After a long journey from Tasmania, we arrived at the first stop of our European adventure - Rome. Many people asked us how were we going to get our bikes to Europe. With our flights (Emirates) as long as our total weight was below the limit, there was no extra charges for bikes.
However, everything is that little bit more difficult when you have two massive bike boxes as well as extra gear, and you are sleep deprived. We soon discovered doorways in and out of airports, in and out of lifts, and in and out of taxis discriminate against those of us with plus-sized luggage. We soon worked out a system of jamming open automatic doors with our gear while quickly getting the rest through a door. We made it to our apartment and were greeted with the view below!
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| The view from our apartment (if you stuck your head out the window!) |
We were joined the next day by Sarah McDowell and devised a plan to get through the multitude of sights that Rome has to offer. We visited the Trevi Fountain on our way to dinner and tossed a coin over our shoulder as per tradition. Some googling after the fact revealed that we threw it over the wrong shoulder and we learnt not to just copy the tourist next to us!
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| In front of the Trevi fountain |
The next day we followed the Lonely Planet's advice, got up early and tried to beat the lines into the Colosseum. We still had a 45 minute wait in line, but felt relieved when, on the way out, we saw the line stretching at least half the circumference of the Colosseum. Despite the crowds of people, the scale and history were pretty impressive.
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| Interior of the Colosseum |
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| The Roman Forum before the crowds arrive |
We spent the rest of the day exploring Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum.
The next day was dubbed museum day. We started with the Castel Sant'Angelo which was originally built around 134-139 AD as a Mausoleum for the emperor Hadrian. In the 14th Century some of the popes decided to pimp it up into a castle including a "secret" (although blatantly obvious) protected walkway to the Vatican city.
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| Castel Sant'Angelo |
You can see below the great view of St Peter's Basilica from the top of Castel Sant'Angelo. We visited on the morning of Easter Sunday as we were not committed enough to go to the Easter Mass. We spent a bit of time trying to spot the Pope when he revealed himself to address the crowds, although we weren't successful.
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| St Peter's Basilica from the roof of Castel Sant'Angelo |
We spent the afternoon checking out various museums and were amazed at just how much history there is in Rome - it makes the Victorian part of Oamaru look very modern. According to my phone we had walked over 29,000 steps that day: 23km in distance. With this in mind we finished off the evening with a well deserved pizza and beer.
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| The Pantheon - built just under 1900 years ago. |
We spent the next day visiting the Pantheon (right beside our apartment!), walking some of the Appian Way, visited the Capuchin crypt and some ancient catacombs.
On our final full day in Rome we visited the Sistine Chapel and Vatican City. Sarah had to be on her way to the airport 6pm that evening and we were sure this would be plenty of time. We got ourselves up early and into the line for the Vatican Museums by opening time; feeling pretty smug that we had these queues in Rome sorted.
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| The entrance is around the corner! |
THREE hours later, we reached the entrance to the Vatican museums and the Sistine Chapel. We were herded through the museum to the Sistine Chapel which was packed with hundreds of people. It was difficult to appreciate the wonder of the place in this environment. We left feeling exhausted and slightly cheated. Of note; we visited on the Tuesday after Easter and the Vatican had been closed on both Easter Sunday and Monday - our experience may not be a typical day!
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| Thankfully there was no line to get out! |
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| Everybody likes a picture of a man in a funny suit! |
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| Hey, look at that guy's get-up! |
We visited St Peter's Basilica (didn't spot the Pope) and headed back to the apartment. We saw Sarah off that evening and prepared ourselves to start the next stage of our journey.
We had a great time in Rome! It's a busy place and a bit of a tourist trap at times but with a good attitude and enough gelato its a great city to explore. Thanks Sarah for actually doing some research on Rome and being a great travel buddy :-)
On to the next stop - Pompeii, but first cycling to the train station...
- Sarah
Another great update you two ... hope the day's going well xxx
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