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| DEPARTING SOGGY GATWICK |
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| INTERESTING LIFT AT POUSADA ROMANA |
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| POUSADA ROMANA - OUR ROOM HAS THE ONLY BALCONY |
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| PART OF CITY WALL NEAR PORTA SAN SEBASTIANO |
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| WALKING THE CITY WALL |
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| DIOCLETIAN'S ARCH & THE COLOSSEUM |
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| CAFE LIFE |
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| PONTE & CASTEL SANT'ANGELO |
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| TREVI FOUNTAIN |
I had wanted to visit Rome for many years, and so had Rubi, so on Wednesday 1st of June we departed Gatwick and, courtesy of easyJet, landed at Fiumicino Airport near Rome. Our transfer to the Eternal City involved a half-hour rail journey on the Leonardo Express to the Stazione Termini. From there it was just a short walk to Pousada Romana on Via Giovanni Geolitti, our accommodation for the week.
Pousada Romana was on the 5th floor, which was reached by a charming, though apparently temperamental, antique lift, with manually opened doors and a surrounding cage through which the workings could be seen. It reminded me of one I saw in the film 'Blade Runner'.
Although it was 9.30pm, we were warmly greeted by Roberta on arrival and shown to an excellent en-suite room sporting a balcony. It was too late to go out, and we were weary from travelling anyway, so we spent the remainder of the pleasantly warm evening on the balcony finishing our travel snacks and enjoying a drink.
We chose to take breakfast at 9.00am the following morning. As she cooked eggs for us, Roberta explained that Pousada Romana had been a family home for many years before its recent conversion to a guest house. All the bedrooms had names and ours was called 'Sarina' after her Mother.
Roberta suggested that, as a first day's outing, we might like to follow a section of the 132 mile-long Appian Way, the first and most important of the roadways that the Romans built. Construction to connect Rome with Capua in the south-east was initiated by a Roman magistrate, Appius Claudius, in 312 BC, who leant his name to the road. We duly caught the 218 bus out to the Catacombs of St. Callista and walked back, past the small Church of Quo Vadis with its purported imprints of Jesus's feet on a marble block, until we reached the Rome city wall at Porta San Sebastiano (St. Sebastian's Gate). Here we were able to enjoy a visit to the Museo Della Mura and take a short walk along the wall.
We continued into the city where we caught our first sight of the famous Colosseum, and enjoyed lunch in a nearby cafe. From there we wandered through the ancient streets past Piazza Venezia to the Pantheon, where we listened to a guitarist giving an amazing rendition of Pink Floyd's 'Money'. On then to Piazza Navona, then across the River Tiber at Ponte Sant'Angelo to the huge cylindrical Castle of the same name.
After a long day Rubi's feet were sore, so we made our way back through the city to our lodgings by the most direct route we could manage, which happily took us past the famous Trevi Fountain. However, the day was not yet over. After a shower, we headed out to find a restaurant. We chose one called the 'Pinsa & Buoi dei....' where the quality of the food was good but the quantities seemed surprisingly generous. All became clear when the higher than expected bill arrived. They had served us more than we had ordered, but since we had eaten it they expected us to pay the greater amount. Our protestations came to naught and we settled up, but a subsequent internet search showed that this was not the first time that this restaurant played such tricks.
Tomorrow we would see the Colosseum.
