We started at our hotel in the Aurelia section on the west side of Rome, rode across the city of Rome and out east on the Via Appia Antica -- the old "Appian Way" road from two thousand years ago -- and climbed up into the Colli Albani hills to Castel Gandolfo, the traditional summer residence of the Pope. Then we rode back down to Rome on the Via Appia Nuovo -- the new "Appian Way" road (SS 7) -- and across the city again to finish at our hotel. - - - Sharon Marsh Roberts + Ken Roberts - - -

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stopping by St Peter's cathedral in the Vatican (Basilica di San Pietro )
on our way riding across the city of Rome
 

ruins of the Roman Forum, seen from our riding on the Via dei Fori Imperiali
 

the Colloseum behind Sharon and our Bike Friday Project Q tandem
 

On the two-thousand-year-old pavement-stones of the Via Appia Antica.
We did not actually ride much on these stones, but walked our bike across
the road sections which had them, or sometimes rode on a dirt path alongside.

quiet countryside along the Via Appia Antica -- in a section with modern cobblestones just
like the sanpietrini we found covering most of the non-major streets in the city of Rome.
   

the other Appian Way: on the Via Appia Nuova near Ciampino airport
 

Sharon in the village of Castel Gandolfo where we had lunch,
 walking down toward Lago Albano
 

riding through Rome on Corso Vittorio Emanual II heading west
to the bridge (with statues) over the Tiber river (Fiume Tevere)
 

riding toward St Peters up Via della Conciliazione on our return trip across the city