The coffee is fabulous

Rome is full of ruins

It is impossible to find a bad cup of coffee in Rome. Indeed I have never had a bad cup of coffee in Italy – even in roadside diners. I mean you just have to admire people who take coffee so seriously – even if their country is a complete shambles with no visible means of support and a government that is a joke worldwide.

But who cares about that when you can get good pastries and coffee (and pasta) on every corner.

I was last in Rome about 25 years ago – and it was in Spring – but I do not remember seeing crowds like there are here at the moment. There is a seething mass of humanity in Rome that almost defies description. The footpaths are so crowded most of the people walk on the roads.

But this is a good time to come. It is cool and the lines for the sights are not too long – it only took us only 15 minutes to get into St Peters Basilica – and no queue to get into the Sistine Chapel – and lucky we were indeed because it will be closed in the next day or so – probably for weeks - when the bun fight for the new Pope takes place.

Our accommodation was not as advertised – the two bedrooms turned out to be one bedroom – and a door less study into which another bed had been stuffed. The two bathrooms turned out to be one bathroom with a separate toilet – and there were – as usual – no accessible power points we could use - but we took this in our stride as overall it was quite brilliant.

We have had quite a marvellous couple of days with lots of wandering, lots of coffee and lots of naps. Brilliant.