Soft Kitty

21/09/14

On our last full day in Rome we wanted to take it easy so after a leisurely breakfast and a freezing cold shower we were off. We did some people watching at the Piazza del Popolo and then headed to the Villa Borghese, which is really just a big park. We didn’t walk the entire 80 hectares, because I didn’t want to pass out and die, but we had a bit of a dander and a wee ice lolly. You couldn’t beat it.

The rest of the day was spent wandering down side streets and we even ventured in to the Jewish Ghetto. Apparently you can do entire tours of the area but we just had a bit of a look around and to be honest, that was all we needed. The thing about Rome is that there is history everywhere, you don’t even need to go looking for it.

On the way back to our hotel we did a bit of a victory lap, stopping off, one last time, at the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. It was a nice little goodbye but we also stumbled across something new – a cat sanctuary. The Area Sacra is what remains of four Republican-era temples, all built between the 2^nd and 4^th centuries BC and they are among the oldest ruins in the city. The ruins are off limits to humans but not the 250 cats who call these ancient rocks home! It was quite surprising to see so many stray cats, chilling out, without anyone trying to shoo them away! After that little bit of unplanned excitement we headed back to the hotel for our last night in Rome!