Interlude – All Roads Lead to Rome…

We arrived at our campsite in Tivoli and were very pleased with our choice. It was a small place, really just the large garden of a family home, but it was perfect for us

The host, Suzanne, was fabulous. She was so friendly and helpful, even offering to drive us to the train station every day and pick us up again, solving the biggest challenge we thought we were going to face whilst visiting Rome. She spoke almost no English but we happily chatted away for hours at a time using the microphone option of our translator app.

We arrived just before lunchtime and were keen to catch the next train into the city so we could start our explorations straight away. The train took 45 minutes to get into the city and we found ourselves right by the Baths of Diocletian

We wanted to go in but decided to wander around the city first and find our feet before diving into anything. Bit of a mistake, I had really wanted to see the baths but we never did go back.

Next door to the baths, and part of the same structure, was the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri

It is supposed to be beautiful inside but it was sadly closed.

Opposite the basilica was the famous Piazza della Repubblica and the Fountain of the Naiads

I was a little disappointed – the Piazza was just a roundabout in the middle of a busy road and so far Rome seemed to be a typical metropolitan city – I wasn’t seeing anything different or special about it. I tried to stop my heart from sinking but I have to admit that things had not started out how I had hoped.

We pressed on to the Trevi Fountain and all of a sudden, the awe I had been expecting to feel in this famous city hit me

It was staggeringly beautiful.

There were hoards of people crowded all round it with a huge queue of those trying to get down the steps into the basin. All the streets around us were seething with people and we had to literally push our way out.

Gasping for breath, we arrived at the Pantheon

I gaped at it, struggling to get my head around the age and the history behind this iconic building

We queued for half an hour to get inside but found it had been converted into a catholic church during the Renaissance so it wasn’t quite as atmospheric as I had hoped

Next up was the Piazza Navona with its three fountains

It was all very impressive

But so busy with crowds of people everywhere

One thing we did notice about the city, though, was how few cars there were in the centre. There is a no-traffic zone here which stops everything other than buses, taxis, residents and business vehicles from entering and James said it was a dramatic improvement from 25 years ago.

Our final stop today was the Spanish Steps with the Baraccia Fountain

Maybe it was the eternal crowds everywhere, but I didn’t quite get the hype

The last train home was at 4:40pm and it was time to go. We were a long way from the station by now so James encouraged me down the escalators and onto the Metro. I stood with my eyes closed, holding onto him tightly for three stops before he grabbed my hand and whisked me back up to daylight. I was very proud of myself.

Back at the campsite, it was a warm, sunny evening so we treated ourselves to dinner outside

Helped by Suzanne’s lovely little cat, Guy, who had taken a real shine to us. He helped James to cook

Then tried to come inside with us for the night!

If our first day was a general taster of Rome’s sights, our second was to be concentrated on one absolutely iconic destination – we were going to the Vatican City.

We got the early train in, followed by a long bus ride and were standing on the lovely Vittorio Emanuele II bridge by 9:30am

Over in the distance we could see the Castle Sant’Angelo – originally the Mausoleum of Hadrian, then the burial place of the Antonine emperors and later a fortress, a castle, a prison and a military barracks

In any other city, this would be one of the major attractions to visit, but we had no time to go in and look around – we had a date with the Pope.

When we arrived at the Vatican we found that, in fact, we almost literally did have a date with the Pope – he speaks every Wednesday morning and it was Wednesday today. Crowds of people were surging forwards to get a glimpse

We stood for a few minutes soaking in the atmosphere, but I had worked far too hard to get our tour tickets, we weren’t about to risk being late, not even for Leo himself

We found our guide and headed off into the Vatican itself. We started outside, first looking out over the papal gardens

From there we could see St Peter’s Basilica in the distance

We then made our way to the Cortile della Pigna – the Pinecone Courtyard, named after the large bronze pinecone fountain

In the middle of the courtyard was a modern sculpture known as the ‘Sphere within a Sphere’ which is said to be a symbolic representation of the world’s complexity and fragility

Finally, we were inside the Vatican Museums which are absolutely full of artworks dating from ancient Roman times right up to the present day. The first few rooms were all about the ancient

We also saw work by our old friend Leonardo Da Vinci

As well as artifacts from all over the world

As we followed our guide deeper into the palace rooms, the word ‘sumptuous’ became superfluous, this went well beyond

Room after room, corridor after corridor

This really was an assault on the senses. There were statues

Tapestries

Frescoes galore

It seemed to go on forever, richly decorated rooms and artwork so valuable it surely goes beyond any measure of material wealth.

We saw the original Papal bedroom with a ceiling that was over 600 years old

We had been wandering through the rooms for over two hours, heading in the direction of the Sistine Chapel but never seeming to get any closer. At one point, I glimpsed what looked like a chapel through the next door and my heart leapt with excitement – from the incredible ceiling and wall decorations, this must have been it

But no, this was the ‘Gallery of Maps’

With a ceiling that was, in my view, even more impressive that the Sistine Chapel itself

It was probably my favourite room in the entire place.

Our guide got very excited at this point and told us that we were going to be allowed into the Raphael rooms which was apparently very unusual. There were four rooms covered from floor to ceiling in the most beautiful paintings by the famous Italian artist

But it’s amazing how quickly your mind gets used to such priceless works of art and beauty. We were distinctly flagging. The whole place was heaving with people, we could only shuffle slowly along with the flow and it was so vast it seemed to have no end.

Eventually, after well over three hours, we found ourselves in an art gallery housing some surprisingly modern art

But our guide rushed us through, it seems this was not considered one of the highlights. Instead we were pointed in the direction of the Sistine Chapel and he said his goodbyes – guides do not accompany their groups into the chapel as they are not allowed to speak in there.

We walked for what seems like miles down stairs, along narrow corridors, always following signs promising that the Sistine Chapel was just around the corner. Until, finally, there it was

In all its glory

Just magnificent

We were totally exhausted by now and completely Vatican’d out. I would have loved to go back and revisit the more modern art galleries but we could barely stand up by this point and we needed some fresh air.

And therein lay our final challenge – it was surprisingly difficult to actually leave! We followed signs for the exit that led nowhere, we walked down dead ends and up and down staircases. It started to become a bit strange, there seemed no way to get out.

But eventually we managed it – we spotted a spiral staircase that looked hopeful and finally we were free

We had a quick post-Vatican lunch at a street-food pasta place then dragged our weary bones back to the station (six stops on the metro this time!) and home to BigMog – and, of course, Guy

Day three saw us back in the city on the early train again and heading for the ancient Romans. We had tickets booked for the Colosseum at 1:30pm so spent the morning in the vast and spectacular Roman Forum.

We started on Palantine Hill with the Renassaince era Farnese Gardens with fountains and painted caves

As well as an exhibition on the cult figures of Roman religion

On Palantine Hill itself we wandered around the enormous ruins of the Imperial Palace

The houses of Livia and Augustus

As well as the House of Tiberius

There was too much to know exactly what we were looking at much of the time

Eventually we wandered down towards the Roman Forum itself. We looked out over the whole thing from our vantage point on the hill and I finally felt as though we had found the ‘Rome’ of my imagination

It was wall to wall ancient ruins and I was spell-bound

We saw the Arch of Titus

The Basilica of Maxentius

The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina

The Temple of Castor and Pollux

As well as the Temple of the Vestal Virgins, the Trojans Market, the Temple of Saturn, the Baths of Gavius Maximus and the Basilica of Santi Cosma e Damiano to name just a few

But don’t ask me which was which, it was all so mesmerising.

At the far end of the Forum we found the stunning Arch of Septimius Severus which was nearly 2,000 years old but looked like time had stood still around it

Just outside the gates, the Arch of Constantine was directly opposite the Colosseum and when we had exhausted ourselves at the Roman Forum we went over to admire it

After a quick lunch, we returned to the Colosseum ready to start our self-guided tour.

The Colosseum is obviously one of Rome’s most famous monuments and for good reason. For starters, it’s huge

It is also in remarkably good condition for a building that is nearly 2,000 years old

We admired it from the outside first

Then joined the queue to get in. Actually, we joined the queue twice as we were 15 minutes early for our time slot first time and had to go to the back of the queue to waste a bit more time before they would let us in!

At first our visit was painful. We were caught up in crowds of people, shuffling slowly along, following a set route that seemed to take us everywhere except where we wanted to go – to the arena

But eventually we popped out through one of the arches and there it was in front of us in all its glory

The sheer scale of it was impressive

We walked around the perimeter imagining how it must have felt to be either a gladiator or a spectator and you could feel the atmosphere of the place seeping out of every arch

It was definitely a selfie moment

It had been amazing to be there and see it all but there were so many people we were pleased to make our escape back outside again

We were tempted to head straight back to the station and go home but we knew this was going to be our last day in Rome and there were two things that we really wanted to do before we left.

The first was ice cream and that one was ticked off in short order with the best ice cream we had had since entering Italy.

The second was another in the long list of Italy’s weird and wonderful offerings – the Capuchin Crypt. This crypt comprises six small chapels located beneath the church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini which contain the skeletal remains of nearly 4,000 Capuchin friars buried by their order.

The friars say that the display is not meant to be macabre, but rather ‘a silent reminder of the swift passage of life on Earth and of mortality’. In fact there is a small museum with an audio guide that all visitors have to see before entering the crypt which encourages people to understand more about the Capuchin order, how they live, what they believe and why they have honoured their brethren in this way

And as the photos here could very easily be seen as macabre, I will endeavour to summarise what they are all about here.

The friars arrived at this church in 1631, bringing the remains of their deceased brethren with them. One monk, Fr. Michael of Bergamo, oversaw the curation of the bones in the burial crypt – choosing to honour the dead through spiritual symbolism, showing death as the great leveller

The displays are intended to evoke contemplation on the fleeting nature of life and the inevitability of death, confronting your own mortality

Over the centuries, the friars would come here to pray and reflect each evening before retiring for the night

There is a sign at the entrance to the crypt which reads ‘That which you are, we once were; that which we are you shall be’

We found it a very moving, thought-provoking – as well as quite an eery – experience

Some what subdued, we found ourselves quite close to the station so walked back, finding yet more random beauty amongst the streets of Rome

Almost back at the station, we were walking past the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri and saw that it was open this time. We had a while before our train was due so we went in to have a look

We were so glad we had had a second chance to go inside as it was remarkable, absolutely vast and possibly one of the most beautiful churches we have been in

Once back at Tivoli station, Suzanne picked us up and drove us back to the campsite for one last time. Half way there, she pulled the car over in a layby and gestured for us to get out and look – she was smiling, proudly showing us the gorgeous view over her home town

We stood and looked out over the hills of Tivoli, breathing in the fresh air.

We had spent three amazing days in Rome and were exhausted. Our campsite was so pretty and peaceful, and Suzanne was such a wonderful host, that we decided to stay on for another day and rest before carrying on with our journey.

James got his bike out and went off the find a supermarket for provisions

But other than that, we put our feet up and spent the day contemplating everything we had seen and wondering where on earth the time had gone – and not just the last three days but the last 2,000 years…