After our bus tour we still have 5 days in Rome. The plan was to recover from the gruelling bus tour and to see anything we might have missed out on. I’m not quite sure Ruthie got the message regarding the recovery time.

On our first day we visited the Trastevere neighbourhood which was once working class but now a trendy Bohemian area and meant we crossed the Tiber River. Trastevere is known for its narrow, winding streets, medieval architecture, and vibrant nightlife, Its a hub for dining, shopping, and entertainment. Like many of the big Italian cities, graffiti is everywhere and takes away from the charm. Our Colosseum guide from the previous day gave us some Ristorante suggestions and on our way home we found one of these. The locals eat here and we had a great food experience.

Ancient Roman engineers were excellent at building roads, drainage and aqua ducts. So today we visited part of the Appian Way to explore the Aqua Ducts. Designed to carry water from distant places into cities and towns, they played a key role in the success of the Roman civilisation. The area we visited reminded me of areas of the outback in Australia. Yes, there were trees but dry crackly brown grass mixed with loose dirt. The difference only being these amazing built structures that carried water in ancient times.

Today we’re visiting the world’s smallest country, Vatican City. Having mastered the Rome Metro train system and having skip the line tickets for a guided tour, we thought this would be an easy day.

The first train we tried to enter would have had me with one leg and arm hanging out. We managed to squeeze onto the next one. It was 9am and the crowds and heat were already taking their toll. After security checks, passport checks, we were on target to visit the Vatican museum and Sistine Chapel.

I am not even going to try to explain what we saw. It’s jaw dropping except to say the church has so much wealth there. Wealth of art, wealth of real estate, wealth of gold and marble. Vatican City has 22 museums and we visited 7 of them. 35,000 tourists visit each day and the wealth keeps building.

We marched on to St Peter’s Square hoping to get to the top of the Basilica. The Basilica has 1,000 steps but you can catch a lift and only have to do 300 steps. When we got to the entrance we are told it’s closed and doesn’t reopen for 3 hours! Mamma Mia, get me the Pope on the speed dial!

So after a refreshment break we finally get in to St Peter’s Square. It’s huge, the biggest square we’ve seen. We’re soon told that we can’t climb the Basilica and its back stalls only in the square. Why isn’t the Pope taking my calls? Apparently, of all days to pick, 50,000 young alter servers have descended on Rome for a pilgrimage and this afternoon they’ve got priority seating in St Peter’s Square. The Pope was making an appearance and if we waited another 3 hours in the scorching sun we might get a glimpse. (This is after our metal drink bottle was confiscated at the security checkpoint.) His loss as we tiredly trundled home but satisfied that at least we’d seen as much as we could.

On our last full day in Rome we walked to the Pantheon. Built between 25 and 27 BC as a temple for the Roman gods, it is one of Rome’s best preserved ancient buildings. From the moment you enter through the 16 Corinthian granite columns and into the perfectly sphered rotunda it commands attention. The oculus in the dome provides natural light. It was converted into a Christian church in the 7th century. It is also the home of Raphael’s tomb.

Back to the hotel and it was time to pack the exploding suitcase.

Arrivederci Roma!!!! Ciao Ciao for now!

So we thought it would be a good idea to stopover in Doha, Qatar for 4 nights to just do nothing and break up our long haul flight home. Perhaps cocktails by the pool.

That turned out to be a total misconception! At this time of the year, daytime temperatures can reach 50 degrees Celsius! Our hotel had a beach front view but not a soul there during the day. In fact, no one out walking or working outside during the day fullstop. The streets were deserted!

When it got dark and the temperature dropped to 40 degrees, people were out and about. We ventured to the Souq Waqif, a combination of market shopping, gold souks and eateries.

I don’t know if the domestic cat is the national animal of Qatar but there are cats everywhere. We enjoyed an outdoor meal of babaghanoush and alibaba chicken while the waiters were kept busy shooing cats away.

Remarkably, we found an Irish pub the next night. It was hidden on the top floor of the hotel next door which meant not too much walking in the extreme heat. As I was doing circles with my google maps, some locals recognising us as Westerners pointed and said “Irish up there”. Unfortunately my bangers and mash were served Doha style.

This was not the end of the holiday we were expecting so there was only one thing to do! Change to an earlier flight. We were successful and have a flight 2 days earlier but …… why are so many people flying leaving at 3:05am Qatar time to arrive in Australia at 11:30pm Melbourne time? It’s a 13 hour flight allowing for time differences. The plane can take up to 396 passengers and is full! Ughhh! But as it turned out we had a spare seat next to us and were fairly comfortable. There’s no place like home.