When in Rome... (and the Vatican City)!

Of all the climbing trips and expeditions that I've been on, this one has to rate as having one of the best 'rest day' options around. With tender skin on our fingers from four days of sharp limestone climbing and a day of wet weather arriving in the region we decided to take a break from the cliffs. A look at the map, showed that we were actually quite close to Rome - easily in striking distance for a day trip in fact! Clare put her Research Machine to work and soon had an itinerary mapped out, that started with catching the morning commuter train from nearby Sperlonga.

An hour and a half later and we arrived in the enormous Roma Termini Train Station. It was like stepping out of a teli-porter.

There's a bit of a photo overload on this blog post, simply because everywhere you turn and look, there is another incredible building, sculpture, fountain, obelisk, basilica or other such item of antiquity. Even the 'ordinary' hotel opposite the station is adorned with Angels and ornate pillars.

Obviously, our first port of call was for ice creams at one of the literally thousands of ice cream shops. (Kiwi and yogurt with honey flavour). With cooling cones in hand, we turned another corner to find an enormous engraved tower; Trajan's Column.

This could easily have been the focal point and main attraction of any town or city, but it barely gets a look in compared to everything surrounding it!

Next door is the enormous Altre della Patria, which you are allowed inside for free.

A small queue and a scan of our covid passes, allowed us to climb the steps up to the ornate war memorial and survey the view of the city as well as the numerous sculptures along the way.

Clare had found out that there was a high level cafe on the far side of the building, which had great views of the nearby Colluseum and surrounding ruins.

It was an expensive place for a cup of coffee (by Italian standards, that is - about the same price as a UK service station cuppa!), but the views were incredible. Well worth stopping and sitting down to take it all in!

We declined the option to queue and take the roof top lift and instead ventured inside to view the cool, ornate interior.

The people in the photo below, give you a sense of scale - that's a decent sized backdoor!

Having exited one amazing building, we found ourselves entering yet another dazzling Piazza (this time Piazza del Campidoglio).

And from here, we got a superb view over some really old structures and an archaeological dig which is still in progress. It was mind bending to think that these were carved and erected over 2000 years ago!

While researching where to go and what to see, we discovered that the world's smallest county was actually only a short walk away! Non other than the Vatican City. We couldn't not pop in! We meandered in the general direction of the Vatican, while gaping, photographing, exclaiming and generally taking in the sights. I'm not sure if it was the fact that we've not been to a big city in over two years, or the fact that this one is particularly impressive, but either way, it was almost overwhelming.

As part of the full Italian city experience, we stopped for a spaghetti and pizza lunch at an outside cafe, then took a delicious tiramisu desert from a little kiosk.

Feeling re-energised, we crossed the St Angelo's Bridge towards the imposing Castel Sant Angelo.

Then, once over the water, the Via della Conciliazione leads to the Vatican City, the gateway to which is the simply enormous Piazza San Pietro, where thousands of people gather to worship (or wait to find out who the new pope will be). Today, it was far from packed. We read that it was designed to give a sense of awe and it certainly does. 

In the centre is a red granite Obelisk, which somehow, found it's way here from Egypt!?! (and before the days of lorries and cranes. Astonishing.

Up ahead is the world's largest Christian Basilica - (St Peter's), the Pope's official residence and tucked just out of sight, the Sistine Chapel. He didn't pop out onto the balcony to give us a wave, but we had plenty to be marvelling at.

Somewhat overwhelmed, we eventually retreated to a quiet little street for some quiet and caffeine. (this time at a  much more reasonable price of less than three euros for two coffees and a cake).

We stumbled across the The Piazza Navona, somewhat by chance, but this probably had one of the most impressive sculptures (and an obligatory obelisk of course!).

Back across the river, our city circuit reached the Pantheon, which incredibly, was build around 125AD! Staggering.

More narrow side streets and cobbled roads led to the final sight on the tour.

The Trevi Fountain. It's quite a statement to have outside your house.

Exhaustion was saved by discovering we were now in the cities 'Happy Hour', so we were replenished by beers and bruschetta, which topped us up with enough strength to make it back to the station after our 14km round trip of Rome and the Vatican City! 

We collapsed into our train seats and were slowly taken back to our sleepy little coastal town. What an adventure of a 'rest day'! While it might not have been built in a day, you can certainly see a lot of it in a short space of time. Very much worth the day trip!