Pilgrimage from Palo to Rome 09/08/07

YES!!! As you can see by the title I made it to Rome!!! :)

I was happy to sleep in this morning because I thought it would only be a short walk today. When I woke up at 08:30 Mario came out to say goodbye and gave me a wonderful packed lunch of tuna, tomatoes and bread. What a champion!

I had a spring in my step, as I knew this part of the journey was almost over. The walk felt great, but it was still all along the highway.

Whenever I asked about the distance to the Vatican I was continuously given different answers, with a range of around 15kms. I was once again wishing I had a map :(

Also, the highway seems to bypass all the towns now, so the only places to stop are the service stations. I did find a caravan park though and decided to stop for lunch.

It was wonderful. They put on a great buffet and I once again ate too much. If they had the internet I would have stayed as they said they were only 15kms away from the Vatican.

I thought there would be quite a few places to stay on the outskirts of Rome but I was mistaken. The next place I found was he Holiday Inn, and when I went to talk to them about the distance to the Vatican I was informed it was only 4kms away! The guys at the counter where great and recommended this wonderful little B&B about 200m from S. Pietro Basilica for only €50. As they wanted €100 for the night, I got them to book me the B&B :)

It was an amazing feeling walking in to Rome. It felt as though a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. The last 4kms flew by and it wasn’t long before I caught my first glimpse of the Vatican. What a feeling!!! :)

As I still had my packed lunch from Mario I figured I might as well leave the final push for tomorrow and have my last pilgrims meal tonight with a nice bottle of wine.

The B&B was awesome! I highly recommend it. I have to admit that I wasn’t expecting much after seeing what €50 would get me along the coast, but I was pleasantly surprised. The room was brand new, there was a kitchen to cook in and you could help yourself to the “breakfast” whenever you wanted. It’s called Carolina B&B – Ph. 0039 347 180 6657 and from the front door you can see S. Pietro Basilica! Amazing :)

So after a hot shower, catching up on all my blog entries, eating Mario’s packed lunch and drinking quite a few glasses of wine, it was off to bed to dream about my final day tomorrow on the Via Francigena.