Day 97 – 4/21 – Rome, Italy

Our family lived in Rome for a year, from summer ’92 to summer ’93. We have not been back since then.

When we lived here, Kathleen was part of a group that went on a “walking tour of Rome” with a guide one day each week. In total she took 35-40 such tours. The woman who gave the tours claimed that she could go 3 years (or over 100 different tours) before she had to repeat one. That shows how rich Rome is in different sites to see.

Our cruise’s port lecturer gave similar perspective. He gave his “top 20 sites in Rome” list, with almost all of the items on his list being places that we knew.

We dock at a port that is a 1-1/2 hour drive away from Rome. We are taking the ship’s excursion bus that drives into Rome and drops you off for about 5-1/2 hours on your own. This costs more than the train, but having lived here before, we know how strikes can occur and how trains can be unreliable on schedules.

We must have walked 6 miles on our tour. We had stops at: Vatican City, Piazza Navona, Piazza di Fiori, Colosseum, Roman Forum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and the Pantheon.

We are worn out, and have two busy port days ahead of us.

This was a nice revisit for us, but like so many other ports, you only get a quick sampling of what is there. In many of the better ports, you need several days to a week to get a decent visit.

Photos and commentary follows.