Breakfast was to be included with our hotel but, we were so tired we slept too late to get our breakfast buffet at the hotel. So, we rested and ventured out on our own with a plan to head to The Spanish Steps, and the Trevi Neighborhood. It was our understanding those weren't on the list of things we'd see with our tour group. As we wondered around we came upon what is called The Old Roman Wall (Auirelian Walls). These walls were built for defenses of the Eternal City way back in the 4th century BC. The 6th King of Rome Servius Tullius initiated the first defensive walls built from large blocks of volcanic tufa that were about 10 meters high.
There was about 500 years of peace in The Roman Empire, during the Golden Age and little need of defensive walls. However, later as Rome grew and more lands and peoples were involved that changed. The Barbaric Hoards were a problem so Aurelian, who was then the Emperor had the walls rebuilt and it included all of the 7 hills of Rome and Trastevere district south of the Tiber River. It only took 5 years to build these walls that covered 3500 acres, as the Emperor used Rome Citizens, not just the military. It was completed just after the death of Aurelian. Later Maxentius doubled the height of the walls to increase protection. There were 381 square watch towers built at 30 meter intervals with 18 gateways in and out of the city.
These walls, and gateways remained after the fall of The Roman Empire. After 16 centuries the walls were breached at Porta Pia on Sept 20th 1870, which was the beginning of the unification of Italy under King Victor Emmanuel II. Though Italy is old...very old, it has not been a unified country for very long. A little confusion on the date, as I also read the date of 1861 as the date The King declared the country unified, so perhaps Porta Pia was a battle after the fact.
These walls are the largest monument in Rome as they extend into everyday life. You see the walls, you still go through the gateways, some of the walls are included in peoples homes and other buildings throughout the city.
Hubby, as we were walking about. I needed to prove he was there. LOL- This was a park near the above wall and gate.
We made our way to The Spanish Steps, but it was terribly crowded, and quite hot. So we walked around a bit.
Us half way on The Spanish Steps with Trinita dei Monti Church behind us.
Lots of shopping around The Spanish Steps
Trying to get a feel for the steepness of the steps down into the square. The Spanish steps were built to link the Church at the top of Piazza di Spagna to the Spanish square below.
Another view of the church
Was hot and we needed a break so found a little place for lunch, Trinita Snack Bar. We shared a sandwich and had our first very cool Italian Gelato after lunch. Sparkler included! I did not find a webpage for this little restaurant, but did a favorable review on yelp, and here's the link to their facebook page.
Beautiful statues everywhere, as we continued on walking after lunch.
Even at Government Buildings, which is where these very steep steps go. We found shade though!
Even the streets are pretty, notice the mix of color between the white government buildings.
Statues abound. At this point, I was done.... (broke my foot in March and not totally healed, as it takes they say a year), so we called Uber and made it back to the hotel to rest a bit, and get showers in order to meet up with a tour guide and group members for a welcome dinner that evening.
A wonderful and full day before our tour.
This is my travel route on my recent trip to Italy. You'll note we spent 2 nights in most locations. We started our tour in Rome and ended our tour in Rome.
We toured with Insight Vacations, The Art of Traveling in Style. This is the 2nd time we've toured with this travel company. This trip is billed as 12 nights and 13 days. Traveling in Italy is more costly than when we traveled in Ireland and Scotland last year. Italy is simply more popular, which I assume is the reason. Tours are billed per person (PP). $3,746.25 pp (that price included 3 discounts. Once you travel with one tour company, it pays you to to continue with them, unless you're unhappy with your tour. Repeat customers get a discount, ours per couple was $452.50. Additionally, once you put down a deposit, you have a window of time to pay for your trip early to receive the early pay discount which was 905.00 (per couple), and because we booked Italy within 60 days of returning from Ireland, we received a welcome home discount of 200.00. 7,492.50 divided by 12 nights is 624.37 per day per couple. That price includes your travel, your hotel, and in most cases your buffet breakfast.........and some dinners. All meals are typically not included. Our tour included 7 dinners with wine. That price also includes entrance fees to things like The Vatican.
We stayed in 7 different hotels, some better than others. When traveling in Europe it's important you NOT expect things to be as there are here in the USA. Two fold, it's rare that your room will be like others in the tour group. Things vary a lot in Europe. Bed sizes are typically smaller with King rarely being an option. Often Queen is not an option. More typically it's two twins vs a double. We've found it a better option to do 2 twins, as did most on our tour. You do not get washcloths in bathrooms. We noted this in Ireland and Scotland last year and it was no different this year in Italy. I don't remember if we had them in Spain 5 years ago, but think not.
Sheets! A word about top sheets. Again I don't remember about Spain, but we only had a top sheet one night during our Ireland and Scotland tour last year, and this year in Italy, we had a few. The typical bed making in Europe does not include one. A duvet is common places..........which is probably fine during cold weather, but a bit hot otherwise.
Our first hotel was in a good location in Rome, Hotel Romanico Palace, but our room looked nothing like what you see on their hotel webpage.
The hotel was clean and comfortable, but not all that attractive. I might call it delightfully tacky, lol
Beware...bathrooms typically have a tub or shower, or combo, but ...you never have a full closure. Typically you have half a door which makes showering without getting water on the floor a real challenge. Most bathrooms have a bidet...which many Americans say work well for washing your feet, lol. Seriously though if you look around the net the chances of spreading water everywhere in your bathroom and or burning yourself are substantial. Bars of soap are also not readily available. Only about half our hotels had them this trip. They often have a bathwash-shampoo combo available and not one hotel had hair conditioner.........which I admit to forgetting. I like not packing those items to save space, so had none this trip.
Also, carpet........isn't something you see much of. None of hotel rooms had carpet. Most were tile, or some other substance. So, if you don't like your feet hitting cool floors, take slippers. Personally, I thought the cold on the feet felt good after tromping around all day and putting miles on the dogs.
We, as a tour group spent 2 nights at this hotel, however hubby and I opted to go a day early and were there 3 nights. Our above room was 180.00 Euro's, currently that would be around $208.00 US dollars. Not a bad rate considering we were in an historic district walking distance to The Spanish Steps and The Trevi Fountain.
Hope to see you as I continue to blog about our wonderful Italian Adventure, Italian Escape.
