La Giustiniana to Roma 21k The Eternal City

After a 2 coffee breakfast we rejoin the Via Cassia, now a busy highway with cars and buses paralleling a railway line. After a few k we enter a wooded area with an abundance of butterflies, small blues, whites, commas and clouded yellows.
At the end of this section is a steep hill and by the time we get to the top, Ray is feeling a bit whoozy in the heat, so a prolonged bar stop is needed. We continue on a pleasanter road section with less rubbish until we reach Monte Mario Park from where we get our first glimpses of the Eternal City.
We walk along a wooded ridge to Monte Gaudi ( the mountain of joy ) from where we get a panoramic vista centred on the Dome of St Peter’s Basilica, the pilgrim’s first view of his or her goal.
Down a long winding path and then we enter the city, walking along broad streets with elegant buildings shaded by plane trees. As we near the Vatican the streets become choked with tourists and sellers.
Past a control post manned by Swiss Guards, under the double arch of Porta Angelica, through Bernini’s  collanade, that runs around the square, past the queue waiting to get into the cathedral and WE ARE THERE !!
We take photos and get emotional for a bit and then collect our Testimonium of Completed Pilgrimage from the Opera Romana Pelligrinaggi. All that remains is to find ice cream at a reasonable price and find our lodgings.
We are booked into an apartment on the sixth  ( groan ) floor of a building nearby, where we will stay until Saturday, when we fly back to Bristol.