After having learning that my belongings had missed the boat to Accra and I would not have them for the four day Easter weekend, I had decided to book a trip out of Ghana for the holiday. Little did I know that three weeks later it could not have been better timing. After a week of trying to obtain the tax exemption documents for my ‘stuff’ ending in failure, I was so ready to leave Accra for a few days.
The flight out of Accra was a direct one on Alitalia leaving at 11.30 pm on Thursday evening and arriving in Rome on Good Friday at 6.30 am. A quick five hours, which wasn’t bad. The flight was pretty uneventful once I had claimed my window seat back from a Ghanaian who said “I was here first” and then fighting off a Korean who kept trying to lean on me, I actually got a few hours sleep, arriving in Rome feeling reasonably good J.
Having first recovered from the shock of just how few Euro’s my dollars were worth and claiming my luggage I headed for the train station at the airport to catch the Leonardo Express train into the city – not too difficult, just follow the pictures of trains with arrows J and then purchase a round trip ticket to Termina station (the only stop!). The train took about 30 minutes, similar to the Gatwick Express except there was no stop at Cockfosters (for the Zambia gang!) . I arrived in Rome at the Termina station at about 8.00 am. Realising that the quickest and easiest way around Rome is to get a bus/metro pass which was good for three days, I paid the extra for a Roma Pass which would also give me ‘free’ entry into three museums/sites, so all in all a good deal. Connected to the Termina station was also the central Metro station (underground) and the main bus station. Armed with my Roma Pass I set out to find express bus #40 which I had been told by the hotel/B&B would bring me to within 5/10 minutes walk of the hotel where I needed to check in. Locating the #40 took a bit of doing as there were so many buses to choose from, but eventually I was on my way to the Orange B&B.
On route I asked a lady on the bus if she could tell me which stop the Piazza Pia was; it turned out she was German but she asked her tour guide if he could help the “young girl” J not bad for having flown all night! Anyway it turned out it was only about 15 minutes ride and you could hardly miss the stop as it was right past the Vatican.
Arriving at the hotel I found that my room wasn’t ready (not surprising since it was only about 8.30 am) so I changed shoes, putting on my comfy sneakers/trainers and headed out to conquer Rome in three days!
I had purposefully found a hotel close to the Vatican City and it was just that, probably less than a mile and I was in St. Peter’s Square J. Leading up the Via della Concillazione (the main avenue leading into St. Peter’s Square) there was an incredible art exhibition with the seven stations of the cross depicted in larger than life size bronze statues. Because it was still early in the morning there were very few people around so I was able to take my time and really appreciate each of the stations and what they really meant to me and Christians throughout the world. Having the opportunity to walk slowly down the avenue and appreciate the full mean of the events leading up to the crucifixion and the resurrection could not have been a more powerful or perfect way to start my Easter weekend in Roma.Leading on from that it seemed only natural to make my way into St. Peter’s Square and join the
line to go inside St. Peter’s Bascilica. The line wasn’t bad and although it snaked ½ way round the Square, it moved very quickly and 15 minutes or so later I was standing at the entrance to St. Peter’s Bascilica. It was just incredible, I really can’t begin to describe the amazing beauty and intricate artwork. Each and every way I turned I looked at something else that just took my breath away. One thought that crossed my mind very quickly is that the Taj Mahal is nothing compared to St. Peter’s. I think I could visit there every week for years to come and be stunned each time by an overwhelming awe of the magnificent beauty. The Taj I have seen and really don’t mind if I ever see it again.
I probably spent at least three hours inside St. Peter’s, including witnessing the end of a Mass in one particular area and the following processional march through the church. I know I didn’t even see 1/3 of all there was to see and read about, however I also knew I had limited time in Rome so headed out for the next stop. Before leaving the area I decided that I would see if I could check into my B&B room before leaving the immediate area and was lucky enough to be able to. The room was small with two single beds pushed together and made up as a double, one side of which was higher than the other. The TV was a 12” that didn’t even work and as I was to find out later I had a bath tub that drained 50% onto the bathroom floor. So much for the comfy bed and TV that I had been looking forward to J! I quickly unpacked a few things and lightened my load a little before venturing out again.
My next goal was to find a map with the bus routes which I was fortunate enough to do at a newsstand right across from the entrance to the B&B. Right alongside a wonderful flower stall that smelled just perfect!! Gosh I miss my garden at this time of year, with all those gardenias J. With no time to spare to study the bus routes I decided the best plan was to go back to the stop where I got off the #40 and just hop on a bus and decide to go wherever the bus was going! After all there were lots of places I wanted to see and the bus would almost certainly take me to at least one of them J. I was fortunate the bus I had caught took me close enough to the Pantheon which was high on my list for an early visit as it is one of the very few examples of roman architecture in excellent condition. Close to 2,000 years old it was just amazing, although I could only see inside the large doors as it was closed for mass at the time. Undaunted I decided it was time to eat something, it was about 3.00 pm by this time. I found a great little ‘sandwich shop’ that had lots of choices of pannini’s, tramazini’s, etc. to choose from which was perfect. I settled on a prosciuttio, mozzarella and tomato Panini J.
At this point I had been on my feet since 8.00 am so I decided to head back towards the Vatican where I could stop and visit the Castel d’Angelo. It was really interesting and again the artwork on the walls, ceilings, etc. was just beautiful. By the time I had walked throughout the rotunda and up to the top of the Castel my feet and knees were killing me (I may look young, but am clearly getting older!) so I decided to find a local café for a glass of wine and small dinner, since I head eaten lunch so late. I found a place between St. Peter’s Square and the B&B that was reasonably priced and was OK, not the best but it hit the spot. Leaving the café I was about to head back to the room for an early night (given I had only slept for about 3 hours on Thursday night) when I heard music coming from the Square so I walked over to see what was happening to find that it was the Friday evening Mass so I found a spot and watched the big screen broadcasting the mass from inside St. Peter’s for about an hour before finally dragging myself back to the B&B. I was almost sleeping on my feet at that point. The travel, the walking, the amazing sites and just the emotions of being in the Vatican City for the Holiest week of the Christian calendar had worn me flat out! Although I had hoped to make it to the Colloseum for the Via Crucis it didn’t start until 9.00 pm and there was no way I could stay up any longer.
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