Last day in Rome today and we are busing and walking. Our first visit was Castle Saint Angelo which is on the same side of the Tiber river as the Vatican. This castle has an underground passage to the Vatican and was used in the past for the Pope to make safe passage out of the Vatican if he was under threat. After wandering through St Peters Square again, and passing the War Memorial, commonly known as the Wedding Cake building we made our way to the Forum. which are more ruins near the Colluseum, but quite significant in Roman history, including being Caesars old stomping ground.
A great day out but we have walked the streets of Rome, oh yes and purchased a GPS...
Sunday 18th May
Upgrade, upgrade... Picked up the flasher car (Lancia Delta) today from the airport and took our time to pack our gear in the car and set up GP bloody S. Well after thinking we had it sussed and the maps correctly installed and updated we were ready for action. Wrong, somehow the maps weren't working and we had no idea how to even leave the airport. Remembering of course left hand drive, signs in Italian and stress.
Anyway after getting out the iPad with no SIM card and driving around the airport three times and then ending upheading in the opposite direction because we couldn't turn around on the autostrada, we finally found an off ramp and starting heading south albeit on some very lovely, and rustic roads. We decided that we would have to do the toll roads as it was way to complicated to use our limited system, costing about €10 today in tolls, ouch. We did view some beautiful old towns nestled amongst the hills on the way and plan to visit at least one of these when we head back up the country. The scenery was lovely.
Anyway we found our way to Monte Cassino and what an amazing view driving up to the monestry. The area is beautiful and quite an emotional place I thought. The Abbey was beautiful inside and very serene. We looked through the museum, though I was more interested in the large photographic exhibit of the bombing in World War II. Unfortunately all the info boards were in Italian.
From the monestry you can also look across to the Polish Cemetry on the opposite hill, where a large cross lies on the hill above the many headstones.
This year is the 70th anniversary of the bombings and we had heard that some of the NZ Veterans were at Monte Cassino this weekend for the commemorations. This was evident, as we went down to the Commonwealth War Cemetry at the base of the hill, and there was a big todo there. We saw some of the veterans, most who are in there 90's, the NZ Govener General - Jerry Mateparae and a couple of MPs. Many kiwi soldiers represented from all services of the military, families and general public along with representatives from other commonwealth countries were also gathered there. We missed Harry, and the formal ceremony, however we wandered around the cemetery and paid our respects.
We left and managed to find our way through the outskirts of Naples, past Mount Vesuvius, then through some very narrow streets of Scafati to our B&B, which has a great view of the mountain.
Naples has a reputation of being a dangerous city to visit (we were advised against taking the rental car there by the company) however it is a shame because the views that we could see while driving around the coast and looking out to sea from the road are amazing.
Big day again.
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