Costa Blanca Mountain Walkers

- from our roving reporter John Price: and photographers Ann Price and Paul Elliott

- Cultural trip to Rome February 24th - February 27th


Six of us flew into Rome from Valencia (Dave & Carol, Paul & Angie, John & Ann) and two from Geneva (Randall & Sally) for a weekend of culture. We knew it was going to be fun on arrival as D & C managed to get lost between leaving the plane and picking up their bags. Seems they were doing a reccy of various termini.

It was much colder there than the Costa Blanca but Ran had bought some inner warming liquid to help us get through it. Day 1 was spent checking out the area around the hotel for post walk refreshment & fodder, duly achieved firstly by a little shop cum bar nearby and then a trattoria in the evening of Ran's birthday.

Day 2 saw us on the open decked bus from the Colisseum, which also saw Dave & Paul preparing an estimate for renovating the place, followed by visits to the Pantheon, Trevi fountains, Spanish Steps and the Sistine Chapel and lengthy hallways of the Vatican. The evening saw us having a full blown Italian tapas style meal, as recommended by the head honcho of another local.
Day 3 started with a walk in the Borghese Parque led by Dave, on the way to the stadium on the other side. Starting from the Piazza del Popolo, we had a wonderful walk in fine but cold conditions, with a fair bit of meandering ending up around 1 ½ hours later at................the Piazza del Popolo! To be fair Dave hadn't done a reccy and was relying on his map reading. Without further ado we then found the road to the stadium Flaminio, whereupon the boys watched the world go by accompanied by Mr Peroni and his beer glasses , while the girls and Dave went to the Olympic stadium, not getting lost on this one.

The game was watched by all to see another Welsh win, followed by a quick sprint to an Irish Bar (which city or town doesn't have one?) to watch the England-v- France spectacle. Mr Guinness hosted this one.

Sunday saw us visiting the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II, a museum and memorial to the King who unified Italy, followed by a tour around Trastevere, the traditional modernish Italian area. Then to the airport for the journey home and a bit of warmth. We had successfully put the Roman economy back on course, whilst having (as our Cilla would say) a lorra, lorra laughs along the way.

Thanks to Angie, our kitty mistress, those new boots you bought look lovely; Ran for his entertainment & singing performances; Dave for the walk leading (I think), Paul for the consultancy advice on the buildings and Carol, Ann & Sally for their patience and forebearing.