Mediterranean cruise and European adventure - Day 11 - Disembarkation and Rome

Disembarkation in Civitavecchia and Rome

Disembarkation day dawned and nobody was in a very good mood. We really didn’t want to get off that ship! The only good news was that the night before, our head server offered to find us a table if we wanted to come for second seating breakfast at 8 AM. Otherwise, we could have gone to Cabanas (early seating dinner means early seating breakfast on the final morning which is…early).

We got to see our server one last time even though he wasn’t really the server for the table we were seated at. Breakfast was nice and we finished up, used the restrooms and walked off the ship around 9 AM. We made our way to the shuttle bus that would take us to the entryway of the port (the port in Civitavecchia is really long). After getting off that bus we found the bus that goes to the train station for 2 Euros. We could have walked, but with our suitcases and knowing we would have some walking on the other side we sprung for the bus to the train station. We arrived at the train station and I bought us some “BIRG” tickets which would get us to Rome and be valid for transit around the city once we arrived in Rome.

We took the train to Ostiense station and then followed the signs to the Metro (which is at an adjacent station, but it feels like the same station as you never go outside or anything) to pick up the B line towards Rebibbia. We took the metro two stops to get off at the Colosseo stop. We walked outside and Emmaline’s jaw literally dropped at the site of the Colosseum and I’m pretty sure she said “Whoa!!” It is an impressive sight, I agree.

We made the walk to our AirBnB but we were a little early so we stopped in a little grocery store and picked up some water, juice, fruit, eggs and cereal for breakfast the next morning. We left there and continued to our apartment which I somehow had the wrong street number and walked further than we needed to. We got our stuff dropped off and tried to cool off a bit while we waited for Dru to join us. Dru and I have been friends for many years and I was so excited to see her since we don’t get to very often since she moved to Switzerland (where her husband is from).

She arrived not long after we did and after we all regrouped, we headed out for some lunch. We checked out the first place I had looked into but it was closed on Saturdays so we went to the next place but it was a tiny little counter and not much else (we needed to sit at a table and have A/C) so we found another place nearby call Valare and it was really quite good. They had a special with pizza, bruschetta and a drink for €10, which seemed like a good deal considering how close to the Colosseum we were.

After lunch we set out for the bus stop to ride over to Castel Sant’Angelo, which was a place we had not visited on our previous visit to Rome. After getting off the bus at our stop, we made a short detour to get some gelato from one of my pre-approved gelaterias. It was very good gelato, perhaps my second favorite from the trip. From the gelateria we walked over to the Roman monument/mausoleum/fortress/papal hideout/papal residence/museum.




There were a lot of people milling about outside, but once we got in there really weren’t many people there, which was nice. We paid our entrance and began our exploration of the fortress. Emmaline got our her Mission: Rome book and began her quest to find the items listed in the book like she did with Mission: Barcelona.



As I listed above, at various points throughout history, Castel Sant’Angelo has been a variety of things through the time it’s been standing. Originally the tomb of Hadrian, other Roman emperors were also interred there. Eventually, the building began to crumble with the decline of the empire. Later, the popes converted the structure into a castle fortress and was connected to St. Peter’s with a secret passageway (it’s not really a secret anymore). The structure houses some elaborate rooms commissioned by a couple of different popes and include receiving rooms, a bedchamber and more for popes in residence.



The way the museum is set up to guide you through the entire building is really nice. You guide yourself from room to room with the help of numbered signs and directions leading you further and further to the very top where there is a sweeping view of the city and St. Peter’s Basilica. Every time we’d come to another level we would all say, “Wow! look at this great view of the city!” Then we’d go up another level and say, “Wow! No, this is the best view!” Then there would be yet another level. It was pretty cool. Eventually we reached the very top and then from there we made way down again through different rooms and areas of the fortress. You can see the secret passage (it looks like a wall) in the photo below on the lower right side of the photo.




We really enjoyed ourselves. It was a fantastic mix of different time periods and Emmaline also enjoyed it. I think this is a very underrated attraction in Rome and we were really glad we went.






After leaving there, Emmaline spotted a carousel so, of course we had to make a stop so she could ride it. Then we made our way to the bus stop where we waited approximately for-freaking-ever for a bus back to the apartment so we could clean up for dinner.



For dinner we were very happy to be heading back to our favorite restaurant in Rome, Ristorante Tema. We ate their twice on our last visit, discovering it quite by accident. We didn’t have Yelp or Trip Advisor or even smart phones back then so we sort of just wandered in one night and had an incredible meal. When we arrived, we told them that we were back after 13 years and our server seemed surprised and genuinely grateful and then presented us with some beautiful bruschetta on the house. We had a lovely meal and after made our way back to our apartment via a bakery where we picked up an assortment of items, most of which weren’t super amazing. It was really the only dessert let-down we had in the various patisseries and gelaterias we visited.

We came back to our apartment and got things ready for our early outing the next morning to see the Colosseum.

Note: Some of these photos were taken by Dru. :)

Click here for Day 12.