Italy Bellissimo Travelogue, continued

Vilma Packard
Apr 19, 2019
4 min read

Updated: Apr 24, 2019

Day 1 of our Tour- Arrival at Grand Hotel Tiberio in Rome. As we had gotten closer to our hotel in Rome, we couldn't help but admire the skills of our shuttle bus driver. Our hotel sat on a hill. The road leading up to it was ribbon thin lined by vehicles that would have been considered "illegally" parked in the States. We'd find out later from our Tour Director that residents have to be creative in parking street-side as their buildings don't have garages and parking spaces. Garbage dumpsters also sat alongside buildings. Our Tour Director greeted us as we entered the hotel and check- in was a breeze. I have to admit that Trafalgar is very organized this way. Our bags were delivered to our rooms quickly.

The day's itinerary was posted in the lobby for guests' convenience. We took photos of it during the rest of the tour and each time we changed locations. We opted not to take the first optional tour of the Piazzas and Fountains of the city which was scheduled early in the morning the following day. Since we arrived early enough from the airport, we chose to venture out into the city on our own using taxis. We decided to take advantage of the daylight to overcome jet lag and get adapted to the different time zone. The hotel's concierge wasn't very friendly and refused to maintain any eye contact when we inquired about the process in getting a cab. We proceeded to use the taxi app but a taxi pulled up right away and the driver told us that the hotel called him. My son then cancelled the taxi app.

Venturing on Our Own

Contrary to the scary things I've read about Roman taxi drivers, the taxis we hired during our independent outings in the city were all pretty decent. One of them didn't even care that we were short in paying him due to lack of smaller euro denominations. During this independent outing, we had to keep in mind that we had to be back at the hotel in 3 hours for the orientation and welcome dinner. We also would have wanted to see more landmarks but we had to put my mother's walking tolerance into consideration.

Our first stop was the famed Spanish Steps. As expected during that time of day, it was teeming with people perched on the steps who declined to budge and give up their places.

Spanish Steps madness.

From the Spanish Steps we spotted the 300 year old Spanish Embassy and the Column of the Immaculate Conception. By this time, my mother's walking pace had really slowed down. She was always a very independent traveler, traveling back and forth internationally since the mid-90s, but in the last 6 years, she had required wheelchair assistance during longer airport travels. She declined to use a cane but I noticed she was holding on to my friend for support as I had maintained my normal walking pace ahead. I didn't want my friend to be burdened with my mom hanging on to her, so I quickly took over for support. My PT self wanted to make her feel more independent but the chaos in the Roman streets made it impossible. The cobblestone streets were too much for her. We made it to the Trevi Fountain with all the chaos. My senses were in full alert to the madness around us. This was the worst crowd I've ever encountered. I've researched that the best time to be in this area was around 6 AM when everyone in the city was still asleep but we didn't have the luxury of time on this trip. After taking photos and tossing our coins with our wishes, we were ready to move on to the next landmark. My friend would have wanted more selfies but my son had had enough of it. Deep inside I hoped that my friend wasn't peeved by my son's anti-photo taking attitude.

Our next stop was the Pantheon. On our way there, we noticed the Baroque church of Sant' Ignazio and I managed to snap a photo of my mom outside the church. It evidently has a false dome but we didn't have time to even check out its interiors. We arrived at the Pantheon and by the time we got there, we decided we didn't have time to go inside as we still wanted to make it to Piazza Navona. Before we got to Piazza Navona, I noticed another church, the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi which I found out to hold magnificent paintings of Caravaggio which we would check out the next day.

Photos from R to L: Mom outside Sant'Ignazio Church, My mom, my son and my friend outside the Pantheon, Four Rivers Fountain in Piazza Navona

Bottom photo: Sant' Agnese Church

After reaching Piazza Navona and taking a few photos, we decided we had to make it back to our hotel for the orientation and welcome dinner. Taking a taxi back wasn't bad and therefore I concluded that Roman taxi drivers are decent people. They aren't really out there to rip you off.

For our orientation, we hopped on the tour bus and our Tour Director led us to a great spot in the city to take a breathtaking photo of the Vatican City from the bridge over the Tiber River. It was a phenomenal view and from there we also got to see the Palace of Justice and passed by Castel Sant'Angelo and outside the Vatican City walls.