Day 10
We decide today to go downtown and get a 24 hour pass on the Jump On, Jump Off Green bus. We walk out to the main street to the bus stop but our bus never comes. Hmmm….the Pope is announcing new saints today, maybe the bus has been redirected. Off we go to the Metro station and take the subway downtown. We go looking for the Tourist Information as we want to buy a Rome Pass which will give us entrance to many different venues (two free entries and then discounts on further venues) and we can use it as a bus pass for three days. We finally find it and then we go looking for the bus company to by a 24 hour pass on the Green bus. This costs us 20 Euros. Boy was that worth it. There are 12 stops on the route and the bus comes by every 20 minutes. It stops at major attractions and is a double decker so you can sit inside or out. The whole route takes 2 hours and we decide that we will do the whole route once and then pick something to visit.
The view is great from the top deck of the bus! You see way more than you would from inside.
We leave the Termini Station and our first major stop is the Coliseum. We have waited a long time to see this and it is awesome. Past that and travel through the city and the next big site is the Piazza Venezia, the national museum of Rome near the Palazzo Venezia.
We then head toward the Vatican. Now we know that Saints are being named today and Dan warned to stay away but no one told the bus driver. Talk about a sea of people. There was a saint from Canada and one from Australia and four others. People flooded in from many countries and the tour busses were end to end. The people attending as groups were identified by the coloured hats, scarves, shirts and ties they wore. They carried flags from their countries. We saw many Aussie and Canadian flags. It was fascinating to see the international representation attending and the joy of the faithful who were fortunate enough to be able to attend.
The bus finally had to turn off the main street and reroute as we would never get any closer to the Vatican. Back across the river Tiber to the Villa Borghese and the next stop people got off to walk to the Spanish Steps.
The loop having been done we decide to stay on and go back to see the Circus Massimo. We had seen tents and men dressed as gladiators and had to go back. Some girls like men in uniforms but give Lyn and I a guy in a short skirt anytime. This in Roman times would have been able to seat 250,000 people (the marble seating has been stolen over the years so now it is a grassy oval shape) and this is where the chariot races were held. It is large!! So we hop off the bus and walk to see what is happening. There is a reenactment of Roman warriors fighting each other and “invaders” who are all dressed in costumes of the era. They had tent camps set up with merchants selling and making goods. Wives and children who followed their men to battle were all dressed in authentic clothing.
10 years ago we joked that we had become Roman camp followers as everywhere we went had been a Roman settlement in England ( London, York, Bath). Then we had the Battle of Hastings with more soldiers. Here we are again only with Roman soldiers this time. They put an enormous effort in their costumes with the headpieces, breastplates and amour. Very impressive and I am sure expensive. We even see ladies dressed as gladiators. There are demonstrations of ethnic dancers and singing and arrow launchers, etc. We were lucky to have spotted this.
Back on to the bus and by the time we get to the Vatican the crowds have disappeared and we get to drive right to the front steps.
Back to the first stop and we hop off and grab a bus home. We are so tired we go across the street and ask for takeout for dinner. This is an unknown concept. The lovely lady says she will ring our bell when our dinner has been prepared, only she comes over with everything on plates and won’t take money then. She says come back later. We eat up and then wash up and take our plates back. Nice service.
Travel Tip:
There are several city bus tours & you can board them across from the Termini ( main railway station)
http://www.trambusopen.com/en/home.cfm - Hop On-Hop Off
We decide today to go downtown and get a 24 hour pass on the Jump On, Jump Off Green bus. We walk out to the main street to the bus stop but our bus never comes. Hmmm….the Pope is announcing new saints today, maybe the bus has been redirected. Off we go to the Metro station and take the subway downtown. We go looking for the Tourist Information as we want to buy a Rome Pass which will give us entrance to many different venues (two free entries and then discounts on further venues) and we can use it as a bus pass for three days. We finally find it and then we go looking for the bus company to by a 24 hour pass on the Green bus. This costs us 20 Euros. Boy was that worth it. There are 12 stops on the route and the bus comes by every 20 minutes. It stops at major attractions and is a double decker so you can sit inside or out. The whole route takes 2 hours and we decide that we will do the whole route once and then pick something to visit.
The view is great from the top deck of the bus! You see way more than you would from inside.
We leave the Termini Station and our first major stop is the Coliseum. We have waited a long time to see this and it is awesome. Past that and travel through the city and the next big site is the Piazza Venezia, the national museum of Rome near the Palazzo Venezia.
We then head toward the Vatican. Now we know that Saints are being named today and Dan warned to stay away but no one told the bus driver. Talk about a sea of people. There was a saint from Canada and one from Australia and four others. People flooded in from many countries and the tour busses were end to end. The people attending as groups were identified by the coloured hats, scarves, shirts and ties they wore. They carried flags from their countries. We saw many Aussie and Canadian flags. It was fascinating to see the international representation attending and the joy of the faithful who were fortunate enough to be able to attend.
The bus finally had to turn off the main street and reroute as we would never get any closer to the Vatican. Back across the river Tiber to the Villa Borghese and the next stop people got off to walk to the Spanish Steps.
The loop having been done we decide to stay on and go back to see the Circus Massimo. We had seen tents and men dressed as gladiators and had to go back. Some girls like men in uniforms but give Lyn and I a guy in a short skirt anytime. This in Roman times would have been able to seat 250,000 people (the marble seating has been stolen over the years so now it is a grassy oval shape) and this is where the chariot races were held. It is large!! So we hop off the bus and walk to see what is happening. There is a reenactment of Roman warriors fighting each other and “invaders” who are all dressed in costumes of the era. They had tent camps set up with merchants selling and making goods. Wives and children who followed their men to battle were all dressed in authentic clothing.
10 years ago we joked that we had become Roman camp followers as everywhere we went had been a Roman settlement in England ( London, York, Bath). Then we had the Battle of Hastings with more soldiers. Here we are again only with Roman soldiers this time. They put an enormous effort in their costumes with the headpieces, breastplates and amour. Very impressive and I am sure expensive. We even see ladies dressed as gladiators. There are demonstrations of ethnic dancers and singing and arrow launchers, etc. We were lucky to have spotted this.
Back on to the bus and by the time we get to the Vatican the crowds have disappeared and we get to drive right to the front steps.
Back to the first stop and we hop off and grab a bus home. We are so tired we go across the street and ask for takeout for dinner. This is an unknown concept. The lovely lady says she will ring our bell when our dinner has been prepared, only she comes over with everything on plates and won’t take money then. She says come back later. We eat up and then wash up and take our plates back. Nice service.
Travel Tip:
There are several city bus tours & you can board them across from the Termini ( main railway station)
http://www.trambusopen.com/en/home.cfm - Hop On-Hop Off
2 comments:
That is fascinating! What a treat to have such service.
E
I also went to Italy last month.I stayed there for one week & enjoyed to fullest.Last day was one of the best in which we use hop on hop off rome bus
tour for sightseeing.
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