There is a lot of excitement in the air today because it is the first of our two days in Rome. We are actually docked in Civitavecchia which is about an hour away from Rome. Once again we booked the Rome Highlights tour (600 Euros for eight people) with Rome In Limo. When we were here seven years ago, we had the best time with our driver Nik and you can read about it here.
We had to be off of the ship by 8:45am so that we could meet our drivers. Because so many of us wanted to see Rome, we had to book two vans. In van #1, we had Karen, Darlene, Nana, Dave, Cathy, Michael, Liam and myself and in van #2 we had Marie, Brodie, Jon, Teresa, Leslie, Donna, Paul and Jen. While we were waiting on a few people, Karen decided to walk over to find our drivers. I could see in the distance that she was waving to me and smiling. When the last of our group arrived, we walked over to where Karen was and boy was I surprised to see that the person holding the sign was none other than Nik. I told Nik that whenever I tell people about my time in Rome, I always mention him. There was some discussion as to who was going with which driver, let’s just say that I made sure that I was in Nik’s van.
Before we got started, Nik asked us what we wanted to do today. We told him that we had tickets booked for The Colosseum for 11:30am. And since the Vatican is closed on Sundays, we would instead like to go to the catacombs. After getting settled in the van and connecting to the WiFi, we started our adventure. The one hour drive took us through picturesque Italian landscapes before reaching the city limits.
We first stopped at Fontana dell’Acqua Paola which is an ornate marble fountain with impressive view of Rome. It was then off Casa Manfredi where we grabbed some coffee and sweets but more importantly to use the bathroom.
Now it was time to head over to awe-inspiring Colosseum. Nik was able to drop us off very close and explained exactly which line we should use because we had pre booked our tickets (25 Euros / person). He said that he would be back at 1:00pm to pick us up.
The first thing that strikes you is the sheer size of it. It is 160 feet high, 1/3 of a mile around and it covers six acres. The arena where the actual fighting took place is 280 feet long and 165 feet wide. And finally the stadium could hold up to 50,000 spectators. We spent the next hour and a half walking around this giant amphitheater being transported back in time with the help of the audio/video guide that was included.
It was a short drive to our next stop the Trevi Fountain. Legend has it that if you toss a coin over your shoulder into the fountain, that will assure your return to Rome. Seven years ago I did that and as you can see, I am back in Rome. It took us about five minutes to walk from where Nik dropped us off to the fountain. I could not believe how many people were here. We were not able to get really close to the fountain but I did manage to throw a coin in from where we were standing. While walking around the area, Darlene, Nana and I happened to find Jon, Teresa and Donna in Ristorante Taberna Patrizi e Plebei. We decided to stop and enjoy a late lunch of bruschetta, salad and pasta. Lunch took a little longer than expected and that meant that we did not have time for gelato before meeting Nik back at the van.
Our final stop of the day was The Catacombs of Saint Callixtus (10 Euros / person) one of the oldest official cemeteries of the Church of Rome. Nik knew that the English tour was at 3:30pm so he made sure to get us here on time.
The tour started outside where our guide gave us an overview of the catacombs. He explained that there are five levels to this cemetery but we would only be going down to the first level. Unfortunately photography is not permitted so I have no photos to share. It was very interesting walking around the subterranean complex of tombs of popes, martyrs and half a million Christians.
It was the end of the day and time to go back to the ship. Everyone was pretty tired so the drive to Civitavecchia was quiet. Before dropping us off, Nik showed us where the train station was and explained how we could get there from the port. Tomorrow we are headed back to Rome and we are going to be adventurous and take the train. After arriving at the port, it was time to say goodbye to Nik. Once again Nik provided exceptional service. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that we would have the pleasure of having him drive us around Rome again. See you next time my friend.
We were hungry so Karen, Darlene, Nana, Dave, Cathy, Michael, Liam, Brodie, Marie and myself had dinner in Taste. As I have said before, it is really nice to sit down and catch up to see how did everyone’s day turn out. We finished up the evening with a walk around the jogging track.
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