When in Rome

Do as the tourists do

There’s been a lot to see and do in Rome, but we haven’t done as good a job as we’d have liked to. It’s been too hot. And too expensive.

It must sound boring, but you don’t get used to day after day of 35 degree temperatures - it knocks you out.

Yesterday we rode on those crazy open-top double decker buses.

Needless to say, the roof covers were pulled on, so we could sit on the top deck and not get fried.

It gave an interesting perspective for photos, as long as the view was on the right side of the bus.

Quite often at the critical moment some other passenger would get in the way.

We had a one-day ticket, so after a circuit of Rome’s highlights we got on the bus and did it again.

In between circuits, we stumbled across a Georgian restaurant with a friendly person inside, so had some great bruschetta for lunch.

We went back there for dinner, but the friendly man wasn’t on and once more we felt ripped off by the small but highly priced meal.

The theory of multiple courses is all very well, but each course is as big as a full meal for us and there’s little variety.

For example, I chose a little offal stew, in theory consisting of livers, hearts and other gizzards.

It tasted really nice, but it was rather a lot of the same thing and it filled me up. I could have done with less stew and more carbs and greens. But of course, that’s another course or two.

Interesting to have a taste of Georgia, though. If your geography is as rusty as mine, you won’t have known that Georgia occupies an area on the east coast of the Black Sea, a little east of Ukraine and a little north east of Turkey.

We’re not so good at filling in time without the incentive of a long walk, so it took a while to get motivated today.

In the end, we decided to end our pilgrimage properly and walk to St Peters Square, a distance of just over 4km.

We couldn’t help but contrast it with arriving in Santiago at the end of the Camino. In Spain, there’s a certain anticipation, a walk through streets thronging with pilgrims, a dive through an archway with a piper playing and then suddenly you’re in quite an intimate square thronged with people, most of whom are pilgrims, celebrating their arrival.

This photo doesn’t tell the full story, but in Rome you arrive in a huge, desolate square, filled with barriers and ringed with checkpoints. Thousands of people too, of course.

It took us a while to find out where to go.

We know a special reception area for pilgrims had been set up for Jubilee Year. When we asked at an info point, we were told it was it was off on a side street, where it had been in other years.

In vain, we told the unhelpful information person it had been shifted and she looked at us as if we were Martians and repeated her incorrect information.

Eventually, we found some volunteers at a checkpoint who greeted us as if we were royalty and directed us past all the queues.

We still had to pass our bags through a police check, but eventually found ourselves at a reception desk for pilgrims.

They were delighted to see us and chatted for some time about our experiences.

My own freckly hand put the final stamp on the passport I’d carried all those weeks.

We got the certificate and a free entry to the Basilica and the Cathedral.

In contrast to the 2000-3000 pilgrims entering Santiago each day, there can’t have been more than a dozen walking into Rome each day, although official figures claim about 1000 a week. We went days without seeing more than a couple, but maybe June and July are too hot for most people. Anyway, they were enthusiastic to see us and made us feel as if we’d achieved something.

We wandered off into the catacombs and checked out a range of dead Popes.

Then on into St Peters itself. There wasn’t a lot of breathing space.

After a respectable time, we headed for the daylight and back into the square.

So many saints stand guard around the edges. I wondered what they talked about.

Mission accomplished, we sought out a bus.

A bit of a rest and a read, some more bruschetta and pizza, a siesta, and we’re primed up for the last supper in Rome.

Two days in Rome. Here’s a large photo album.

Tomorrow will be a slow day. We have a late checkout at noon, but even so, our short flight to Zurich isn’t until 8pm. That’s followed by a 12-hour flight to Hong Kong, so it’s going to be a long session without the normal comforts.

Thanks for reading so far.

As we head back into a very wet and wintry New Zealand you can keep up with whatever happens next. Subscriptions are free.