9th March

Today the post is written by Val with her birthday tomorrow.

We had tickets for a Vatican tour. As usual, we set off walking from the hotel, leaving at 7 a.m. allowing plenty of time for our 8.30 check in. It was just as well as our rendezvous-vous was at the museum entrance, at the opposite end of the Vatican City to St Peter’s. Once we knew where we were going, we enjoyed a pleasant coffee stop.

We arrived at the museum entrance and there were long queues everywhere. Thankfully as ticket holders, we were able to bypass most of them.

The tour began with an extensive tour of the gardens. Our young guide was excellent and the tour informative. We then had a talk about the art of The Sistine Chapel and a guided tour along the galleries approaching the chapel. After spending a short while in the chapel we took a brief snack break then looked at some of the museum exhibits: art then ethnology.

We wanted to view something else in the afternoon, and it began to pour with rain so we were pleased that the queues for the Parthenon weren’t too long. It was truly awe-inspiring.

Finally it was time for lunch and after checking out somewhere that risked disappointment, we decided to return to our favourite Taverna in the Jewish Ghetto. We were welcomed back like old friends and greeted with a glass of bubbly.. After taking our time over a satisfying meal, we were ready to head back to the hotel and reflect on our day.

We’re now up to 150km of our 160km target……. With a big birthday tomorrow we’ll smash it……

See our pictures at

https://photos.app.goo.gl/CEFu5jF4XxVGo1eQ8

and our fund raise at

https://walkforwater.wateraid.org/fundraising/peters-fundraising-page76

8th March

Today we’ve been predominantly in the coliseum, and the forum area. It’s quite stunning how huge everything is. The amount of labour needed to build the buildings that are in the area must have been absolutely massive. Val and I have worn our feet out. Continue looking at our Google photos and blog at http://www.peterball.uk

https://photos.app.goo.gl/CEFu5jF4XxVGo1eQ8

see our flyover at Check out this Flyover of my walk on Strava: https://strava.app.link/9MuV2E9wl1b

7th March


Today we didn’t start with too much of a plan, other than a visit to the catacombs. The Catacombs of San Sebastián site was fairly quiet at 10 a.m. We enjoyed a breakfast coffee then a relaxed tour of the catacombs which included a visit to the church to view the obligatory relics and the final work by Bernini.

It made sense to call at the Baths of Caracalla on the way back. The site is immense and the scale of the baths almost impossible to comprehend. This was made all the more difficult by the lack of informative signage. Sadly the audio tours were not currently working.

Then we paused at the Circus Maximus, the Colosseum and the Forum as we walked past. As there was an Italy v England 6 nations rugby match scheduled for later in the afternoon, it made our walk through this busy area even more interesting!

In our ‘go with the flow’ mood of the day, we did have a pint at The Shamrock Pub! We continued walking and decided, on the spur of the moment to walk up to the terraces of the Vittoriano. It was worth it for the spectacular views of the city.

By then we had worked up an appetite. We stopped at a modest cafe but the toasted omelette ciabatta far exceeded expectations, washed down with an americano and followed by cannoli.

We carried on the Trasteverre. On the Isola Tiberina, despite the recent lunch, the gelateria beckoned. We tried the basil and lemon flavour which was amazing.

There was a lovely atmosphere at Trasteverre but we had no appetite for dinner so we headed up to the Janiculum Hill for more amazing views, lots of marble busts and an enormous statue of Garibaldi.

We had finally run out of steam after a very enjoyable and interesting day, so we headed back to the hotel.

Flyover our route on Strava: https://strava.app.link/pUFQhsfRj1b

See our pictures at

https://photos.app.goo.gl/CEFu5jF4XxVGo1eQ8

6th March

today is started with a walk of about an hour into the city principally downhill. So easy on the legs. Currently we seem to be walking around the edge of Vatican city.

So we seem to have arrived in St. Peter’s Square is it?

we spotted Romulus and Remus on the way to the castle del Angelo

This took us to 09.50 and it was becoming complicated to upload and dictate my posts so from here, I’m now typing this in our hotel foyer.

From her we walked towards Piazza Narvona and stopped for a rather nice coffee on the way,

From here we walked to the Pantheon which was just stacked with people trying to get in. From Val’s research we know we can get in at no cost on Sunday so we decided to opt out and take that option.

Our next destination was Trevi fountain which shocked Val. It was all blocked to stop anyone getting down to it. Now you have to €2!!!, so, being miserly we headed off to find its source which is about 200m away. Having found that Val decided we should head towards Galleria Doria Pamphilj……On the way I spotted “Tavola Calda” which is a chain I had been telling Val about and I first visited in Firenze in 1969…. We decided to stop and have a snack… It was worth it…

We then headed toward the Galleria as it was just a few steps down the road….. What a magnificent place. Val had pre booked and so we were able to just walk in. I took a lot of pictures but basically it was the home of an Italian family who were closely related to several high up people in the Catholic Church right up to the Pope and married English wives in the 18th – 19th and 20th Century. After over two hours here we spotted that one of the last characters played the fiddle and went to Magdalene college Cambridge. He was anti fascist and had a price on his head and refused to let Hitler into palace. Time to move on ……

Val had spotted that there is a Jewish Ghetto and as we were nearby we set off in that direction. Unfortunately as it was getting near to Shabat the great Synagogue was closed to the public, however as we were in the ghetto we wandered through the streets and found a nice kosher restaurant and decided to eat. Again pictures in the photo album above

Please see our WaterAid page at. https://walkforwater.wateraid.org/fundraising/peters-fundraising-page76

You can see the pictures now at https://photos.app.goo.gl/CEFu5jF4XxVGo1eQ8

You can see today’s flyover here https://strava.app.link/a0UXaPZfi1b

Tomorrow the Apian Way and Catacombs

Please click on the like button if you found this …….

The arrival in Rome

Our Jet2 plane landed at 12.20 and we thought it would be an easy transition through the airport…. Wrong!! We were subject to the new machines that have popped up all over the EU. It took us an hour and a half to clear security and collect our cases.

Getting out of the airport was then well signposted and we managed to hop onto “The Leonardo express” into the centre of the city.