After visiting the Colosseum and the Forum Romanum, we figured the antiquities were enough. We don’t need to go sightseeing in queues and double steps. We’d instead just pedal and enjoy hours of freedom with the wind in our hair. How did we discover Rome on bicycles? Well, we started to see Rome a little differently.
A good cock doesn’t choose
After a rigorous search online for the cheapest bike rental company, we discovered Aventimo Roma rent a bike near Colosseo. With a gorgeous website and the subtitle “only green rentals”, they promised bikes for the unbeatable price of 16 euros per day. Well, the bikes…
When we arrived at the address, we realized the rental was a gas station garage with some sad Puerto Rican guy who didn’t understand us. He just apathetically pointed into the garage at the 6 bikes that were dumped in the garage, if you could even call them bikes. But it had everything: frame, seatpost, wheels, pedals and completely rusted gears and chains. Golden oil.
The first one I picked had a flat, and the guy didn’t know what to do with it. “Need a serviceman”, he broke into our poor English. The next bike had such a figure of eight that the wheel stopped over the brake rubbers. The third had a broken cable. Voila. Finally, we found two that worked. Only the seat kept sliding off. But a good rooster doesn’t pick and choose. He’ll get off on anything that comes along.
We negotiated a discount of 10 euros a day and got off. Collateral? He laughed: “Who would steal that?”
Tibera bike trail
We headed past the Circus Maximus to the bridges at Trastevere. Ostia Antica taught us that the Tiber River has always been the epicentre of Roman life. So we decided to start on its banks. We descend the stairs to the Tiber.
At first glance, an insensitive observer would say that there is not much here. And there isn’t. A sidewalk 10 feet below street level with a bike lane, with the occasional lost runner or cyclist wandering along it. A river on one side, a wall on the other.
But it doesn’t escape the observant eye that the Tiber is a place of recreation, even for big celebrities. You can find them not only on the sea beaches of Ostia but also here in the centre. Just over the Ponte Garibaldi bridge, we found a sunbathing Barbie on the banks of the Tiber. She didn’t even stop for a photo shoot.
We meet lonely athletes every now and then. Mostly, locals, have probably lost their nerve and are happy to disappear from the tourist carousel of Rome. It’s quiet here. Berlin, Frankfurt, Bingen am Rhein,… My long experience says: “If you’re not after the tourist highlights and want to discover a lively city, ride around the river.”
This is true almost everywhere except Rome. An artfully parked bicycle convinced us of the bike trail on the banks of the Tiber. Could it have been left there by a local fisherman?
Rome is the city of fashion. So it is unsurprising that we will also find a representation of men’s fashion on the route. The Lanieri brand tie we pass along the way doesn’t disabuse us of the belief that fashion is everywhere in Italy.
Tiber bridges
Those bridges from below aesthetically break our hearts. The arches are magical, and the river silence away from the tourist rush gives Rome a specific atmosphere. The postcard-perfect backdrop is created by the bridges around the Castel Sant’Angelo. We’re near the centre.
The amount of people on the riverbank is thickening too. We realise this when Janko decides to release his batch somewhere in the Tiber and not find a minute of peace and be left alone. Rome on bicycles on the banks of the Tiber just is good.
To the Vatican via the Angel Castle
If it weren’t for Dan Brown’s novel Angels and Demons, we might have even entered Angel Castle. But an hour-long line of fans discouraged us. Dan Brown’s book has created a mania in Rome. We circled the park and headed for the Vatican.
A first glance at the square convinces us that we need to know what crowds are.
Vatican City
‘Silenze please, silenze please…‘ I admit we ignored St. Peter’s, the Vatican Museums and the Sicilian Chapel. We quickly fled the square and decided to try the bikes in the hills.
We climbed up the Vatican hill. The Belvedere del Gianicolo offered us incredible views of the two hills and Rome. However, the price for the views, besides a falling seat post, was also loose handlebars and a broken pedal. Down the hill, Johny’s cable to the rear brake broke. Drive slowly in the city anyway.
Old Town
Rome on bicycles in a different way. We ride down and over the bridge into old Rome. The bikes finally work as they should because there are so many people in the narrow streets that it’s better to push them.
Gradually we discover the Spanish Steps, Michelangelo’s Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Plazza Venezia, Plaza Navona, …
Thieving bitch
We anchor in an alley where there is a sea of people. All pushing pizzas. They’re slicing it by the metre and by the scale. Experience says: “Always eat where the locals eat and where it’s crowded.”
I get tempted, we stop the line, I get 4 pieces of great looking pizza, put them on the tray, pay, go out to the bikes, call Johny,…
Suddenly, an aggressive seagull emerges from the lamp, and the most beautiful piece of pizza takes off in its beak. Thieving bitch. Well, what the hell? At least the locals had fun, and we didn’t get fat. Lesson for the second day in Trastevere.
Cycle epilogue
We return to Circo Massimo in the evening. We have to return the bikes by 19,00, so we go with a reserve – just to be safe. We arrived at the rental shop an hour before the deadline and have not found anyone anywhere. Everything is locked.
I call the numbers stuck on the roller shutter. No one picks up. Whatever, we buy two cans of beer, drive out over the Circus Maximus and discover the most beautiful sunset over the Palatine Hill. People don’t know how to be grateful.
We’ll be back in an hour. Everything was locked, not a foot anywhere. The annoyance is rising. I call all possible numbers again. Nothing. We leave for the Colosseum. It’s only a short walk. At seven o’clock, I get a call from a man. He’s already arrived. We can return the bikes. Apparently, we were the only ones today.
We give him back what’s left of them with the lesson: “Tomorrow, we have to discover something better.” Rome on bikes is a great idea.
And it succeeded. Right next to Circus Maximus we discovered Easy Bike Rent Roma. The guy (a former cyclist and funny guy) and I quickly got together. If only because he immediately understood what we needed. But that’s another story.
