Day 15 – Rome

Rome, the Eternal City, might well be the most exhausting city of any on a European journey. Not helped by an extremely poor night’s sleep on the overnight train between Milan and Rome, we were exhausted on arrival and went straight to our hostel, Hotel Lido, to get rid of our bags. The staff and owners of the hostel were amazing! They sat down with us and tried to find out what we wanted to see and gave us detailed information on how to get there and their advice for best routes. It was really amazing personal service, combined with free internet, a lovely garden, cheap rates and good enough rooms, it is certainly worth going back to again!

Since Martin and I have been to Rome a few times we had other things we wanted to do today. We set off for the old city gates together from where we split up and Edu and Simryn went to the major attractions such as the Coliseum and the Pantheon. Martin and I spent some time wandering the ‘back streets’ and went in to various marked and unmarked churches. We did return to Trevi Fountain to throw our coins in to make sure we return one day and then went for a long walk through Rome passing the Pantheon, various beautiful squares laden with fountains with drinking water which is still carried on the old aqueducts.

We walked all the way the Via Appia again to try to find the spot we sat watching the world go by last time, but it was covered by construction boards. How disappointing!

Having spent most of the day walking, we decided to go back to our hotel and freshen up before deciding what to do wth the evening.

As it turned out, we were so tired that we stayed in sorting out photos, catching up on a few emails and adding pictures to the blog.

Edu and Simryn arrived later and did some of the same, but we all had to repack our bags ready for flying which we did.

Now for a good night’s sleep so we can be well rested for another busy day.