Exploring Rome a little

Departing Paris

My flight from Paris Orly airport departs at 0905 and I had overnighted at the B&B Hotel Paris Italie Porte de Choisy because it is on a direct line to the airport, with relatively few stops.

But with disruption to that line yesterday, I decided to wake at 0515 to allow time for Plan B in case the line was closed.

Leaving the hotel at 0545, I got to the metro station to find that all was good.  That got me to the airport around 0630.

I found a seat to consume my muesli drenched with a small bottle of milk, before going airside.

There was no queue through security and the distance from the kerb to the gate was extremely short.  On the other hand, it had been a long walk through the length of the terminal from the metro station at Terminal 3 to my boarding area at Terminal 1.

Arriving in Rome

The Wizz Air flight went quickly and we landed in Rome around 1100.  We appeared to be at one of the furthest gates and once out in the public area, it was a long hike along the length of the terminal building to the bus stands.

When I tried to buy the bus ticket into the city, the price was more than what I had expected.  There were several companies operating, with separate ticket kiosks.  It turned out that it was cheaper online.

I quickly got on my phone to make the booking to get the savings but ended up booking with the wrong company, meaning that I had to wait an extra 30 mins.

But there was a blessing in disguise as the SIT bus company dropped me off virtually outside my hotel near Termini station, after a 50 min ride.

It was 1330 when I got to the hotel.  I was starting to feel tired.  My grand plan of doing lots of sightseeing in the afternoon, maybe even going slightly out of town to Castel Gandolfo seemed a bit far-fetched.

After a light lunch of pizza (cheese and mushroom with no tomato paste), at a Bangladeshi eatery, I rested until the weather had cooled down.  The max for the day was about 30 degC.

Evening sightseeing

Leaving the hotel around 1730, I explored by foot heading to Piazza Navona with its three fountains outside the Church of Sant’Agnese in Agone.

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From there, it was a short walk to the Pantheon, a 2^nd Century Roman Temple that’s now a church.  It was a bit late, so I had just missed the last entry.  I wasn’t too worried as I had visited before and recall the hole in the middle of the dome.

At the next stop, I saw for the first time, how tourism has grown in Rome.  There were masses of people crowding around the 18^th Century Trevi fountain, with a queue to go down to closer to the water.

It was originally built as the terminal point of an aqueduct bringing water to Rome and is on a wall of the Poli Palace.

I wasn’t interested in getting any closer and moved on to the Spanish Steps where the crowd was significant but less.  These steps are on Piazza di Spagna, where the Spanish Embassy to the Holy See is located. Hence the name.

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I returned to the hotel briefly around 1930, pleased with the ground I had covered in just 2h.

I had a snack dinner before walking to the Colosseum.  This is the largest ancient amphitheatre in the world, completed in 80 AD.  The way I had approached the area gave me an elevated view of the site, but I then moved down to get a closer-up view, short of paying to enter.

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My last visit to Rome was in 2016 and it is relatively recent in the scheme of my overall travels.  I didn’t feel the urge or necessity to do everything all over again.

I messed up my metro ride back to Termini, overshooting by a bloody long way when it was mean to be just two stops away.  It ended up being a late night, not getting back to the hotel till 2300.  But in Rome, everyone is out till late.