Finishing our drive in Rome

Today we drove down to Rome to return our rental car and stay for a couple of nights. We left Staggia at 0900 and got to central Rome shortly after 1200. The Hertz rental car return wasn’t at Termini station. I had to go into the station to ask at the counter and they wrote the address down for me. It was very near, up several levels in a multi-storey carpark attached to the Radisson hotel but in a car, we had to go around. Kim lost his temper for his first time driving in Italy; it wasn’t like we were running late as we had about 40 minutes left before the end of the rental period.

With a bit of spare time, we drove to our hotel and parked. We dropped off our luggage before returning the car to Level 7 of the carpark. Everything went smoothly thereafter, including the dent and 5/8 full tank that we had inherited.

After an afternoon rest to avoid the heat, we ventured out for some sightseeing. The Pantheon was our preferred first spot and it was best accessed with bus 71 which left from outside the hotel. Unfortunately, it took about 40 minutes before the bus turned up but fortunately we were well shaded.

Mass was still on at the Pantheon when we found our way there by foot from the bus stop. Once mass finished, we joined the queue to enter the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome. It is pretty amazing that it is still the world’s largest some 2000 years after it was built.

We made our way to Navona Square which had beautiful buildings and fountains. This was followed by the very crowded Trevi Fountain and the deserted Spanish steps (which was fenced off for restoration).

Going back to our part of Rome by Metro, we stopped at a Bangladeshi kebab place for dinner. In fact, it was the same place we ate at for lunch because their kebab roll-ups were so awesomely packed with chicken and salad. And it only cost EUR3.50! Much cheaper than New Zealand!