Rome

It is said somewhere that all roads lead to Rome. Well - if you happen to travel on the west coast of Italy you will find that in this region all roads lead to all kind of directions but only one single road leads to Rome - and that one is THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY (called "Super Strada" -bicycles and hitch hiking explicitly forbidden!) Thank you.
After a minute of hesitation and another minute of simplified road rage (nobody around from the ministry of traffic to scream at...) I simply keep going. More than a hundred kilometers to go. The combination of aggressive Italian traffic with intensive Italian sun makes easily aggressive. I speed along the highway with increased levels of adrenaline and testosterone and have to stop every once in a while to refuel my energy with sweets and crisps. When the heat becomes unbearable I stop at a highway restaurant called "Autogrill" and have gelato and coffee while I observe the Italian highway life until the sunlight becomes weaker around 5pm.
Then I continue my southbound quest to the capital. During the cause of the day 5 police cars drive by but nobody seems to be bothered by the fact that it is forbidden to ride a bicycle on the highway...
I pass by the big port of Civitavecchia and finally arrive in Ostia, the anciant Roman port. Here I park my bicycle in a bike-shop and visit Rome by train.



Rome is a great city! There is so much to see that a single day is certainly not sufficient to satisfy one's interest. But at the same time one is so overwhelmed with all the old buildings, temples and whatnot that spending several days in a row would probably not help either. I guess one needs to come back to Rome frequently to take it in bit by bit: one day the temples, one day the river, another day the winding little sideroads and finally the colloseum and the circus... which will then still leave several days for all the delicious foodstuff and ice cream!