Not since my Latin classes in Highschool have I had such an information overload regarding Rome. I also learned a lot about the Vatican, which really just re-enforced my pre-existing biases. In particular I learned that much of the metal in the Vatican was plundered from Ancient roman buildings, essentially destroying much of what existed back then, including the Colosseum. I took more photos than is sensible on this three hour Vatican tour! I have to say that I was impressed with the tech they used. I know I haven’t taken a tour in ages, but they basically had group-based walkie-talkies to make sure that everyone can hear the guide. Pretty brilliant!
After the tour, I started my walk over to the Colosseum for the afternoon tour. I grabbed some lunch at a local backstreet cafe, which was unfortunately disappointing but had a chilli plant as table decoration. Without planing to, I walked past Hadrians temple, the Altare della Patria and the Imperial Fora on my way.
I had another three hour walking tour in front of me, this one being almost entirely outside. It’s been a 38 degree day outside, so I wasn’t well thrilled to have to wait in this line, in the bright sun, to be assigned a tour guide!
But Romes water stations were a true blessing for me on this day, I just kept refilling my bottle. We visited the Colosseum and the Roman Forum/Palatine hill with a very informative guide.
As the tour concluded the tour guide provided a recommendation for “Romes best pizza – in roman thin-crust style, which I’d visit in the evening. Before heading there, though, I still wanted to visit the Spanish steps and Trevi fountain, making the most of my day walking through Rome.
My feet were about to kill me after walking yet another 30 minutes to the pizza place, but it was well worth it.
After the best pizza I’ve had in Italy, I took a taxi back to the airbnb and spent the evening writing postcards before dropping into bed.
Listening to…
You must nearly burst with all that information,hee hee
Totally! I think I only remember 10% of everything I heard that day…. Still worth it though 🙂