Today we start the morning with a planning session and some logistics work for our transfer to the Amalfi Coast. We now have tickets “to skip the queue” for the Vatican but we decide to brave the Colosseum on our own.
It is another beautiful, sunny day and it gets up to 27C. After a yummy breakfast for me of a nice müesli, fresh strawberries and a blueberry yogurt, for Tanya nice toast with our hosts home made orange marmalade we feel we are energized enough to hit the road for the day.
Our foyer with the impressive, huge timber doors is our way to exit out onto the Roman streets. A quick visit to our now favourite coffee place and maybe a small chocolate crestini for Tanya and a ricotta, raisin ancient Roman recipe parcel for me to round off the morning supplies and we are off.
On the way we visit a small church but again the richness of the interior crafted , plaster ceilings and huge marble columns is breathtaking in grandeur. We are close to most things to get to by foot and so far we haven’t felt that there are too many tourists around but as we pop out of the park to see the Colosseum we are shocked at the size of the crowds. We are swarmed with people offering to skip the massive queue but we navigate around and do our own viewing.
The grounds of the Palatini are next and we take a long walk circumnavigating the ruins. As we take different little streets and alleys we get to experience the rich blend of old and not so old comfortably blending.
Everything seems to be on such a grand scale. We have a paper map to keep track of where we are and I have the back up of an off line app called “maps.me”. Still it is a maze of tiny alleys that we pick to get around with them shooting off at different angles and I am pleasantly surprised that my nose for direction keeps us generally heading in the right direction.
The next destination is through the grounds of the Museum l’Commune and Campidoglio with huge statues of Castor and Pollux guarding the entrance on our way to the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuelle a massive War memorial.
Here again large crowds greet us. We manage to find the first public toilet in two days. Despite a long wait we feel it’s prudent to use the facility! We have been trying to run a little dehydrated to avoid the need for such a service and even my app that has a feature “ find a toilet near me “ draws frequent blanks.
The Memorial is spectacular and very grand. We can scale to the main balcony and get a good vantage point of the surrounding area.
By now the fuel from our morning tea snack has run out and we are on the lookout for a little something.
We settle first for an amazing gelato and then head further into the little back alleys for just the right little eatery.
It does not take long for us to have success with that. We pick the mushroom mozzarella option, the Aubergine and herb options and an amazing baby truss tomatoes and buffalo. The base is so thin and crispy , yum!
We head home after a huge day , we have probably covered 15km to day and we are welcomed by the peaceful setting of “home” and the little somethings we picked up on the way.
Mariola, your story has taken me right there with you both. The 15ks sound awe inspiring and the food amazing.
Remind me again why I’m at home and not in Rome enjoying the cakes 😉 with you two.
Great pics!