There is an AMAZING website called with locals. My wife looked into a bike tour through them. To be honest, I was slightly worried it wasn't going to be good. Not the tour, I was sure that would be, but the day before we got a phone call, our guide asked if we could change our 11 – 2 tour to 2 – 5 or something. We couldn't do that as that time would be right when we were to meet up with our actual tour. We told him no, and that worried me. Did we screw up his day, and he wouldn't care about giving us a good tour? I should learn to be more optimistic, I guess. We met with Claudio at 11, and he was perfectly on time, got us hooked up with everything we needed, and started the tour. Claudio was amazing! I want to thank him again and feel bad that I ever doubted. Also, I highly recommend With Locals. If they are all as good as he was, you will get a fantastic tour with someone who knows the city. Once we got on our tour bus, everywhere we stopped, we had a guided tour, and I will say, while some were better than others, none were as good as Claudio.
So we started our tour, the bikes were older but well-maintained. We started in what I would call the heart of the city, it was here we learned about the ruins where ceaser had been murdered. Then, through some alleys, we ended up in the Jewish ghetto. This place is crazy, it is beautiful and sad at the same time. The Jewish people have lived here for as long as Rome has existed. Always discriminated against. We biked by a couple of trattorias where people were eating deep-fried artichokes. Claudio let us know it was artichoke season, and everyone would enjoy this traditionally Jewish dish. In my mind, it sounded terrible, but later people on our tour said it was tasty, and I have seen it on cooking shows since then, saying how delightful it is. I will be back in Rome close to the same time of the year, and maybe I will give it a go. As they say, when in Rome. While cobblestones are super cool, they are perhaps not what you want to bike on. You can feel it, trust me. In the Jewish district, there is a memorial to the people who lived there during WWII. The Nazis were happy that all the Jews lived in a single area. Rounding them up was easy, and most of the population was eliminated. They also had a sign about October 7th. I will not get into politics, but both were sad reminders of the world. Just outside the neighbourhood, he showed us the 3 levels of Rome. There was a building with 3 distinct floors, very distinct floors. It was easy to tell the bottom was ancient. It had the stone look of many ruins. Then, above it was another floor, completely different. Clearly Renaissance. Had the arch look to it that I think most people associate with that period. Then, last on top was the "modern" floor. I am not sure I would say modern as post WWII, but probably early century buildings. Claudio explained that this was how things went; they just built a new city over an old one, which is common throughout Rome. To me, this is crazy. I know some places like NY have old tunnels for subways and such deep below them, but cities like Edmonton, only a hundred or so years old, don't go that deep. I have always understood that Rome is 2777 years old, but seeing a visual representation of this is mind-blowing. Then we continued on our ride. We told Claudio that Rome is rather hilly, and it is a good workout. He laughed it off and said Tuscany is much worse. We saw many things that day, such as the Circus Maximus, and it was insane to think of the games that happened there 2000 years ago. The Palentine hill, where some of the most powerful people in history had their mansions, and the Appian Way. Hard to picture an entire army crucified down that road. Some Christian catacombs were close to the Appian Way and a pyramid. I did not have any idea that Rome had a pyramid, but I guess when you ruled most of the known world, you probably imported a few items, look at Britain. It was a beautiful day for the ride; it was not too hot for a person to get sweaty and sticky, but it was not cool either. We stopped in a park, not a playground, but a forested park. We rode down various trails there, and we did get stopped by a herd of sheep. Not something I can say I have ever had happen to me in Canada. There was a little store with old picnic benches that we stopped at. We used the washrooms and bought a soft drink. Chinotto Per Davvero or Chin 8, the bottle said. It was different, now that's not good or bad. I expected something like Coke, but it wasn't as sweet, though the liquid did look like Coca-Cola. Citrusy is what I would say it was. At one point, we saw a large group of Ducati riders. It blew my mind that it would be the standard bike there, and that would have been a hell of a lot of dollars in bikes back here. After that, I kept my eyes open and saw only one Harley and many Ducatis. In fact, I only saw one greasy biker bar; turns out our bus would drive by it a few times. I had to Google if the HA even had a chapter there. It turns out they have a few, but it seemed like a totally different bike culture. I got sidetracked there, but it was an amazing bike ride, on our pedal bikes, if I wasn't clear, we weren't on motorbikes. I was just watching them. The only downfall to doing this is that you only get a brief overview. We saw a lot, like you would on a bus tour, and it was more personal, but you don't actually go in and see the sites, which is too bad. I guess you can personalize the tours and go on if you want. We didn't, so I shouldn't say you can't; we just didn't. With Locals you can fine tune a lot which people may like. However, I would recommend this for anyone going. Do this on the first day, then decide what to spend more time doing!
The pop we tried
We got to the hotel and headed straight down to the bar. Honestly, I wasn't going to have a drink, but the bartender talked up some special that I actually don't even remember what it was now. It was good, though, that much I remember. There was a group of "older" people sitting there as well. Four of them. Now let me be clear, I am 43, my mother is pushing 60, and my stepdad is over 50. When I say old people, I mean older than my parents. Late 60s, I assumed maybe a bit older than that. I have no idea why, but I was sure they would be on our tour. So we started chatting with them, and I was right, they were on our tour, from Philly, and excited to see the world. Another four people came down, clearly two couples. Again, I had that feeling they would be on our tour. They were about my parents' age, they grabbed a few beers, but we didn't visit with them. Our food came. A flatbread and a sandwich. I am going to say it was hunger; it wasn't excellent food by any means, but damn, did it taste good then. I bring people's ages up because before I left my boss and I talked about European tour groups. I did not know, but he had done a few. There are two major companies, Contiki and Trafalgar. Contiki is the "young" fun crowd. Less expensive, more booze. I have a friend who did France and Italy on Contiki years ago and said it was pretty crazy, and they were drunk every night. Trafalgar is the more expensive company and is a little higher-end. My boss had done both, and he laughed when I said we were going with Trafalgar; he predicted we would be by far the youngest people on the tour. He wasn't perfectly right, but he also wasn't wrong. I'll get to that, but the rest of this day, I was wrong about many things. I thought the Philly group seemed friendly and would be good to travel with. I was wrong on that one. Either way, we ate and found the tour guide. He gave us the papers and tags to join the tour. We had an hour or so to kill before the big meet and greet, so we went ot our room, freshened up a bit, and came to the lobby at the assigned time to meet people. Don't misunderstand, the tour was phenomenal. One of the best trips I have ever done, but the 24 hours leading up to it were the best part of this trip. From landing in Rome to the moment we met the group, it was one of the best times of my life.
We were among the first people to get to the little sitting area in the hotel. There were a few chairs and couches. Some coffee tables, it was made to look like a living room. People came in groups or as traveling companions. This isn't the actual order, but some of the info I got during the tour, but what our group consisted of was the Philly people. The older, grumpier people. Honestly, they reminded me of the cousins that when your parents say, " we need to go see them," you say Really? Do we have to? At this point, though, I thought they might be okay. One of the early ones was the Pastor. From Winnipeg, so a fellow canuck. I think every group needs a guy like this, not a religious part, but maybe being a pastor gave him the gift of gab and kindness. What I mean is he became the talker, shook everyone's hand, and introduced himself. Right off the hop, I got good vibes from him. I usually have good instincts, although I was wrong a few times on this trip, and I got good vibes from him. Not judgey, just a happy, friendly guy. His wife was with him; she, of course, didn't talk as much. In a duo like this, one does 90% of the talking. He loves her, though, like a lot, over the moon. I think he told everyone at some point the story of how they met. Then the other group from the bar came in; they were from Boston. As soon as they spoke, you knew it. Boston has a very distinct accent. I am guessing they were around my parents' age. We didn't talk with them much on the trip; they seemed nice enough. They liked to have drinks, but one of them was always late. It became a running gag on the bus. Then you had the Texans. A mother, like a grandma, and her two daughters, probably older than my parents. I don't want to say aloof, but just how they carried themselves, you could tell at least one of the daughters had money. Another group we didn't talk with all that much, but they seemed alright. The grandma did seem like a kind old lady. Then some more canucks from Winnipeg. A husband and wife, again probably my parents' age. In a cruel twist, the wife had just injured her leg a week prior, and on this trip, where there would be a ton of walking, she was in a boot and had a cane. From them, I got a hippy vibe. They were not hippies, but they did seem very chill. Then came the older couples. One was from Arizona, I think they said, and they were for sure grandparents' age. While we did speak to them a few times, I couldn't tell you much about them. Then the other old couple, for sure, were South American. Angel was the husband's name, pronounced ann-hill. I guess he was a military vet who spent his whole life in the US Army. Again, grandparents, so we didn't spend a ton of time with them. Then came another wrong assumption. A couple came down, I found out from Grande Prairie. Small world that we would meet people from my hometown in Rome. On the very first bus ride we took, the wife was complaining about something, loudly. We said, let's maybe avoid them. Of course, as the tour went on, we spent most of our time with them. Really good people, actually. I am assuming jet lag or something made her cranky that first night. So, ya again I was wrong with a first impression. They are my parents' age as well. Then another family of four. We didn't talk with them a ton, so I can't even say the dynamic. I believe it was a husband and wife. Roughly our age, with either his or her mom and an aunt? I don't know. They were nice enough, and when he got a few drinks in, he became chattier but generally stuck to themselves. I guess the wife was on NCIS for a bit. I have never watched the show, but IMDB proved it. Another family, from LA. The parents would have been slightly older than us, and the daughter, I am thinking, was early twenties. She was one of the only people younger than us on the tour. Again, we only ended up eating dinner with them one night, and they were super nice people. I guess they have a pharmacy, I am not sure why, but in my mind, it is a little corner store where you see Daredevil helping when crooks come around. There was the single guy. Like my wife, he was carrying a big camera, but he was by himself. I have a hard time with that. I mean, bravo for having the balls to do a tour by yourself. Actually seeing the world, but I know I couldn't do it. You really have to put yourself out there to talk to the other people on the tour, or it will be lonely. We had dinner a couple of times with him. Again, he was a nice guy, quiet, and loved photography. He was also from Canada. I think he was a couple of years younger than me, about my wife's age. Last was the mother and son. This is horrible, but I instantly judged. They totally kept to themselves and did not seem to speak. She was probably around my age, maybe a bit older, and the son was early twenties. It was international travel, and they were Asian, and I assumed that when they weren't speaking, they didn't speak English. I am a fucking douche for that. They are from Ontario. In the end, they were probably my favorite people on the tour. They are the only ones I texted afterward, but that first night, I made another assumption, and I can say it was brutally wrong, and I was an ass. So that was the group. In general, 95% older than us. Mostly around my parents' age, which isn't too bad. Some much older, and for sure, I can only say 2 younger might have been a couple of others, but in general, my boss was right. At 42, some of the youngest people on the tour.
So we all boarded the tour bus. It was only a year old and in great condition. It was somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 full. There is a rule: you are supposed to move two seats back every trip. Rotate around the bus so everyone gets to sit anywhere. The guide, whose name was Scott, said that the rule didn't apply because there were so few people, but if someone wanted to change spots, you were supposed to let them. It didn't happen; in the end, everyone sat in the same spot for the two weeks. We sat close to the back on the right-hand side, which had a little more legroom for some reason. The bus took us back to roughly the same area of Rome we had been to for the past couple of days. Scott pointed out a few sites, but in general, just explained what the tour would be like. We drove by a temple to Hercules but did not go in. Then we ended up at Bascila di Santa Maria. Before you enter, you can see the Mouth of Truth. I had never heard of it before. A lot of other people had. It is a massive mask, I would call it, with an open mouth. It has been in a few movies, and the legend goes that if you stick your hand in and you are a liar, it will bite it off. So either I am not a liar or it is broken, as I write this, I have both hands. Of course everyone stopped and took a picture with their hands in the mouth and then we were let into the church. The neat thing was that the church was closed, so we had access without the general public. This was the first church I was in over there. It was rather impressive. So ornately done up, and the big draw is St Valentine's skull. That, of course, is locked in a case, but it is there to see. While it is neat to see, I wonder why we keep things like skulls to look at. It isn't like you can ask Valentine for advice or anything, just see his bones sitting there. If you went into a random house and saw a real skull sitting there, you would probably think the person was a serial killer, but in churches, it is okay! We wandered around and, of course, took more pictures. I lit a candle. I have never done that before, even though I have seen it a million times on TV. I don't know if you are supposed to or not, if you aren't a part of the church, but early this year, I lost a good friend, and my wife said that for him, I could light a candle. I think we had 20 minutes, and that was actually more than enough. There is only so much to see and do in a small church, off to dinner.
The bus ride was okay; the tour guide, Scott, pointed out a few more sites, but honestly, I don't remember what they were. We arrived at a restaurant and were ushered into the back. A big room with various tables for the group to eat at. We went to have a seat by the people we had met from Philly, and it played out like Forrest Gump on the school bus, "seats taken!" not pleasantly or anything, rather rude. That was the first hint that these people weren't ideal travel companions. We ended up at a table with the two oldest couples on the tour. Now, there is nothing wrong with that, and they were both charming people, but we did not really have much in common. After dinner, my wife pointed out that I went into salesman mode. I asked questions, listened to answers, and 20 minutes later had no idea what we talked about. I am reasonably good at small talk, but at this point, it was mostly to be polite. At this point, my wife and I had decided we would spend the tour just the two of us; that, of course, was wrong, but that is where we were, mindset-wise. The dinner was also kind of garbage. There were various pizzas, and none were good, or at least not memorable. Some wine, which again was not amazing. In reality, I think a lot of people had jet lag or just were not in a great mood after travelling to get to Rome. The place was nice inside, but I don't think it was a home run for anyone. We all loaded back onto the bus and went back to the hotel. I don't believe anyone hit the hotel bar that night. Everyone went to bed for an early AM.
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