Rome II
Friday June 19, 2026
My holiday blogs are always so full of exciting events and I love looking back on fond memories, years after they’re written. I also captured the sad time I had in Rome the last time I was here, due to food poisoning on the first night. Thankfully, many of those memories have been rewritten (or downright erased) and my week has so far been excellent, albeit very hot.
On Monday, I took the metro out east to catch a connecting bus to Tivoli. As you know, “Do as the Romans do”, so I didn’t bother tapping my card when entering the bus as no one else did. Tivoli is an hour east of Rome, nestled in the mountains with the Aniene River flowing through. Its incredible scenery attracted the money of several aristocrats who built lavish villas, the most famous being that of the Este family, Villa d’Este.
The villa didn’t open until 2pm so I had a few hours to kill. I walked around the town center, and stumbled upon Villa Gregoriana, built for the pope who commissioned the water overflow tunnel that prevents flooding of the river. In the 1800s, severe flooding damaged the town due to the river collecting rainwater from all the surrounding mountains. In addition to the beautiful cascade of the Aniene, there’s the grand fall, an 80m high manmade waterfall that takes the water from the tunnels and deposits it into the valley below.
Villa d’Este takes this water concept and expresses it with hundreds of ornate fountains. In addition to the beautiful gardens, there was a Chinese art exhibit on display, showcasing similarities and parallels between the art in China and the ones in the villa.
There were mostly tourists on the bus back, so I went to tap my card and it declined. It suddenly occurred to me that my transit card may not have been valid for this bus since it is such a popular tourist route. Instead, I got off and waited for the next bus, and followed the locals on who didn’t tap their cards. An hour later, I was safely back in Rome.
On Tuesday, I was up early to get to the Colosseum and Palatine Hill. It was relatively quiet, the crowds wouldn’t materialise until opening time at 8.30am. The ticket lady said I had enough time to start with the Mamertine Prison and then go to the Colosseum, and then sassed me when I asked if I could do the Colosseum first. She was right though, my visit took 15 minutes. The Mamertine Prison is where the apostle Paul is said to have been held (and was recently the subject of a sermon by my Italian pastor in Toronto), and all you can really see of this is a typical jail cell which has a hole in the roof where food for the prisoner can be lowered.
I spent the next 90 minutes in the Colosseum, listening to the audioguide talk about the world’s largest amphitheater and one of the Modern Wonders of the World. The Flavian Amphitheatre, as it was known then, remains Italy’s most visited touristic site, its presence and size dominating the Palatine Hill area. While I had visited the Colosseum when I was here in 2017, I barely remember what I saw in the Roman Forum, so I spent a good deal of time wandering around there that day. The ruins are fascinating, and the tales they tell so captivating. The view from the Palatine Hill was awesome too, but I was quickly becoming hungry and tired as the harsh heat had intensified with the sun overhead.
I headed to Largo di Torre Argentina to grab some food from a nearby bakery known for its pizza bianca, then tried to see if I could get into the cat sanctuary. With the heat so strong and no shade, I decided to return the next day, and instead headed home to rest until the evening. Closer to 7pm, I took the bus to the Aventine Hill to watch the sunset and had dinner in Travestere before heading back. On the way, I stopped by the “Gay Street” near the Colosseum where a crowd had gathered to watch a drag show outdoors. I stayed long enough to sing along to Huntrix’s Golden, and then caught the last metro train home.
By Wednesday I could feel myself running out of steam for doing long distances by foot, so it was a very slow Wednesday. I wandered by the Tiber River from Castel Sant’Angelo to the Vatican, just seeing if I could step foot momentarily in a different country. Alas, the crowd to go through the security screening was too large so I abandoned the idea, instead just admiring St Peter’s Basilica from the Via Della Conciliazione. Around noon, I returned to the Largo Di Torre Argentina cat sanctuary to meet the felines. They house nearly 80 cats, most of them permanently quarantined indoors due to disease and disability. On a blisteringly hot day like this, the cats out in the ruins will usually only be active in the cooler times around dusk and dawn, but there were two hanging around that I got to pet. The rest of the afternoon was spent napping like the cats I’d just seen, but when I woke up, there was a massive downpour and thunderstorm. Thankfully it only lasted less than 15 mins, but it made the city very muggy instead of cooling it down.
I did something wild on Thursday. I took a bus to a tiny town called Rocca Di Papa and hiked up the nearby mountain, Monte Cavo. This time, I was more prepared with the ticketing, and bought one from the ticket office for €1.30 (this is absurdly cheap when you look at how expensive it is in Toronto). The bus took us south for an hour and dropped us at the central plaza, with views of the lake and towns below. I started hiking up the steep, narrow streets, grateful for the shade of the buildings, eventually reaching the path leading to the top of Monte Cavo.
Each step I took sent some lizards scrambling for safety into the nearest rock crevice; meanwhile a myriad of colourful butterflies fluttered aimlessly around me. I reached the first landmark on the trail, some iron-cut silhouettes of animals, presumably ones you can find in the area. Among them were owls, hedgehogs, foxes, wild boar and wolves, which made me slightly nervous. There were a handful of others that I passed by on the trail. I continued to a viewpoint overlooking both lakes, Albano and Nemi, and then to the summit, but there was not much there.
I started back down, reaching the public road going back to Lake Albano, but it seemed too dangerous to walk with no footpath, so I sought an alternative route through the forest. Eventually I managed to cross into the volcanic rim route, which would lead me back to the train station at Castel Gandolfo. This hike was much more rugged, with sheer cliff drops to my left and right. At one point in time, I saw two wild boar on the ledge below, who bolted as soon as they heard me. There was also a wild cat who hopped into the tall grass as I approached. But it felt like the most dangerous points were back on the road after the trail had finished. Weirdly enough, the best views of the lake were from car parks or terraces where the trees had been cleared out. The lake is incredibly scenic, vividly blue with green hues so typical of the Mediterranean. After almost four hours on one hell of a walk, I successfully made it to the train station. It would have been nice to go down to the lakeside to soak my feet in the water, but the next train was in 20 minutes, so I just waited at the station and caught the train back to Roma Termini.
As my time in Rome draws to an end, I feel like I’ve done the Eternal City justice. Not having to bother with all the main tourist sites was a bonus, since I’d done them all before, but it was still nice to revisit the Colosseum, and especially absorb the atmosphere and party vibe around that area. Food was excellent, a huge step up from the last time. Well satisfied with pizza and pasta for a while, but I won’t say no to another gelato and tiramisu!
Posted by Jeremy at 8:43am on Friday June 19, 2026 :: 0 comments :: 
Barcelona and Rome I
Wednesday June 17, 2026
I arrived into Ponta Delgada early on Wednesday morning in transit to Barcelona. I was somewhat nervous about whether Europe’s new Entry/Exit System would be functional enough for me to get through immigration on time to catch my connecting flight. The staff at the airport were routing people in different, seemingly random directions - some to the automated kiosks, some to the immigration officers. I got sent to an officer, who took my fingerprints and my photo, and sent me on my way into the Schengen area without any fuss.
Arrival in Barcelona was smooth. I took the metro to Sant Marti and met up with Owen, somewhat impressed that I had managed to do this without GPS. After talking and catching up for a bit, we headed out for a stroll to the beach, before circling back to the Clot area for some tapas for dinner. We got some gelato from the market and we headed back for the night.
I tried to force myself to wake up early the next day, even though I had been awake from 3am to about 6am. Bea and Owen had been talking about a fancy new restaurant that opened up last week in Tibidabo, and I was super keen, so we made a booking and headed off soon after. We stopped by Sagrada Família for a quick photo; the reflecting lake was unfortunately fenced off due to the pope’s visit the day before, but it was still impressive to see the completed exterior with the Tower of Jesus Christ.
I’ve been to Tibidabo a few times and I love the view of the city from there, and I was looking forward to trying some great Catalan food. It was indeed phenomenal, with several of the waitress’s recommendations on point. We were both stuffed. We made our way back down the mountain on the funicular and I stopped by at the big supermarket to grab some ingredients for lunch the next day, since I would need to be at the airport at that time. At night, we grabbed some light Galician tapas and headed to the Montjuic Fountain for their music and light show. I swear the timing could not have been more perfect - as we arrived, they started playing Circle of Life with some beautiful sunrise colours being projected on the water, and this launched into a ten minute Disney medley including A Whole New World, Colours of the Wind, Beauty and the Beast, Under the Sea, Be Our Guest and the Bare Necessities. On our way home, we stopped by Sagrada Família again, just to take some photos at night.
The next morning, I followed Owen to his office and dropped my luggage with him, then promptly made my way to my favourite chocolate cafe in the Gothic Quarter for a suizo and a xuixo. I was completely over saturated with sugar so I decided to skip the gelato and instead went back to Montjuic to admire the views of the city. I went back to pick up my luggage, said my goodbyes to Owen, and went to the airport. I cleared security in under 20 minutes and I was off in the air to Rome.
As I exited Rome Fiumicino Airport, I was greeted with a horde of people at the train station to the city. I overheard a lady say that nothing was operating due to fire on the tracks. I looked at Uber pricing; it had surged to over €100. Next option was the bus. I managed to find a ticket for €4 so I quickly bought it and set out to find the departure point. The bus station was equally as chaotic as the train station, but eventually my bus arrived and I made it to the guest house, almost four hours after landing at the airport.
Dinner was simple. I just wanted something quick so I could crash out for the night, so ended up with some Roman-style pizza. On Saturday, I began my day at the Spanish steps, which I had missed the last time. It was busy, with tons of people posing and snapping photos, so I left pretty soon after. I continued on to Villa Borghese, which was a nice area to walk around, but not particularly interesting to me. From there, I took the metro to Cipro to grab some lunch from Bonci Pizzerium, then to Valle Aurelia for a short walk up to Monte Ciocci to burn off all those carbs and for a nice view of St Peter’s Basilica.
After resting a bit at the guest house, I went for dinner, and afterwards to the Colosseum to take some night pictures. I managed to capture Venus and Jupiter in frame, it seemed somewhat poetic that these Roman Gods were looking down on the city at this time. People had gathered in the plaza overlooking the area, listening to a busker singing karaoke. At first I heard him sing Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You, but then he loudly announced to the cheers of the largely Spanish crowd that they should join him in singing Alvaro Soler’s Sofia! It was meant to be. What a fun time.
On Sunday I was up early to get to the Appian Way before the crowds. There were some others on the walk with me, mostly older locals who had come to enjoy the serenity of a Sunday morning. The road is paved in typical cobblestone fashion, with fields, houses, forts, catacombs and ancient structures dotted along the path that I walked. I ended up going for 90 minutes before taking the bus to the Park of the Aqueducts. In the afternoon, I visited Villa Doria Pamphili and then got some delicious gelato near Flaminio station.
Posted by Jeremy at 12:14pm on Wednesday June 17, 2026 :: 0 comments ::