wiki-ing, I found out that the station was named after the Baths of Diocletian, which are located several streets away from the main station entrance. Termini comes from 'thermae', the Latin words for baths.

Source: Wikipedia

Termini does have some redeeming features, though. Inside, the force is still strong and between the high ceilings and free-access train platform, a dense array of shops, the flickering Polari boards (like those in airports!) and the neverending hubbub of commuters and tourists, it's still a place to wile away the remainder of your 75-minute bus ticket while you wait to go home.