Nice to Rome

 Sorry this has been a long time since I last updated. Our two days in Nice were fairly quiet and spent with friends catching up on news and some leisurely strolls. We passed the site where the tragic act of violence had taken place a couple of weeks earlier and many people had lost their lives. A very sad sight where people were still paying their respects and laying flowers.

After Nice we moved on to Portovenere which is an absolute favourite and where we had spent three days last year. Because our friends were with us we retraced some of the places we had visited and took a ferry along the coast to the Cinque Terre which is a national park as well as a world heritage site. We passed the five villages which are hugely picturesque and visited two. Veranza and Monterosso which is the largest. Its absolutely fascinating how the little cliffside houses are so well preserved and not changed by modern intrusions.  Photo above.

 Richard took a fancy to this bronze lady high up above the town of Portovenere.

 Next it was on to Civitavecchia the port town and gateway to the city of Rome.  We only had one visit into the city of Rome where we spent a long and full day touring all the city highlights. A day of seeing spectacular ancient sites but a very testing day in terms of the huge crowds, heat and high humidity as well as having a guide with excellent knowledge but who over loaded us with information and went on for a lot longer than was necessary telling us more than any average person could absorb and ended up with everyones eyes glassed over !!  It started off well with the visit to the colosseum early in the morning and followed by the Roman Forum.

 The Colosseum from the outside and above from the inside.

 Then it was on to the Vatican. Again an absolutely beautiful place to visit but the crowds in most areas were shoulder to shoulder and we were literally herded through long halls and narrow corridors and you couldn't stop to view anything. The Italians really need to concentrate on doing some crowd control as in many places there were no visible exits and if there had been a fire or terrorist event then it would have been a major catastrophe. It was not a pleasant experience and the heat and humidity inside was just awful. I counted nine tour group leaders flags above and behind us in the photo above.
If anyones thinking of visiting the Vatican, do it on your own with an audio system so you can try and avoid getting caught up with large groups.

Yay no crowds above. But all roped off. This was one of the corridors to the tombs of some of the past Popes.

 Above and below is the opulent interior of St Peters Bascilica where we at last had a bit of short-lived breathing space and could enjoy the surroundings. Then it was time to leave and follow our guide outdoors but Richard managed to get himself separated from our group with all the jostling from the large crowd of people and became lost for about 15 minutes. Anyway all was well but gave us a bit of a fright.

Back soon.