Roma final day - heat stroke and sad farewell

Final day in Roma! And my final day with Don! So sad. 

Steve and I walked to meet Don closer to his end of the city today. Google said 34 minutes, Google exaggerated. The undulating ground, uneven stone paths and 3-5 minute wait at every traffic light meant closer to 45 minutes.

We enjoyed another lovely basilica before eating breakfast across from the coliseum- pricey but met the requirement. 

The queue for the coliseum was already crazy so we headed to the Roman Forum and Palantine Hill. Don remembered he is an EU citizen and under 25 to gain cheap entry - British passport first outing yay. 

Really interesting seeing years of history and ruins that are thousands of years old. Loads of people but moving around was ok if we avoided the tour groups. Water stations were fabulous, every city should have free water like Rome does. 

Before I forget. This photo is for you Mike. Remember the scaffolding 25 years ago. Looks like they have a continuous scaffold maintenance thing going on now so not as obstructive view wise. 

Today was by far our hottest day with 34+ and neither Steve or I coped well resulting in a firm decision to lose weight before our next trip. We were both suffering from heat stroke so Don left us to tour Augustus palace himself. 

The years of rebuilds and many varied building methods fascinated us. After a few different hawkers tried selling us hats we succumbed and spent far too much but made a fab difference walking around. Hat selfie while Don was off finishing the tour. 

2:30pm, heat stroked and exhausted we headed off in search of food. One of our best meals in Rome, perhaps our sugar low, bodies shutting down state enhanced the food but by 3:45 everyone was very happy with their meal choices. 

Don headed to catch up with people for a drink and Steve and I discovered why Via del Corso is known as the high street of Rome - real people's shopping. We were stunned that the busiest shopping street has narrow wee footpaths. 

 

Irish pub this time for a final European Guinness and Aperol. Found a fabulous mall, yay airconditioning, with a massive bookshop. 

We were to meet Don at 7:30 for dinner so rushed back to shower and pack. Don got caught up in the Metro not running again and the bus not there to replace it so had to walk in the heat with backpack to our end of town. Gisseppe our concierge booked us in for our final Roma dinner (grr they served me gluten but realised before I ate more than a mouthful) in our own busy street. Final gluten free gelato and a wander post dinner before back to our hotel to load Don's backpack with essentials like Nuttella and toothpaste. Hugs and sad farewell just in time for the final metro train! Has been great travelling with the backpacker.