Rome is where I start this year’s travel adventure. The plan was to spend two nights and one full day relaxing and adjusting to the different time zone before heading to the Amalfi Coast for a week.

We arrived mid-afternoon and I spent the rest of the day in a jet lagged zombie-like state. Thankfully I managed to get a full night of sleep (with the help of melatonin) and was ready to hit the town the next morning.

We are staying in Trastevere which is just over the river from central Rome so a walk into town along the River Tiber was the perfect start to a day of exploring. We passed many cyclists and joggers. One even stopped for a chat while we were checking out a tortoise, which unfortunately turned into a lecture about the Schengen Agreement and why Italians want to emigrate to the US and Australia. We watched workmen setting up stands in preparation for the summer markets and stumbled across countless yellow bikes dumped along the river bank.

The rest of the day was spent wandering around the back streets of central Rome. This is my third visit to this interesting city and I didn’t want to see the Colosseum or the Vatican. Instead we walked, occasionally stopping to eat, drink and watch the world go by. We did stop in at the Pantheon, one of my favourite places in Rome. It was unbearably crowded so we didn’t stay long. Instead we just kept walking. It was a perfect way to spend our one day in Rome.

Later that evening we walked a bit more – this time around our local neighbourhood. Trastevere is a maze of narrow cobblestoned streets and small piazzas with many, many restaurants and bars. Eventually we settled on a place for dinner and to relax, drink a bottle of wine and enjoy the warm Spring night.

This morning we took a taxi to Roma Termini and a train to Napoli. Next stop … Sorrento.