A half day in Rome - Sat,16th May

Entrance to the Colosseum: Titus' gate. Amazing relief carvings

Colosseum

Trevi Fountain - under repair

The forum: the site of a Breast cancer event all weekend

Busy time at St Peter's Square

This is the vessel to which our cab mates were returning. It left - all lit up like that- a few hours later

We were docked in Rome's main port, Civitavecchia for the day today - Civitavecchia, which means 'the old city' is a one and bit hour train ride away from Rome's Termini station.  We had to ask ourselves whether it was worthwhile to try to visit such an historical city for only half a day?  How could we even start to do justice to it?  (I'd had a short visit there five years ago - and even that had gone nowhere near doing the job).
In short, we couldn't,  but that didn't mean we shouldn't go into Rome either.  We just had to set our sights a little lower.

Our downfall was that we underestimated how LONG everything was going to take.  When you go on an organised shore excursion, it's a door to door service with little wasted time.  When you're on your own - well you're on your own!

We left the ship shortly after nine - and didn't reach Roma Termini until after 11:30am.  That was after we waited for a shuttle bus to take us off the port precinct, walked from the port to the rail station across town, then waited for our train, which was running late.
The journey itself wasn't an express, so we stopped at every station- extending our journey by a good twenty minutes.  The trains on this line come into the station at the unfashionable end, so we had to hike a long way to reach the main entrance, where all the Hop On Hop Off buses start.  So far, we'd been on the go for nearly three hours and had very little to show for it.

Once we found a HOHO bus, we planned to pick one landmark on the route and visit that in depth.  We'd agreed that the Colosseum should fit the bill nicely but we were aghast at the length of the Saturday queues for the inside tour.   Vaughan was all for staying on the bus and completing the HOHO circuit, but I persuaded him to get off so we could at least view the exterior of the building.  I'm pleased to say it was worth it.

We stopped for a toilet and meal break and found a pizzeria with arguably the best view in Rome, overlooking the Colosseum.  I wish the pizza itself had been nicer ( it was very oily) but it was a memorable meal, if only for the its location.

We pressed on with the HOHO bus, only getting off a few more times so we could grab an exterior shot of the Vatican,  popped into the Hard Rock Cafe to buy a pin (and checked out the posh (quiet) end of town in the Via Veneta while we were there,) then tracked down the Trevi Fountain - which is currently under repair.   Not that that slowed the crowds at all. A perspex viewing platform has been built across the fountain which allows people to examine the fountain's figures in more detail, but even with the fountain not working the queues were ridiculously long.  We decided against it, because we had to trek back a way to the bus stop, wait for the bus, sit for a while before it took us back to Roma Termini, where we had to wait another hour for our train back to Civitiavecchia.

It was getting dark as we arrived at the station. (Sunset was at around 8:15).  Rather than walk back to the dock in the dark, we opted to share a large taxi with another couple also heading for the port (but for a different ship), and the taxi driver was able to take us right up to the gangway.  Finaly - no waiting.
The gangway staff looked very lonely waiting outside the ship for stragglers like us, but they greeted us very cheerfully - all things considered - and told us there were only two more people due back.    I think that's the latest I've ever been back on board before sailing - this cruise anyway.   Not that the ship was due to leave for another few hours - but still.

They staff scanned us both and our bags as we boarded.  As usual, Vaughan's braces set off the metal detectors and they scanned him manually. It's become a running joke for them as Mr 'Vorgan' assumes the position.

I've decided today was a funny kind of day, really.
On the one hand we saw the outsides of some of the most iconic buildings in the world, but due to awful crowd sizes, only managed to see two train station from the inside.
We learned a bit about road rules and street manners as applied in Rome.  Basically there aren't many.  No that's not quite right.  Cars will stop at zebra crossings if you step out onto one,  but pedestrians hardly every stop at Don't Walk signs.  Cars park wherever there is a spot -even on a corner and motor cyclists create an imaginary third lane whenever they like.
Throughout this trip we've been regularly accosted by hawkers trying to sell us selfie sticks, genuine fake Rolex watches and other assorted junk.  It gets really old, really fast.   Today they were so aggressive I had to take to wearing my sunglasses, even while it was cloudy, avoiding all eye contact and walking REALLY fast.  That wasn't always enough and I finally snapped today, thrusting my non-smart phone camera back at the hawker and demanding 'Do I LOOK like I want one of those?'

Highpoint of the day? Finding the hotel just down from the Vatican that I stayed in in Rome in 2010.  It was so close to St Peters, it was impossible to miss.