The second week of our holiday was spent in Rome, the capital city of Italy.
We had travelled from Naples by train, which took a little over two hours.
The train was quiet, comfortable and smooth. Because the railway is mostly nationalised in Italy, the tickets were only 27€ each, a far cry from the wallet-busting £90+ ticket from Euston to Manchester in the UK (or the eye-watering £219 if we dared go first class).
It was a short walk to the metro station at Rome Termini, where we caught the metro to Marconi station, about 500m from our hotel.
We arrived at the hotel, mid-afternoon, in the blazing sunshine. The check-in was easy, the hotel lift to our floor was incredibly hot inside, but our room was nice and cool.
We had enquired with the hotel reception about restaurants nearby, and there were two within easy walking distance. After a welcome shower and a short rest, we set off for a good feed. The nearest restaurant was closed, so we went to the next one, 'Lo Convento'. This was a great choice, the service was excellent, the food was delicious, and we felt very welcome.
Back in the room, we planned the next few days exploring Rome.
The next day dawned bright but quite cloudy, which was encouraging. After breakfast, we collected our water bottles and headed for the metro to return to the city centre.
For our first day, we decided that a river cruise along the Tiber would be nice, so we left the metro at Circo Massimo, which is effectively an ancient Roman sports ground where chariot racing and other sports would take place. Very little remains but a large open field.
On the way to the riverside, we passed the Aventine Keyhole, where a long line of visitors queued for a chance to peer through a small hole in a large metal door, which gives a perfectly framed view of St. Peter's Basilica over the river. We didn't bother queuing for that. You can Google it.
It was a pleasant walk along the river to the cruise dock next to Isola Taberina, a small island in the river. note 1
We purchased our cruise tickets and waited for the next departure.
The boat cruise was pleasant and relaxing, we were the only passengers on board, and there was no running commentary. The various bridges along the river were all different, many were highly decorated.
At the end of the cruise, up the river and then back to the dock, we walked over a bridge to the island. There is a tiny hamlet on the island, a restaurant, an ice cream shop, a church, and even a hospital. It is possible to walk around the perimeter to see the river features.
The remains of one of the old bridges, the modern metal construction behind.
The base of the large hospital building, no idea what is going on with that construction.
A Snowy Egret, identified by those yellow feet, patiently stands still, waiting for some lunch to swim by.
We left the island and walked further upstream, crossing the next bridge and then returning by the next.
The Castel Sant'Angelo is on the opposite bank, more about this location in a later post.
Even further upstream, we encountered possibly the most ornate building exterior of the whole trip. The detail of every part of the structure was stunning, and each medallion above all of the windows was unique. There is an enormous fountain feature along the front of both sides of the main entrance, but that was not operating.
Turns out to be the Supreme Court building. We can only imagine the level of decoration on the inside.
From here, we walked to the Piazza del Popolo.
Neptune's fountain.
The Roman God fountain,
The Lion fountain, with an Egyptian obelisk in the centre.
Leaving the piazza, we looked for somewhere to get a drink or an ice cream, the lemon shop provided both.
We enjoyed a cooling lemon sorbet, served in a frozen empty lemon skin, and a very refreshing real lemonade.
We continued along the street for another kilometre or so, to the Piazza Colonna, to see a statue of Marcus Aurelius on a tall column, but the column and statue were clad with scaffolding, so nothing to see here.
Just around the corner was the world famous Trevi Fountain, and we headed in that direction.
Whilst the scale of the whole feature is quite impressive, it was not quite as awe-inspiring as we had expected. Perhaps this was due to the huge crowd clamouring to see the feature, with everyone getting in everyone else's way.
By now, we were getting somewhat weary after a long day. We headed for the nearest metro, Republica, and made our way back to the hotel.
After freshening up with a nice cool shower, we went out for dinner.
We originally planned to visit 'I Veraci', the other restaurant near the hotel, but decided that the previous night's experience was good enough to go back to 'Lo Convento'.
Again, we enjoyed a lovely meal, but the excellent waiter from the day before was not working, so we had a little difficulty explaining our order, but everything worked out nicely in the end.
Once we had finished the meal and rested, we walked back to the hotel. On the way, we passed the other restaurant, which was already closed! It seems we chose the better of the two.
More images for this day in the album ...
Notes:
[1] Legend states that this is where a she-wolf found two abandoned babies, Romulus and Remus. She suckled the twins and carried them to Palatine Hill, where the city of Rome was founded and built by them. This inspired the Capitoline Wolf, a bronze sculpture which has become a famous symbol of Rome. (Go back)