Our first outing in Rome is to the Tourist Information booth at Roma Termini station. We want to buy tickets for the Hop On/Hop Off bus and also find out about the Roma Pass which gives 3 days of travel on public transport and free and discounted entry to museums. The Roma Pass is 30 euros each and the 48 hour bus tickets are 15 euros each - a special rate because we bought the Roma Pass. There are plenty of companies selling hop on/hop off bus tickets for up to 25 euros per day so we reckon we got a pretty good deal. We'll activate the Roma Pass when we get back from Naples at the end of the week.
We boarded the bus at 10.45 am after queuing for about half an hour in the sun. We sat on the top for the 2 hour tour with an english commentary through our headphones. An enjoyable way to see the city.
We drove past the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore which is at the bottom of our street, then on to the Colosseum, Circus Maximus, Roman Forum and ancient monuments, the impressive Palazzo Venezia with its white marble (it's now a museum), the balcony where Mussolini gave his speech proclaiming Italy a Republic, Palazzo Sant'Angelo overlooking the river, over the River Tiber (and back again) and past the Vatican City and St Peter's Basilica, twisting and turning through narrow streets.
About 7pm we ventured out into the cooler air for a walk to the Colosseum, about a 20 minute walk. Very pleasant with a stop for gelati on the way. The temperature had dropped to about 30C and we had a nice cooling breeze to keep us comfortable. Tomorrow we're planing to catch the bus to the Vatican.
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