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| GARDEN AT TERME DI DIOCLEZIANO |
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| ONE OF THESE LOOKS LIKE A HORSE! |
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| QUADRACYCLE |
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| PIAZZA DEL POPOLO |
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| SHOPPING IN FRASCATI |
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| LAGO ALBANO |
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| A MERMAID |
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| BY LAGO ALBANO |
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| HIGH WALL ENCOUNTERED ON OUR WALK BACK TO FRASCATI |
Sunday was a good day to explore more of Rome. We walked past the Stazione Termini to the Terme di Diocleziano (the Baths of Diocletian), which is a National Museum of early Roman history. We were lucky, as entry is free on the first Sunday of the month. There were lots of ancient sculptures on display and we were fascinated to learn what had been deduced about early Roman life by digging up graves. You were clearly 'middle aged' in your 20's back then. A film about how they worked out the design of a chariot from a few bits of iron was fascinating.
We proceeded on to Villa Borghese to see the huge park that surrounded it. It was busy with people who obviously enjoyed a weekend visit. We hired a motor-assisted quadracycle so that the two of us could explore the area more fully. It was fun, but we found ourselves having to take a short cut on a dirt track to get back to the bike hire centre in time.
We left the park via Piazza del Popolo, then walked along the east bank of the Tiber to Ponte Umberto I, before heading back to our guest house via Giolitti's, where they serve the most stupendous ice cream. We had to wait in a long queue to get served, but it was worth it.
Continuing back, I took a wrong turn and we ended up back at Piazza del Popolo. Fortunately, the close proximity of the Metro line enabled me to appease Rubi, and we were soon back at Pousada.
We were up a little earlier on Monday morning so that we could catch the train to Frascati, a small town in the mountains famous for its wine, 12 miles to the south-east of Rome. On arrival we walked to the town square and enjoyed watching local life whilst we drank coffee, and each had an 'alcolico completo' (wine or beer with various nibbles). The weather was exhaustingly hot today!
Around 2.00pm we decided to take a bus to Castel Gandolfo close to the extensive Lago Albano (Lake Albany). The lake was beautiful and we enjoyed a swim in the warm(ish) green/blue fresh water before eating and sunbathing for a while. All too soon it was time to return to Frascati to catch the train back to Rome. We decided to walk the 7 mile distance, but our journey was not without incident. Just north of the lake, the path, so clearly shown on Google Maps, turned out to cross private property and also required us to climb down a steep wall. Later, as we got close to Frascati in fading light, I managed to walk into the steel pole of a car crash-barrier which was bent across the path. I bashed my shin, which was incredibly painful, but Rubi took great pleasure in playing nurse as she improvised a dressing for the swollen and bleeding wound.
I limped back to our lodgings and, after applying a more permanent dressing to my injury, we ended the day sharing a wine and pot-noodle supper on our balcony.
