All roads lead here apparently, including ours.

And the roads were good... we stopped at Buonconvento to admire hundreds of old cars from all over the world doing the Mille Miglia Storica...

...but the drivers were crazy: navigating through Rome’s chaotic streets to drop the hire car off at the Villa Borghese was tricky to say the least.

Relieved to let a native do the rest of the driving, we took a taxi to our hotel: Pensione Panda. It was in a great little spot on Via della Croce, a buzzing street with loads of restaurants, and the hotel itself was much better than I was expecting for the budget price.

There wasn’t time for much exploring that night, so we went straight for dinner at the restaurant right below our hotel and sat next to a young Liverpudlian couple. Yep, we were definitely back in tourist-ville again.

While we finished our limoncello, down came the rain. Would we ever escape it? We ran out of the restaurant, dodging the umbrella sellers and took shelter in an ice cream shop near the Spanish Steps where we shared a small bottle of vino and people watched for a while. I loved the fact that people of all ages, men and women would come in and get an ice cream with no shame. No grotty kebab shops filled with lager louts here.

Despite the rain, I was getting a good feeling about Rome.

Sunday morning and guess what? It was pissing down. That ruled out the open air Colosseum. So after a cappuccino and croissant at what was to become our faithful breakfast haunt, Pasticceria d’Angelo, we headed for the Vatican shielded from the weather by our Jack-in-a-Packs. It was a fair walk.

Neither of us are religious, but we couldn’t fail to be impressed by the draw that this place had on people and the magnificence of the architecture of St Peter’s Square and the Basilica. The columns surrounding the square were absolute giants, but walking amongst them it could be easy to take their presence for granted.

After a long walk around the perimeter of the walled Vatican City to the museum entrance we found it was closed! Luckily, the sun had now found its way through so we decided to do the Colloseum and Roman Forum.

Using the excellent tip from the Lonely Planet we avoided the long ticket queue at the Colloseum by buying a joint ticket from the Palatine ticket office where the queue was much shorter.

We really enjoyed the Colloseum, and the Forum, although we found the Forum badly signposted and wasted a lot of time queuing for the Casa di Augustus which was a pretty crap reconstruction of the emperor’s house, without realising that there was a whole other bigger, better area in the other direction. Nevertheless, we had time to appreciate it in the low evening sun and take one last look at it from the vantage point of the back of the Palazzo Senatorio, before descending the steps made for giants - another building that was oversized and breathtaking.

We were thirsty, and it was a good job, because you’d have to be really thirsty to pay £7 for a pint of beer, but that’s what it cost, and that’s what we paid.

That night we ate in a wine bar on Via della Croce called Enoteca Antica, which I have since discovered is very highly rated amongst visitors and locals alike. I’m not surprised. The main courses were fantastic, the vibe was good, the waiters were so friendly and the antipasti selection was epic..

The following day it was cloudy and we headed back to the Vatican museums, but the queue was horrendous - about 2 hours. We could pay a ridiculous supplement to skip it by doing a tour, but after our Uffizi Gallery experience in Florence we decided it wasn’t worth it. We’d had our fill of Italian art.

Instead we went to the train station and worked out how we would get to Sorrento tomorrow. We also worked out how to use the local buses: avoid the tour bus touts and buy tickets from the nearest newsagent for 1 euro a bargain for once!

Our next stop was the Pantheon, definitely a highlight for us. We just loved the building, the design, the courage, the effort and the high standards of these ancient people who seemed to have a ‘no fear’ approach to construction. How many things that we build now will still be in perfect condition in two thousand years time?

The Trevi fountain didn’t do much for us. It was rammed with tourists there for the sake of it, just like us.

We went back to Via della Croce for the evening, sat at Enoteca Antica and sampled a couple of wines and some of the incredible array of antipasti available. Delish. We ate at Otello alla Concordia and then headed back to Enoteca Antica for more vino. Outside it was heavy rain, thunder and lightning.

We really enjoyed Rome. It’s a really vibrant city that still has plenty to offer even after you’ve seen the main sights. I found the people friendly and the food good. I’ve no doubt that our road will lead here again.

Labels: travel