Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy – Wednesday, December 29

Last updated on January 3rd, 2022 at 06:04 am

Today we are in Rome. To be more precise, the ship docks in Civitavecchia, about a 1 ½ hour bus ride from Rome. There were at least 3 other cruise ships docked here, all massive, the 3500+ passengers size. While getting ready for the day, we watched Minnesota beat West Virginia in a bowl game. It was weird to be watching a football game in early morning – gotta love the time difference! We ate breakfast and headed to our excursion, Snapshot of Rome. When we got to deck A to disembark, we were told to wait in the Viking living room as our bus had not arrived. While in the living room, we were able to saw good-bye to Grace & Tom, who were disembarking and headed back to Ohio. Some passengers disembarked today and some embarked at the beginning of their cruise, so the port is busier today.

The bus arrived, and we headed to Rome. As part of our July cruise that was cancelled, we had scheduled 4 days in Rome after the cruise through Sonya Yassi, Beyond the Seven Seas. We hope to schedule that again in the future, so decided to do the included excursion this time, basically a drive by tour. We came into the city with our guide commenting on the abundance graffiti. She quoted an Italian saying, “The mother of the stupid is always pregnant.”

As we drove into the old part of Rome we drove through an arch, one of the entrance point in the massive city wall built by the Romans. It was surprising that over 75% of the wall is still intact, about 17 kilometers. First up we’re the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla, which were massive. Likely built around 212 AD, they contained hot and cold baths, the hot baths heated by an underground system burning wood and coal. We drove by an open area where the Roman hippodrome was located. Little of it remained. Then, we drove by the Colosseum, Rome’s greatest amphitheatre was commissioned by the Emperor Vespasian in AD 72. We were told of all the killing and maiming Romans did for sport, (Joyce would not have been a good Roman). One interesting fact was there is no evidence that Christians were killed in the Colosseum. Our guide said Christians were persecuted in Rome, but when they were killed it was more likely in a circus or hippodrome. We drove by the ruins of the emperor’s palace which was a massive and had an inner garden we couldn’t see. We drove by the Arch Constantine and the Mamertine Prison, we think, where Peter and Paul were imprisoned in the dungeon below. The building stands several feet below current street level. We also drove around the Basilica  S. Maria deli Angeli e dei Martiri. We probably drove by other things we don’t remember. When we have time to look through out pictures, we may add to the blog.

We exited the bus to walk to Vatican City, the world capital of Catholicism, and world’s smallest state. It occupies 43 ha (106 acres) within high walls watched over by the Vatican guard. It was the site where St Peter was martyred (c.AD 64) and buried, and it became the residence of the popes who succeeded him. The papal palaces, next to the great basilica of St Peter’s, are home to the Sistine Chapel and the eclectic collections of the Vatican Museums, as well as being the residence of the pope. We walked into Piazza San Pietro, the grand oval plaza surrounding the basilica. Buildings stretch out on both sides of the basilica, said to symbolize Christ and His church opening their arms to pilgrims from around the world. Our guide pointed out the Pope’s residence and the balcony from which he addresses the crowds on special days. Snaking around the square was the line of people waiting to enter the basilica. Our guide estimated the wait at longer than hour. We walked back through the square to the Vatican gifts shops. We were told by our guide that one particular shop had been approved for us to visit as it had been properly sanitized. We were told to go only to that shop. Alan & Joyce, rule followers that they are, went only to that shop. Unfortunately, Joyce can’t say the same for several couple in our group the guide had to search for at our appointed meeting time outside the shop. We are told verbally every day as well as in the Viking Daily, that Italian authorities are not allowing independent exploration, only allowing us off the ship when on a Viking excursion.

We walked back to the bus and made the drive back to Civitavecchia and the Viking Venus. We made it back in time for a late lunch. We returned to our stateroom for laundry, editing and posting pictures and blogging. 

When viewing the Port Talk for Pisa and Florence, we realized the included tour and optional tour we had booked, overlapped in the tour of Pisa. We saw another tour we wanted to do instead of the included tour. We talked to guest services about switching, but we’re told there was a waiting list for the other tour, which included a visit to the Uffizi gallery. The optional tour was scheduled for tomorrow, so we were told they hoped to know by then, but weren’t sure they would.