Today we had the pleasure of exploring Rome, our second stop in Italy as part of the cruise. We actually docked in Civitavecchia which is about an hour outside of Rome. Once again we choose Rome In Limo Tour Sharing and we booked the Rome Highlights tour (92 Euros / person). We were lucky that we found a family from California that wanted to join us for the tour. Once we got off of the ship, we were greeted by Nik. Now I have to say that Nik was a very handsome Roman. We got to the van and we introduced ourselves to Nicolas, Alexandria, Sofia and Andreas, our travel companions for the day. Just as we start the drive to Rome, Nik tells us that he is turning on the WiFi. WiFi … In the van … I think I screamed as much as the kids did. There have been problems the last few days posting the blog from the cruise ship so this allowed me to get yesterday’s blog entry posted.
One hour later through the Italian countryside, we reached the Rome city limits. During the drive, we told Nik that we did not have to be on the ship until 6:30pm. He said that if we wanted to extend the tour by an hour, it would cost 50 Euros. We decided that we wanted to see even more of Rome. Our first stop was a beautiful fountain that Nik explained is beloved by the citizens of Rome. We had just enough time to snap a few photos. Across from the fountain, there was a spectular view of Rome.
Our next stop was the Pantheon which was built between 118 to 128AD. Before entering the building, we stood across the Piazza to admire it. The portico has columns that are forty feet high made of a single piece of granite. Once you enter, you are standing in a domed room. At the top of the dome, is an opening that it almost thirty feet wide. The interior is filled with decorative statues and the tombs of famous people.
Around the corner from the Pantheon, is Basilica de Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. It is the only gothic church in Rome. We took a quick look inside and it was so beautiful. This also happened to be the place that we were meeting Nik.
From here, Nik took us to the Trevi Fountain. Legend has it that if you throw a coin in the fountain, you will come back to Rome.
The Roman Forum is not part of the normal tour but since we had extra time, Nik took us here. The Forum was in Ancient Rome an open air public meeting space. There are many ruins and excavation is still being done to this day.
Not very far from The Roman Forum is The Colosseum. Since we pre-purchased our tickets (14 Euros / person), we just walked right in. The first thing I noticed is how huge this place is. In it’s day, it held 50,000 spectators. The design of The Colosseum has been used in the building of modern day stadiums. Since the tour is called Rome Highlights, we had about forty-five minutes to explore. We walked around the upper level and the proceeded down a level so that we could get a closer look at the underground passages where they kept the animals and prisoners.
Everyone was hungry by now, so we had a nice sit down lunch at Insalata Ricca where there was lots of pizza, salad and pasta consumed. Before going to the Vatican, Nik stopped at the Keyhold View of Vatican. When you look through the keyhole, you will see St. Peter’s Basilica framed by a row of hedges. It was so cool.
We ended our afternoon with visiting the Vatican. Vatican City is the world’s smallest country at sixty-six acres.. It has it’s own gas station, post office, TV and radio stations and off course the Vatican Museum and St Peter’s Basilica. We only had about an hour and a half so we did the speed reader’s version of the tour. The museum is filled with many many statues, paintings and tapestries. The highlight of the tour was being in the Sistine Chapel. As you enter, you are reminded that no photography and no speaking is allowed. We were standing there admiring the ceiling when all of a sudden a loud booming voice said “Silence … No photos … No Videos”. The chapel then went silent. We believe that was the voice of God. He should have also said “no selfie sticks”. We missed the secret exit from within the Sistine Chapel to get into St. Peter’s Church. Ah well, we need to come back.
We also came out the wrong exit and had to walk all the way around to the other side to meet up with Nik. Lucky for us, the others had not yet arrived so Karen and I had time to get some pictures of St. Peter’s Square. We finally all met up and Nik took us to get the best Gelato in Rome. The ride back to the port was quiet since everyone was tired from our exhausting whirlwind tour of Rome. At the port, we said goodbye to our new friends and to Nik.
A couple of thoughts about Rome. The city is old. Pictures do not do it justice. Every place that we visited today, I was in awe. Either because of the shear size like The Colosseum, or the ornateness of the statues like in The Vatican Museum, or just trying to figure out how did these things get built all those years ago without modern techniques. I will visit this city again that is for sure.
Now a couple of thoughts about our guide Nik. He treated us like we were VIPs. He was always able to drop us off right at the entrance of whatever we were visiting and he was always there to pick us up at the appointed time. His knowledge about Rome is unbelievable. And his stories about living in Rome kept us entertained all day.
We decided to have dinner in the Garden Main Dining Room where we each had the BBQ Beef Taquitos and General Tao’s Chicken. It was back to the cabin after dinner to sort through many hundreds of photos.
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