Day 11: Rome
Disembarkation day. We got off the ship around 8.30. All bags had been placed in the terminal and we were not allowed to wait in the terminal after having gotten our bags. Luckily, we were all able to get our bags in quick order and headed outside. It was drizzling lightly and utterly chaotic outside. We had a cab ride booked from the port in Civitavecchia to our hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn near the airport in Rome. It took us a few minutes to locate our driver, but once we did, we had all the bags loaded into the back and we were off.
Stored the bags at the Hilton Garden Inn, used the restrooms and then took the shuttle back to the airport. At the airport, we got onto a local bus to the center of the city. We had all been to Rome before so we didn't have any specific agenda. One of our friends hadn't seen the Spanish Steps, so we decided to head there. We split up - some of us decided to walk to the Steps while others took a local bus. A very interesting walk down to the Spanish Steps area from Rome Termini. We took several pictures on the steps (you are not allowed to sit or eat near there), even took a picture with the cop who was warning people off from sitting or eating on the steps. We met the others at the top of the steps and decided to find a place to have lunch. We found a very cute bar/restaurant a few blocks away from the steps and the waitress there was very accommodating. She pushed a couple of tables together outside so we could sit together and took our orders. Simple food, but very delicious. Sitting outside, enjoying the fresh air and company - hard to believe that just a few days ago, we were doing the same thing at the beginning of our vacation in Bologna!!
After lunch, we wandered in the direction of the Trevi fountain, stopping for souvenirs whenever we saw something interesting. All the monuments in Rome were being renovated/refurbished because of the Golden Jubilee and that was true of the Trevi fountain as well. But that didn't stop the masses from descending on this place!! You had to squeeze your way in through the crowds to take a picture with the fountain and count yourself as incredibly lucky if you didn't have anyone else in your picture! It was now time for a gelato! We had to have gelato before saying bye to our friends. All of us had flights early the next morning and they were keen on heading back to the hotel to rest up. H and I had plans for an evening/sunset bike ride around Rome.
Having said goodbye to our friends, we headed over to the bike place. It was just us and one other couple on the evening bike ride. We had gone on a similar ride in Paris and absolutely loved it - nothing like seeing the monuments at night. This didn't turn out as well as we had hoped although it was a nice ride. Most of the monuments we wanted to see were shrouded with construction paraphernalia and it was hard to get a good view of them. But it was lovely crossing the bridge over the River Tiber over to Castel St Angelo, although all the statues on the bridge were covered! The view across the river was beautiful. We also rode to Campo de Fiori (we had stayed near here the last time we were in Rome), Piazza Navona (again, very unimpressive with the fountains inoperative), saw the nasoni that provide fresh water from the aqueducts (very refreshing) and finally made our way back to the Pantheon and the Trevi fountain again. The Trevi fountain was a bit less crowded now at night.
We then walked back to the bus stop near the birthday cake monument and caught a bus to Rome Termini. Since it was late, we couldn't get tickets outside, but we were able to use our credit cards on the bus. Once at the Termini, we caught the train back to the airport and finally the shuttle bus from the airport to the hotel. We were back at 11pm after a long day. Our friends however had run into some trouble - they had bought their bus tickets, but couldn't validate the tickets (swipe them) on the bus thanks to the crowds. When they got to Termini, they were pulled aside by a few transport police and harassed into giving them their ID and asked to pay a fine for not validating their tickets. This seems to be a common problem in different parts of Europe - the unsuspecting tourists that don't realize that they need to validate the tickets for the bus/trains. The next morning, we took the shuttle back to the airport to catch our flight. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see our friends again since they were in a different terminal. The long awaited trip was now done - time to turn my attention to planning our next one!
This featured blog entry was written by sushraya from the blog Italy and Croatia 2024.
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