The ferry from Split to Ancona, Italy was our third overnight ferry, the first two being to and from Crete back in early August. Those previous ferries had been at the peak of the season for tourists and both of them were packed to the gills. Our friend Christine was on the first one with us, and she smartly got a dedicated chair whereas we were stuck with whatever space we could find. On that first ferry, we didn’t realize how cutthroat the declaration of space would be, and we ended up (not) sleeping on our mats on the outside deck. There were people sleeping EVERYWHERE, in the hallways, on stairwells, literally everywhere. Despite not sleeping a wink, it was a really interesting and fun travel adventure, particularly because Crete tourists, especially those taking the ferry, are mostly Greek and it felt like an authentic local experience. One the way back from Crete we ended up getting a chair, which was a bit nicer but still more like trying to sleep on a larger airplane or train seat.

For the 11 hour ferry to Ancona we were much luckier, and given the time of year we had a ton of empty rows of seats to choose from, and were able to luxuriously stretch out across a row. We had met a badass German student and bike tourer named Susanna, and after several beers and a couple of hours of story swapping, we all got a pretty decent night’s sleep and woke up in Italy. We had decided that we would head straight to the train station after the ferry and book it straight to Rome. Ancona, we hardly knew thee.

Since we originally planned to take a ferry to Venice, and we knew we would end up in Genoa, we had a tough time trying to figure out the best route. But we chose to start in Rome and go up to Florence by bike, then just train to Venice and train again to Genoa. Given we wanted to spend two or three days in each city, it didn’t leave us a ton of time on the bikes, just about a week (because we had booked a ferry to Morocco from Genoa on Oct. 21). But we figured it was enough to explore Umbria and Tuscany by bike a bit, so we thought it was a reasonable decision (little did we realize the Tuscan hills are BRUTAL, more on that in the next post).

So we headed to Rome from Ancona and after 11 hours on a ferry and a few more on a train, we were in Rome. We had two full days and were damn sure going to make the best of it. We made a plan: first day would be all of the ancient sites, the next day the Vatican and art. We woke up that first morning and hit it hard, going all day long and seeing so much neat stuff it made our heads spin. Laura had never been to Rome so it was especially fun for her to see everything for the first time – the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill and some additional sites like Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. It was literally walking through history and Laura’s previous incarnation as a student of ancient philosophy back in college added an extra layer of time warp. For Javi, revisiting all these sites brought back fun family memories from previous trips years ago. For both of us, our tour of ancient sites contributed so much to our ever-growing well of knowledge, awe, and sometimes dismay at the evolution of human culture, politics, and expression.

The next day started at the Vatican. It was a Wednesday, and we didn’t realize until we were there that the pope has a public appearance and speech every Wednesday morning. As lapsed Catholics, we figured we should check it out as a nod to our roots. It was a bit of a madhouse but worth seeing the scene, which was celebratory and full of excitement. We then did a tour of the Vatican’s vast collection of art and climbed to the top of the famous basilica for an incredible view of Rome. St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican Museum, and Sistine Chapel were all worth the crowds and hectic atmosphere, and we were thrilled that we accomplished all of our “tourist” goals in Rome, AND had time to chill, ride bikes, and walk around cool neighborhoods like Trastevere. For Laura, Rome was a delightful surprise, given that she hadn’t expected to like it so much (because of preconceived notions about tourism, large cities, and the Catholic presence). For both of us, it is a vibrant and just plain cool city that ended up being one of the best experiences of Italy.

And now…. back on the bikes.