Rome III

On day three, we awoke to some sunshine and decided to start the day at Castel Sant'Angelo. I wanted to go to this castle because it was round:



I'd never seen a round castle before. There is a tunnel that connects the castle with the Vatican so the pope can flee into the castle if he needs to. So, it's where the popes go to be safe.

Our guide book said you got the best views of Rome from the top so we climbed to the top (compared to the other churches/castles/towers we've climbed around Europe it was the shortest). Saint Peter's, of course, dominates the landscape to the West:



I got a picture of Martin standing next to it:



A view of some suburbs to the northwest, along with one of Rome's seven hills (which were really not very big at all and I had trouble finding seven ... Lisbon's seven hills are much larger and easier to count):



And a view looking towards Rome (yes the Colosseum is in this view, it's just to the left of the big monument with the two chariots on top of it. The Pantheon is also in it I think all the way on the left, cut off a bit):



After wandering around the castle a bit we wandered around Rome some more. Tried to see some churches but they all either had mass going on or were closed for siesta. We didn't realize that many churches close from noon until 4pm every day for a siesta so we missed out on seeing several churches. Then we went to see the Spanish steps. My tour books told me to go see the Spanish steps and I told Martin I wanted to see them and he told me that they're just steps where people hang out and he was right. Not worth the walk all the way to see them:



Then on our way home we found a little side street to walk down, to avoid the busy main street with all the buses on it. This little street was quite cozy and quaint and right after I took this picture it started to downpour on us. And we had to walk home in it without an umbrella because we had left it at the restaurant we went to on Saturday night. But we made it back to our B&B before the thunder and lightning started so it was a success.