Great tip, ann! We stayed at the FCO Hilton Garden Inn before our last early departure and hated it. Will definitely look into Ostia options.

Day 6 – sunny and warm.

We walked down to the Vatican then through Prati and Borgo to Piazza Popolo. It was interesting to walk through the streets of the less touristy parts of Romeˆfor a bit. I laughed at a satirical cartoon of the Pope with the traditional Argentine bolas hanging strategically around his waist. To the best of my limited Italian, the caption appeared to translate as “At last, a Pope with some balls?”

At the Piazza Popolo we firstly went to visit one of the main church sites – Santa Maria del Popolo. Another beautiful church, but amongst many great works of art were two paintings by Caravaggio. I suppose it is evidence that I am a bit of a philistine, because most medieval/renaissance art leaves me quite cold – but I find many of Caravaggio’s paintings to be stunning. Well worth the €1 to keep the lights on for a minute!

After the cultural bit we purchased two Arancini (Sicilian stuffed rice balls) for lunch eating them in the square while watching the world go by. A large stage was being erected , probably for a widely advertised political rally on the Saturday to be addressed by Silvio Berlusconi, Having just been convicted and sentenced to a year imprisonment for using transcripts of secret recordings to discredit an opponent (He will use the appeal process to ensure that the statute of limitations or Italian equivalent comes into play ) I wonder quite what he would need to do to be disgraced in the eyes of most Italians?

After lunch we climbed up the hill to the Borghese park. I think this was the point where my blistered feet really started to become a problem after several days of walking reasonable distances. I suddenly lost all enthusiasm. I was plodding wearily and miserably through the park when we passed a bicycle hire place. The owner obviously had a talent for spotting a mug. “Would you like to try a Segway?” Thirty seconds later we were hooked and had spent €30 on hiring two of them for an hour.

We spent a very amusing 60 minutes trundling around the park – most people make it look easy , but I struggled with the technique and my attempts to lean forward to gain speed probably made me look like a drunken sailor propping up a bar – still, it was fun and I’m glad we did it.

Segways safely returned and my grumpy mood dissipated, we decided to visit the “Genius of Leonardo” exhibition on the side of the piazza del Popolo, Overall overpriced and very disappointing – some reproduction pages of his diary, a clever short cartoon on the creation of the last supper and some large wooden models of various cranks and lifting mechanisms as well as models of the “Helicopter” and assorted gliders. I suppose I had been spoilt having seen a far more extensive collection in Lucca some years ago.

We saw our first Romebikeshare bike, damaged beyond repair on its stand. There appeared to be a new scheme in Villa Borghese with a set of bikes being installed with a new, computerised “text access code to your mobile”. The other noticeable thing about the area around Villa Borghese are the numerous free wifi spots – with a very generous daily download limit. You do need an Italian SIM card and mobile number to register – as I never got around to obtaining a SIM, I was unable to test it further, but the provincial and Atac free access points that use the scheme are quite widely dispersed throughout the city.

We walked down through town to Trastavere, crossing the Sisto footbridge and discovering “Bir and Fud” – a bar selling a wide variety of Italian microbrewery beer. This was something new for me as I was unaware such breweries existed and had thought all Italian beer was fairly flavourless Peroni or Moretti. While not cheap at €5 for a relatively small glass, the beers were great, and the homemade potato crisps that came with them just excellent. We never actually got around to eating here so cannot comment on the “Fud” part of the name.


As we were in Trastevere, we couldn’t resist going back to Capo de Fero again. Vegetable antipasta , Tripe, Spaghetti alla Pescatore. Water and house red - it came to €50.

It wasn’t that the Tripe was terrible - it was fairly tasty, but my brain kept ignoring the pure taste aspect and thinking too hard about what it was I was eating. It is another box on the “things to try eating” list.

willit - I'm not surprised that your feet are suffering - from your hotel to the Vatican, Prati, Piazza del Popolo, Giardino Borghese, Piazza del Popolo again, Trastevere - and not a bus in sight!

pleased to read you tried the tripe! was it trippa alla romana or something different?

Day 7 – more glorious weather. We had meant to go to via appia antica but there was a public transport strike for 24 hours( although rush hour seemed excluded - buses running from 7-9:30am and 5 to 8pm) . Instead we walked to Castel Sant Angelo.

On the way we spotted a mass stampede of bag and sunglass sellers when a police car appeared. They shot away in all directions, but were back no more than 2 minutes after the police left.

We very much enjoyed the castle and the very good audio tour, although next time I will take a headphone splitter and bring my own sets of in ear phones , then just buy one audio guide to share.

There are great views from the terrace at the top of the castle – some people had brought picnics and you couldn’t blame them as it was particularly pleasant with no wind in the spring sunshine.

That night we thought we would give Trattoria dal Sardo another go, and this time the main courses were much more to our liking. Vegatable antipasto, gnocetti with sausages, spaghetti al amatriciana, half litre house red and water: €36.

Day 8 – mixture of sunshine and clouds – warm
The Via Appia Antica. It wasn’t quite what I had expected. We pretty much followed the advice in the Fodor’s guide, but the actual road seemed very busy from Porta San Sebastiano up as far as tomb of Cecilia Metella. We did find the rural paths, herds of sheep and ancient ruins that we were looking for, but only after following the roads and paths through the Caffarella valley running alongside the Via Appia Antica. This area was great, and full of local families cycling and picnicking We must have walked another 5 or 6 miles once detours were included – the paths aren’t always clearly marked.

I thought that perhaps the further stretch of the Via Appia out from where we finished at Cecilia Metalla would have been more in keeping with my preconceptions, but was worried about how I would have got back public local transport. I will write more about this as I did go back later in the trip.

While waiting for the bus back (and it was a loooong wait as the bus only seemed to run every hour) , a group of 20 or so Ferraris came past – I wonder if the drivers had been attending the Berlusconi rally at the Piazza Del Popolo.

We went back to find supper in Trastevere, but it was unpleasantly busy and we couldn’t get near many of the bars, and ended up in Hostaria Vicolo Caruso. Two pizzas, a bottle of house red and a litre of water - €27. Pizzas were good, the service interesting. The main waiter could not have been more charming, but he was trying to deal with far too many tables and teach a waitress who I presume had just started, and was having a very bad day. We waited quite a while for the food but were “entertained” by various peddlers selling assorted junk including a mechanical dancing cat.

Ten minutes after the arrival of supper, it arrived again – they had duplicated the order , such was the chaos in the restaurant.

annhig, yes it was Trippa alla Romana, and as the restaurant specialised in roman food, it seemed rude not to try it, but I did look enviously across the table at my beloved's spaghetti.

I have a few photos uploaded - but Google seems to be playing about and has randomised them so they don't seem to be in any recognisable order. I need to work out how to fix this - it was easy under Picasa, but Google + seems to want to make life difficult. It is probably me, I only got back home this morning at 5am, and am not really functioning as a human.

Day 9 warm sunny morning, overcast later.

Tivoli, on a whim – We took train from Tiburtina - Only a 45 min journey (The express back took only half an hour) and quite scenic towards the final stages. A minor tip - the trains for Tivoli seem to leave from the platforms called 1-est and 2-est. These are a surprising way from the main ticket office and concourse, so allow at least 5-10 minutes extra to walk to the train.

Our first stop was the Villa Gregoriana park. A park promising good views of the grand cascade, and scenic walk to the pools and caves nearer the bottom of the valley.

We had two smallish issues: Firstly, because of the heavy recent rain several of the paths were shut because of the dangers of falling rocks - disappointing but entirely understandable.

The second issue was that it was a free open day organised by the FAI (Fondo Ambiente Italiano) who were responsible for the restoration of the park after years of its use as a dumping ground.

There were large numbers of people visiting, meaning the steep paths were always busy, often with groups blocking paths while having their pictures taken against the beautiful backgrounds. A young student volunteer acted as our guide, and she was excellent. It is quite a climb down to the bottom of the valley, but very worthwhile.

From the park, we walked through the old section of the town, grabbing some pizza slices at a takeaway mostly selected on the basis of a painting of the garden of Eden where the Devil has persuaded Eve to partake of the fruit of a tree bearing various slices of Pizza.

Then we moved on to the Villa d’Este. This villa sits on the hill, and spread out below are a fantastic set of gardens with fountains. And what fountains : There are literally hundreds of them and they are a delight. They range from huge, over the top baroque monstrosities through to little subtle tiny fountains hidden off the main path, or alongside the stairs.

Everywhere in the garden you seem to be staring in awe, or grinning at some small joke by the designer – I loved it.

We spent so long there that we were never going to have time to see the Villa Adriano on our way back as planned, but that is the joy of being inefficient. Villa Adriano can wait until next time. We drank leisurely beer in one of the Piazzas before taking the train back to Rome.

Supper at L’antico Moro in Trastevere. It was such a stereotypic Italian restaurant from a bygone time that I almost thought it was a themed restaurant along the same lines as all the “Faux Irish” bars everywhere. Checked tablecloths, vintage film artwork on the walls and old Chianti “flasks” containing house red already on the table.

Exceptionally reasonably prices with very friendly service – The food was good but didn’t reach the standards of other places we have visited on this trip. After another day of extensive walking I was really beginning to suffer, and shuffled back to the bus stop at Torre Argentina in some discomfort (which is where this report started!)

Loving this report and know exactly what you mean by " thinking too hard about what it was I was eating"! Had the same experience with squid ink pasta.

Very nice shots.

Day 11

Off to find the flea market near the San Giovanni metro station in hope of finding some boots for me and possibly trousers for Jen (she had two pairs of light linen trousers for the trip, and had managed to wear holes in them already with so much walking) .

No luck with boots – feet too large for Italy I think somewhere in my family history there was a shameful episode involving a Yeti.

We stopped to take pictures of city walls, then saw the Basilica of San Giovanni. I’d fleetingly read of its existence in guidebooks, mostly in terms of “catch bus from near...” but I had no idea of its size and splendour. We spent about an hour inside marveling before moving on..

By time we left it was raining quite heavily, most unsuitable for outside persuits, so we thought would try the Fodor’s suggestion about visiting Vatican museum around noon as the best chance of avoiding queues. It worked – only lined up for 15 minutes and we were in the museum by 12:20

Five and a half hours later we emerged almost brain dead.

The problem with writing anything about the museum is that I am only going to reveal my own ignorance and lack of preparedness. I had expected nothing but rooms of religious paintings and sculptures ending in the Sistine chapel. I had no idea of the variety and scope of the collections. It was a good thing than many of the galleries were closed, as I could not have coped with any more.

Briefly, I found the Pinacoteca (art gallery) far more interesting than I had expected, was almost overwhelmed but the ancient Roman and Greek Sculptures, and was amazed by the sculture of a sphere within a sphere in one of the courtyards – it reminded me of the Death Star from Star Wars.

I loved the Ethnological museum for its models of Native Americans and exhibits of cultures from all parts of the world. This latter aspect caught me by surprise, because I had expected a sort of “this is how Christianity was brought to the savages” – and there wasn’t even a hint of that sort of approach – again this surprise reflects my own prejudices.

There is just so much at the Museums that by the time we approached the Sistine Chapel I was almost like an exhausted runner anticipating the finishing line. The Chapel was superb , but that was expected – what caught me by surprise was the map gallery – huge murals of regions of Italy and an incredible ceiling – almost too much to take in. I think tired though I was, this was my favourite area among many.

Now that I am back home I fully intend to use the excellent Vatican Museum website to do more research.

From the museum we felt we needed some anaesthetic for our poor bruised brain, so went back to Trastevere, but couldn’t get into Bir and Fud, and instead went to the nearby “Ma che siete venuti a fa” (loosely translated as “What are you doing here?”. It is a very basic bare pub, decorated with football shirts, serving about 20 beers on tap and numerous bottled beers. Apparently it has been voted among the worlds top beer pubs on various websites: Great beer , good service – perfect antidote to culture.

We ate supper at the Fodor’s recommended Dar Poeta pizzeria around the corner. It wasvery good, but very popular – it was difficult not to get into a conversation with our neighbouring table, as we were almost touching. One pizza with zucchini flowers and anchovies (the latter rather overpowering) m the other with melanzane and Parmesan (superb). The normal wine and water, bill of about €30.

Great description of the Villa d'Este. We did the opposite on our trip last May... spent all our time at Villa Adriana and ran out of time for Villa d'Este! Question: when we return in summer 2014, we will have our two young boys with us. Within the gardens, did you see any large open areas where it would be appropriate to let children run about, or was it all manicured?

TexasAggie - there were lots of young kids there, mostly running around. The Villa itself is at the top of quite a steep hill, so there are many steps or sloped paths, but the area at the bottom, by the fish ponds is large and flat.

Thank you, willit! I hope your feet have fully recovered!

Day 12 overcast
Still tired from previous days mental excretions we decided to spend morning wandering down towards Roman Forum with intention of doing one of the guide book’s recommended walks.

We left the apartment too late and somehow we got side tracked up near Capitoline museums and ending up visiting Santa Maria in Aracoeli, the panoramic terrace between the Church and the Vittorio monument where we took multiple photographs.

Feeling lethargic we headed back down towards river looking at the Theatre of Marcellus, the Temples of Ercole and Portunus, and the broken bridge near the Tiber island.
Lunch at Capo d Fero (Again!) – lasagne and rigatoni, plus starter of vegetables and the normal wine and water - €40.

As it was again raining, we decided to cut short our sightseeing for the day, and went back to the apartment.

Day 13
We finally got to the Capitoline museums and again got engrossed and spent nearly all day there. We just get caught up until before we realise it, we have overdone things.

If I have a regret, it is that I didn’t visit the museum before the Vatican Museum. The splendour of the latter slightly diminished my enjoyment of the Capitoline – but I would not have wanted to miss either.

It is a fascinating place with stunning views across the forum. I particularly liked the rooms of tomb inscriptions and panels. These weren’t the artifacts of great statesmen and generals, but of relatively ordinary Romans (obviously those wealthy enough to have the carvings made).

I was particularly moved by the image and inscription on the tomb of a 13 month old baby, but also by the carved panel from the tomb of a butcher showing him working in his shop. There is a great virtual tour at http://tourvirtuale.museicapitolini.org/#en

Much was being made of the use of Near Field Communication on Samsung phones (They were sponsoring the project). Swipe your phone across the label of an exhibit, and it should download the relevant information straight to your smartphone. A great idea if it works except is doesn’t.

My Google Nexus has the same technology (As do most modern Android phones I believe) – it tried to open a relevant Webpage, but failed because I don’t have access to the internet on my phone (technically I do, but at over $1 a mb roaming charges!)

This was disappointing, as I had used similar, 3D barcode technology in MOMA in New York last year, and it really enhances the visit. The difference is that MOMA provided free, limited WiFi in all galleries to enable it to work.

Update: I should have read the webpage more carefully as on checking my facts I found this sentence: <b> “Visitors who do not have a phone with these features can request one free of charge at the ticket counter, by depositing an ID-card.”</b>

We slowly wandered back through Trastevere (and predictably a bar) , then back to Vatican by bus but found we had missed last entrance to the basilica. We passed the restaurant Vongole e farina mentioned by Annhig earlier in the thread, and decided to try. We shared a mixed antipasto started, then I had the Saltinbocca, Jenny mixed grilled seafood.

Very good, although this turned out to be our most expensive meal of the trip at €70.

glad you found the Vongole e Farina, willit. I agree that it was at the upper end of our style of dining, but i suppose that with a large group of us, we were able to share things more so it worked out more economically.

that's a good tip about the smart phone loan at the Capitoline museums, which we liked a lot too.

Day 14 Overcast

Good Friday, and I had expected everything to be closed – but it seemed as though it were just another day. The Basilica at the Vatican was closed from 12pm until late afternoon for Services, the queues were still very long for people hoping to get in. Wondering what to do on our last full day we headed back out to the Via Appia Antica. I wanted to see what it would be like past the tomb of Cecilia Metalla

By the time we had taken a metro to Colli Albani, and the 660 bus to the tomb, it was already lunchtime. We ate a couple of Panini at the small café then hired two bicycles and headed off down the road. It was almost exactly as I had imagined – the ancient large cobbles have mostly been replaced by smaller square cobbles - for which I am very grateful as the ruts from centuries of heavy cart use have made the ancient parts of the road very difficult for cyclists.

Large parts of the road are prohibited to vehicles or one way only. This being Italy it didn’t stop the odd car driving the “wrong way” along the track. We probably cycled less than 5 miles, but it was glorious. We stopped every few hundred yards to take pictures, and apart from the occasional car or overhead plane, it was almost timeless. On the way back, I blew a tyre, but was fortunate enough to less than a mile from home.

We walked back from the café back towards the metro, detouring through the Caffarella valley to bypass the narrow, busy road without a sidewalk. This is because we had seen some more tombs on our bus journey up. They were in the park marked Tombe della via Latina. They seem to be in a process of restoration, so we could only view them from a distance.

Back at the Apartment, supper was “Whatever we could find in the fridge” - eventually a mixture of aubergines, red peppers, zucchini and cheery tomatoes with a dollop of olive oil, garlic and basil, baked for 90 minutes. Actually very good served with fresh bread and red wine.

Day 15 – Raining

We were up relatively early to finish cleaning the apartment as we needed to be gone by 10am. The flat owner kindly allowed us to drop bags elsewhere for the day, which we did, now we had nine hours to kill before the airport bus.

We tried once more to get into to get into St Peter’s but the queue ran from the entrance, a full 270 degrees around the square (which is circular!) and then doubled back on itself. The Basilica was due to close at 2pm for a service, so we saw no prospect of getting in.

Somebody once told me that you can always tell who the tourists are in Italy because they are the only ones who validate their tickets on buses. In the entire two weeks, despite not having to worry because of our integrated tickets, we had seen no sign of checking.

Today, with no tickets (Ours having expired at midnight) we got onto the first bus of the day and walked straight into a ticket inspector. Fortunately I had in my wallet two unused commemorative “Roma Saluta Papa Francesco” tickets, so I could immediately put these into the machine – a couple of locals weren’t so lucky and were hauled off the bus at the next stop and it looked like fines were being issued.

It was approaching midday, and we thought that a long, slow Lunch would be ideal. We ate at Ai Spaghettari in Trastevere – Excellent food but a small overcharge
unusually for an Italian restaurant included a service charge of 10%.
Bruschetta, Zucchine flower fritti, Paccheri ai frutti di mare and Rigatoni with Tomato and pecorino plus obligatory house red and water €56

As it was raining we sat in pub watching football for bit – “ma che siete venuti a fa” was packed with fans, Bir and Fud appeared shut, and the the pub over the road empty. Roma were losing in Palermo – the atmosphere of a pub of fans when their team is performing badly is the same the world over. It is quite amusing to watch as a neutral.


We picked up the bags at 5pm, made our way to Termini. I have no idea what the road to hell will be paved with, but the transport will be the number 64 Termini to St Peter’s bus.

Every time we thought it was not possible to squeeze anybody else in, somebody else managed to barge their way on. It is notorious for pickpockets and easy to see why – not much you can do when your hands are pinned to your side by the crowds.

Chaos at airport – Flight delayed slightly, no information for ages and an Italian in a Southampton shirt at the front of the queue (This is meaningless to most of you, but given my allegiances is hurtful!).

The flight back went well and we were only about 45 minutes late.

Having just missed the airport bus, we finally got to the hotel around 12:45am to find the car battery completely dead. To cut a long story short , after much anguish it took us two hours to get going and we arrived home 5am.

Summary

I loved this trip. Italy is always great, but this was exceptional. The excitement of the new pope and being part of that experience was special.

Our location and apartment were really good, and transport easy. We walked miles, ate and drank too much, went over budget and at times overtaxed our brains – and adored nearly every minute of it.

There were some minor niggles: I could have done without the blisters (but this was entirely my fault) , The signs of increasing poverty and austerity were disturbing: the shanty towns, the huge numbers of beggars, the neglect of some historical monuments. I was disappointed in how much confidence and ability I have lost in my efforts to speak the language – I think another language school trip is called for.

None of these things put much of a damper on a wonderful trip – I even forgot to feel miserable about getting old.

great trip report, Willit, thanks!

Thank you, Willit, now I need to go back to Rome again, even though I was there less than a year ago. It is one of my favorite cities. I felt like I was there again while I was reading your trip report.