Day 1 (Wednesday 6th June, Bexleyheath to Rome)

It was cold when we left the house at around 6am this morning, so much so that Maggie went against all her advice towards me and had to don a long sleeved jacket to fend off the early morning chill, that would soon change!
EasyJet check in lived up to its name, it was easy, and we were soon in the Departure Lounge having an early morning hot drink whilst Jane and Kerry disappeared for breakfast . The flight was called to the Gate and although many took their cabin baggage, as the name suggests, into the cabin, for some still inexplicable reason Maggie and I had to hand our luggage in to be stowed in the hold. We found our seats and settled into the surprisingly generous space allocated to us. Unsurprisingly we took off a little late but after what seemed a short flight landed smoothly in Rome at around 1pm (Rome is 1h ahead of UK time).
We collected our bags from the aptly named Leonardo carousel, made our way to the railway station and after paying €14 each for our tickets made our way to the platform and boarded the train which took us for 30mins or so on the first half of our journey into the city. We made our way from here via various ramps, flights of stairs and escalators to the metro where we paid €1.50 for our tickets to Cipro, the nearest station to our apartment. We met Sophie and Ollie outside the only block in the street undergoing refurbishment and thus surrounded by scaffolding and it came as no surprise that this was where our apartment for the next 4 nights and 5 days was housed, this certainly did not therefore make a good first impression upon us. How wrong could we have been. Inside our 4th floor apartment was a large modern, newly decorated, well appointed and welcoming place, don’t judge a book by its cover I hear you cry. There were 2 bedrooms, ours with an en-suite, a bedroom for Jane & Kerry, a large lounge/dining area, a good kitchen, a large second bathroom and a sofa bed in the lounge for Ollie & Sophie. Better still the apartment was perfectly located for exploring all that we had come to Rome to see and right beside the walls of the Vatican City to boot, you could even see the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica from one of the Windows on the staircase.

Carpe diem – seize the day (that was our plan)

We unpacked our cases and ventured out. The first stop was a pavement café for lunch, panini and coffee (there are so many to choose from) whilst sitting in the warm sunshine. Following lunch we walked for 5 min and found ourselves in St Peter’s Square staring at St Peter’s Basilica and below this impressive dome, the very balcony from which the Pope preaches to the crowds filling the square;; today was obviously one of his days off!
We walked down to and across one of the many bridges spanning the Tiber whilst all the time being fully aware of the statues, decorative buildings and amazing skyline that filled the spaces around us.

The traffic was similar to London which came as a surprise considering the bad press it gets from anyone you talk to who has visited Italy/Rome. It certainly was busy but nothing we couldn’t deal with. The most common car here – The Smart car. First to the Piazza Navona with its enormous ornate fountain and al fresco pavement bars, cafes and gelateries, shops, street entertainers and traders.

Wherever you looked in and around this whole area there were more handbag shops than I’d ever seen, every shape, colour and size of handbag you could wish for was undoubtedly available somewhere in this city. After walking up and down various narrow streets and alleys along with hundreds of other tourists we soon came across The Pantheon, an imposing building, free to enter and boasting some of the most impressive and highly decorated ceilings you could imagine along with all the other religious furniture you would expect to see.

It was now early evening and we’d been walking and on our feet for quite a few hours so we decided to stop for something to eat and chose one of the many pavement restaurants but this one being particularly interesting not only because of the wide range of pasta dishes available on the menu but  because our table along with other tables in the row seemed to be set on a slope leaning down towards the edge of the road, so much so that any sauce in our pasta on our plates constantly attempted to escape from the higher side of the plate to the lower leaving one half of our meal drier than the other, rotate that dish! The food was lovely and made even tastier when washed down with a cold wine or beer depending upon your particular choice. After dinner we strolled around the corner and joined the throngs of people looking at the Trevi Fountain a true over the top masterpiece of decorative sculpting and much, much larger than I had ever anticipated, another of Rome’s must sees.

After viewing the Fountain from every possible angle it was time for an ice cream from one of the many gelateria shops, the only trouble, what flavour to choose? They had everything and more besides so we settled for 1 Pannacotta, 1 caramel and 1 white chocolate, not too expensive either considering where we were. Finally we decided to make our way back but not before listening to a trio performing in the street, Pink Floyd’s ‘We Don’t Need No Education’ and Led Zepellin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’ performed and sounding like the real thing. The City with people still eating and drinking was now lit up and as we walked back along with other tourists whilst following a slightly different route it looked really attractive.

We finally reached the apartment around 11pm, a long and brilliant first day to our short break holiday.

Day 2 (Thursday 7th June, in Rome)

Today was a late start for us so we decided to walk from the apartment as most things we wanted to see were within walking distance and therefore easy to reach.
Quite noticeably the streets in Rome although being quite crowded especially in the more central tourists areas are clean, with hardly any dog mess but on the other hand and unlike back at home, lacking in greenery, no trees. Police and soldiers were patrolling most major junctions and evidently well armed and ‘locked and loaded.’
Eventually we arrived at the Piazza de Popolo with its ancient Egyptian obelisk and huge fountain set to one side of this imposing square. It was here we decided upon a late brunch of tomato and mozzarella panini and café freddo (cold espresso in a cocktail glass) which, for me, hit the spot perfectly.

After 40 mins we chose to climb the path to Piazale Napoleone I, the gardens above the square and get a better view of both the piazza and the surrounding area, we weren’t disappointed. The skyline and colours of the towers and roofs on show make these views really rather special.

Unfortunately for Sophie, she slipped on the smooth marble steps on the way back down to the square, something she will remember for quite a while I suspect.
Next we agreed to walk via some of the more upmarket shopping streets to the Spanish Steps, The Piazza Di Spagna, a double staircase which is set on the Pincio Hill leading to a church at the top. This place was crowded with people enjoying the sunshine and was on our list of places that we had to see. Again we were impressed by its grandeur and elegance and the fact that like so many other important sites in Rome, it was not surrounded and therefore spoiled by much traffic.

It was now time for a coffee so we sat and drank and people watched for a while. Now we were off on the hunt for Desigual, a shop ranking quite highly on the girls most liked list. We found it but it was only a small shop, we made a mental note therefore to find a bigger one in the next few days.
Another bit of walking and we were soon at the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuel II a huge and imposing stark white building which was built between 1885 and 1911 to commemorate the unification of Italy.

It dominated the area at one end of Via dei Fori Imperiali, the road in which we stood to gain our first view of the Colosseum, the ruins of the Forum and the Palatine Hill.

It was late afternoon now so we decided to stroll back to the area of the Trevi Fountain for our evening meal whilst doing a little bit of shopping along the way. We had some drinks in a bar and then dropped into a Pizza restaurant for a delicious meal.

We walked back to the apartment via St Peter’s Square.

A long 13 hour day had finally ended.

 

Day 3 (Friday 8th June, Rome – The Vatican City – Citta del Vaticano)

During the night there was a huge thunderstorm which, by the time we woke up had thankfully been long gone. We awoke late and were up by 10.00 am.
Thank goodness Ollie had been out and bought croissants for breakfast, so a typical continental way to start the day when added to coffee.
Today we had decided to visit the Vatican City, after all we were staying right beside the walls of this the second smallest country in the world yet still boasting all the typical characteristics of a country: Government, education, healthcare, army, police force, radio station, post offices etc. Jane & Kerry, already having visited before decided to take themselves off to see the Vittoria Monument which we had passed yesterday.
Built upon a hill and established in 1927 after the pope moved here when Italy was eventually unified by Mussolini this papal fortress held 2 of the must sees of Rome, St. Peter’s Basilica and The Vatican Museums.

We set off to join the queues but by chance were interrupted just in time by a tour guide rep who luckily persuaded us to join his company on a guided tour for not the usual €50 but €45 each. Our tour would start at 12.45 so we duly paid our money and strolled down the road where we waited and had a coffee to while away the time.
At 12.30 we made our way back to the tour office and were soon grouped together and our tour guide who immediately made a good impression upon us introduced himself and gave us some background as to the history of the place and what we would be seeing. We walked up to the entrance and seemed to jump the queue, through security and then picked up our headsets which meant that we could hear every word that the guide was saying irrespective of how close we were standing to him and we were in the museum proper. This place was amazing, statues, tapestries, frescoes, ornate ceilings, it had the lot and all in abundance an assault on the senses, astounding.

Next and better still we entered the Sistine Chapel with its world famous Michelangelo frescoes. Strictly NO photography allowed here. These paintings on walls and ceiling were fabulous, certainly one of the wonders of the world in my opinion. The colours so well preserved considering they were originally painted in the early 1500s. There were stories and characters from the Bible in every panel, too much to take in, the colours leapt out of the surfaces and you simply could not take your eyes off them. For me the ‘Last Judgement’ wall depicting God judging humanity with its azure blue background stood out from the rest. WOW! A certain bucket list must see.
After this we followed the crowds but again jumped the queues to the Basilica of St Peter. This building was ornate to a ridiculous degree, ceilings and walls highly decorated, marble statues, altar pieces, ornate pillars, floor mosaics and altar pieces all a feast for the eyes. The dome itself, the tallest building in Rome, able to House the Statue of Liberty with space above to spare.

Finally we walked back into the daylight and were lucky enough to see the changing of the Swiss Guard, soldiers of a crack regiment of the Swiss army dressed in quite bizarre uniforms but nevertheless, rumour has it, some of the best trained soldiers in the world.

We strolled across St. Peter’s Square and down the road towards our apartment where we stopped in one of the many roadside cafes for a drink and bite to eat. A fabulous day for visiting.

We walked back to the apartment to freshen up and change prior to our evening’s excursion but not before Maggie and Sophie ventured forth to find a more local and larger Desigual shop. Later we all  returned yet again to the busy centre of Rome on the other side of the river and to a restaurant, The Jazz Bar, which we had identified the previous night as a possible good place to eat. We weren’t wrong, the food and drink kept coming until after around 2 hours we paid, eased ourselves slowly out of our chairs and sauntered back albeit rather wearily to our apartment.

 

Lights out all gone and a blissful sleep followed a long day.

Day 4 (Saturday 9th June – The Colosseum, Colosseo)

Another late start meant that the best laid plans ……………….
I went out and bought croissant (cornetto in Italian) to have with our coffee – yummy
Eventually, we made our way to the metro where we took the train to Termini where we changed to Colloseo, there are only 2 lines in Rome.
We exited the station and immediately found ourselves right beside the walls of The Colosseum, this world renowned and instantly recognisable building. Against the blue sky it looked amazing.

Of course, the ticket touts were out and about but we decided to avoid these ‘skip the line’ characters, preferring to quote Gladiator and ‘hold the line,’ by joining the surprisingly quick moving queue to buy, in the words of Maximus, ‘as one,’ i.e. a group ticket then to collect our audio guides. We walked up the steps to the first floor and into the Colosseum. It was impressive with its high curtain of wall surrounding the ruins of the remains of the arena (Italian for sand) below. We could see the arches and entrances for the gladiators and animals and what remained of the 4 tiers of seating areas strictly governed by social status rising up from near the arena where the rich and famous sat to high up on the outer edge of the rims of the wall where the poorest in society were seated. Think a modern football stadium and that’s what is was like. It held between 40 and 70 thousand people at its height and all sorts of dreadful things happened here to unfortunate people simply for the entertainment of others – pretty disgusting I’d say. It was busy with tourists but this didn’t really distract us and we managed to experience everything that was on offer. The views from the walls were great and the photo opportunities were endless.

When everyone was ready we exited via the ground floor and made our way to a nearby restaurant where we had lunch and a very welcoming cold drink, it was a very sunny and hot day.
After a while we made our way to the Roman Forum (the centre of the Roman Empire) and Palatine hill (The hill of palaces), both included in our ticket price of €17.50 each
The views from the hill out over the roof tops were good and the ruins of the Forum spectacular, arches, pillars, Roman pavements, statues, sculptures and ruined buildings everywhere so much so it was easy to become a little oblivious to it all.

Again we exited the site after seeing much of what was on offer and decided to walk back through the streets browsing in shops until we stopped for a coffee in the shade and spent a while simply watching the beautiful Italians do what they do best on a sunny Saturday evening, dressed in their finery whilst at the same time showing off their tans, sharp haircuts, fashionable sunglasses and generally displaying themselves to anyone who would turn their gaze towards them.
Next back towards the eateries surrounding the Trevi and Pantheon where we had our evening meal in a very pleasant restaurant starting with a complimentary prosecco and finishing with a complimentary Limoncello and finally a walk back to our apartment. The end of another amazing day in Rome.

Day 5 (Sunday 10th June – Rome to Home)

The only Roman early start, BC aka before coffee.
Ollie and Sophie left around 6am for their flight to Charleroi from the other Rome airport and we left the apartment at 7am to travel by metro and then train to Rome Fiumicino. The journey to the airport was quick and easy, the trains here run on time and are clean and comfortable.
We checked in and whilst Kerry and Jane went for breakfast we bought a bottle of Limoncello in the Duty Free shop and then settled down for coffee and croissant whilst watching aircraft landing and taking off.
Our flight was called and we made our way to the Gate. There was a delay, French air traffic controllers were on strike today which meant a bit of re-routing on the way home so we eventually took off at 12 noon for our 2h 20min flight to London Gatwick. As anticipated the flight was uneventful and we landed at Gatwick at approximately 1.20pm local time. As we only had cabin baggage we simply cleared passport control, said our goodbyes and thanks to Jane and Kerry, bought a bottle of Gin before passing through customs and then took the shuttle to the South terminal where we walked down to the station to catch the train home. We only had to pay for a ticket from Gatwick to Croydon East as our Freedom passes would cater for the rest of our journey. We changed at London Victoria and were back home in Bexleyheath by late afternoon feeling none the worse for wear.

Veni, vidi, vici – We came, we saw, we conquered.

Arrivaderci Roma