Our Mid Life Crisis Gap Year: Rome In A Day, Well Almost

Tomorrow we are off to Corfu for 12 days, so the idea of today was to put on the walking shoes and see as much of Rome as possible before the feet packed in. Incidentally we are coming back to Rome after Corfu for a further 4 days, so this exercise does look to be a bit masochistic, but what the heck....

If you have not realised this was one of those "Glenn Solo Feats" again. It all sounded far too strenuous for Lesley's liking so she just chilled out back at the hotel and caught up on some reading.....in hindsight I think I know who the sensible one was.....my feet are killing me!

So after a morning of roaming the shops with Lesley for two hours Lesley suggested that I should go out and do some sightseeing if I wanted.......and I wanted!!! So off I went.

Now I set off without any real plan in mind, so looking at my tourist map I decided to go to Piazze della Repubblica that we saw yesterday, through to San Carlo Quattro Fontana where there are four fountains each embedded into one of four buildings at a road intersection, and then onto the famous Fontana di Trevi.

One Of The Fountains At San Carlo Quattro Fontana

The Fontana Di Trevi

I must admit I was quite surprised how small the piazza is that the Trevi Fountain is in...I was expecting something a lot lot bigger, but the fountain is still quite spectacular.

Looking at my map it looked like a couple of Palazzo's, and an old Roman Temple were on the way to the Pantheon, and all not too far apart, so the next part of the journey was decided.

Palazzo Montecitorio

Ummm, I've Forgotten

The Pantheon

Templo Adriano

Amazing Engineering

I must admit after a while one Plazzo looks like another and you find yourself walking past them with barely a glimpse...I think 2 months in Italy has made me a bit immune to a lot of these magnificent buildings, there are just so many of them.

I still had heaps of energy to burn and the feet weren't struggling one bit so it was off to the Palazzo Madama and the Piazza Navona with its great fountains and the artists market.

Piazza Navona

The Central Fountain

The Northerly Fountain

The Artist Market

I was still cruising along quite nicley so decided to head towards the Fume Tevere (the river) and check out the Palazzo del Trubunali, the Castel Sant' Angelo, and then cross the river on Ponte Vittorio Emanuelle II and go and visit the Pope at the Vatican.

Palazzo di Giustizia and Ponte Umberto I

Castel Sant' Angelo and Its Bridge

Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II

Basilica San Pietro

Well the Pope wasn't home today so it was time to move on....this place must look incredible when the Pope is giving a speech and there are thousands of people filling the piazza.

Next, I headed south following the river towards Campo de Flori, a great Piazza that often has a market in it, then past another couple of Palazzo's, see what I mean about becoming complacent about these, I haven't even bothered to name them!