Rome #1

Lyn took Shirley, from Akaroa, and Ted and Rosemary from Australia out to Bari airport and Chris took Mark, Bev, Pen and me into Bari where we caught a train for a 5 hour trip to Rome. The scenery was similar to some of the other trips with undulating land and olives, grapes and lots of small paddocks of cereal.
The middle part of the journey was more interesting going through hilly valleys and small villages.
Our Airbnb turned out to be very central and not far from where Pen and I stayed 2 years ago. We were a bit shocked when we got out of the taxi to be dropped on a narrow grotty street with rubbish bags outside on the cobblestones.

Our place is just behind the first car. Two doors need to be unlocked to get up to our first floor.
The apartment was great with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The rooms were like a picture gallery with old prints everywhere.

That evening Mark, Bev and I walked for ages across the river to the Vatican, and St Peter's square looked amazing all lit up with heaps of other tourists wandering around.

A woman playing beautifully music on a harp.

It was sad to see so many homeless people sleeping on the steps around the square.

Next day Pen shopping nearby while Bev, Mark and I walked to the Colosseum and had a "jump the queue" guided tour of this famous site. Amazing seeing where the gladiators and the lions did their thing.

Sometimes they even flooded the central area and had serious naval battles.
The Colosseum was built in 8 years around 80 BC and that included a covered roof.

The floor was built over the top of this.

We had a separate guide for the Roman forum part of the tour.

Our " quite tidy" little guide.

The forum area was where they once had many buildings with outdoor markets and entertainment as well as the administration buildings.

Our 15 km walk that day also took us to the Spanish steps. The poets Shelley and Byron once lived here.

A trip to Rome is never complete without a visit to the Trevi fountain. It was more crowded than when we saw it 2 years ago.

Mark and Bev took a train to the town of Tivoli to view the gardens and were very impressed with the fountains which were built hundreds of years ago.
I met up with them to climb up the steps of the Victor Emanuel 11 building locally called "The Wedding Cake". Just around the back of it is the Romulus and Remus statue.