ROME - THE ETERNAL CITY- is a phenomenal concentration of history, legend and monuments coexisting with an equally phenomenal concentration of people busily going about their everyday life. It's hard to say what you'll find most breathtaking about the eternal city - the arrogant opulence of the Vatican, the timelessness of the Forum, the incrediible mixture of ancient and modern, or thepeople themselves.Sites such as the Forum and Colosseo remain as testimony to one of the greatest cultures of world history. The mosaics of Early Christian churches, the High Renaissance masterpieces of Raphael and Michelangelo, and the magnificence of Basilica di San Pietro and the Vatican museums signify Rome's status as the headquarters of the Catholic Church. Secular Rome is represented by the exuberant fountains of Bernini's Baroque plazas, and by the artisans still working in the old city around the Campo dei Fiori and in Trastevere. If you are walking, you can reach the Trastevere by crossing the Tiber by the 2,000-year-old Ponte Fabricio to the Tiberine Island and then on Ponte Cestio to the other side of the river. Trastevere (meaning "across the Tiber") lies at the foot of the beautiful Gianicolo (Janiculum) hill and along the curving Tiber. This ancient neighborhood has been a residential area since ancient times, and is said to be the most authentically Roman. This popular quarter today is also one of the liveliest and most colorful, with its own dialect, piazzas filled with playing children, laundry hanging over medieval façades, and family-run trattorias serving home cooking. The most famous shopping area is in the streets at the foot of the Spanish Steps, where Via Condotti hosts high-fashion namesâ?"Gucci, Valentino, Ferragamo, Hermès, and Cartier. It also has great Italian jewelers, such as Bulgari, Carlo Eleuteri, and Buccellati. Between the Piazza Navona and the Tiber are a multitude of shops on some of the most attractive streets of historic Rome. The galleries and English antique shops of Via Coronari are famous. Funkier shops, many the workshops of artisans, are located in Trastevere between the fruit stands, especially in the streets around Santa Maria in Trastevere and on Via della Lungaretta. The beautiful town of Tivoli, 32 kilometers from Rome is abundant with water and cooled by mountain air. The gardens of Tivoli are as popular today as they were when Julius Caesar and Hadrian built their villas here. Located right off the main piazza of Tivoli is the Villa d'Este, 16th-century estate of Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, renowned for its terraced gardens and fanciful fountains. None is more frivolous than the monumental Fountain of the Water Organ, whose sounds include an imitattion of the cries of screech owls. On the upper ridge of Tivoli is the Villa Gregoriana, a pleasant park with walking paths and picturesque views across a gorge to the ancient Temple of Vesta.