We picked up our car, a Peugot 208, at Rome
airport and made our way at a leisurely pace toward Tivoli, a mere 53 Km away. Surprisingly,
most cars were going less than 110 Km/h limit on the autostrada. In Tivoli we
became a little concerned when the GPS took us down a very narrow back lane and
told us we had arrived at a spot where there were only fences either side. Fortunately, we are used to its idiosyncrasies
and resorted to the tried and true method of scouting around on foot. Luckily we
were less than 100m off the mark and our host came out to enquire if were looking
for his establishment. As it was only 9:30am the room was not ready, but this was
expected. After he pointed out the main sights on the map we set off on foot
for the town centre, only two or three hundred metres away.
It was a bit of a climb up to the town, not
too hard, but the sun was hot. In the hazy morning light the place did not look
all that attractive. While walking we became desperate for a caffeine fix and soon
had that need addressed, for the princely sum of €1.60. We wanted to leave the
main attraction, the Villa d’Este and Hadrian’s Villa for the next day to
headed cross-town to Villa Gregoriana (VG). On the way we passed the Post
Office but it was so busy we decided to try later. A minute later we found
another essential requirement – a shop that sells SIM cards for the phone.
The VG is apparently not for inspection but
merely one of the starting points for a walking tour of Hells’ Valley, a deep local gorge. The VG does have right beside it
an attractive Roman colonnaded structure right at the edge of the chasm. The
walk, about one and a half hours, was not difficult, but well worthwhile.
On completion
we were rather hungry and had a quick cheap meal at a take-away Pizzeria. While
consuming same I observed that the building housed a great number of legal and
medical professionals. One that caught my eye and made we want to get treatment
there was for a physio by the name of Francesca
Lollobridgida.
By this time we’d had enough walking and
decided to defer the intended afternoon visit to Hadrian’s Villa to the next
day.
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