Our plan for today was to enjoy the Villa Borghese gardens. It was a comfortable half hour walk from our apartment, so we planned to walk both ways and look for anything of interest along the way, letting events unfold as they may. Oh, and look for a place to eat lunch.

The walk up was uneventful, other than spotting a lovely place for lunch. More about that later. The Villa Borghese gardens had been a private estate, but now it is a public park with free admission. This is just one of the many entrances to the park, the architecture highlighting its renaissance origins.

Earlier in the week we briefly spotted a green parakeet but utterly failed in our attempts to take a picture of it. Today, almost as soon as we entered the gardens, we spotted more of them, flitting between the trees and generally making a racket. I think they are very territorial. We saw them when they were flying, but their camouflage is nearly perfect – the moment they landed it was impossible to see them. And so the hunt began – we wanted a picture today. Note how “crowded” it was in the gardens.

Finally we managed to spot one feeding in the trees. These are the trees that grow pine nuts, so I suspect that is what they were after. They were like acrobats – half the time they were upside down in search of food.

With that mission accomplished, more or less, we continued enjoying our stroll in the park, listening to a saxophone in the distance.

While walking, a tree stump caught my eye. For context, this was at least six feet (two meters) high. The sun through the trees highlighted the red in the stump.

We didn’t really have an objective other than to enjoy the lovely day, but we were on the lookout for unusual things. Like this statue from World War I, with a donkey carrying a small cannon. Not what I was expecting.

Just behind the statue was a small museum beside a quiet courtyard with orange trees, laden with fruit. For the record, we didn’t pick any.

There is a small lake in the gardens where you can rent a boat. We passed on the boat, but enjoyed looking at the temple on an island in the lake. It is dedicated to Aesculapius, the God of Medicine.

And then, suddenly, we spotted the Rose-ringed Parakeets again. This time they were perched in the sun, in plain sight. This picture is dedicated to D & S who love birds.

We stopped for a cappuccino at a small cafe in the park, and then decided to make one final stop before lunch – a lookout over Rome. Apparently the view is stunning at sunset, but lunch was calling so we settled for this.

I mentioned earlier that we had spotted a Lebanese restaurant just outside the gardens, and we headed back to find it for lunch. We got lovely seats outdoors in the shade, and ordered a selection of Mezeh for lunch. Jan had baba ghanoush and fattoush salad. Both were among the best she has ever tasted. When I visited Jordan a decade ago, I discovered shankleesh, so when I saw the Lebanese restaurant I knew exactly what I wanted. And for those who may say that we shouldn’t eat Lebanese food in Rome … Lebanon was part of the Roman Empire. So there!

It was still early, so we took a little detour on our walk back to the apartment. We’d been told that the crowds were insane at the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps, so we decided to see for ourselves. Along the way we passed the Flaminio Obelisk, one of thirteen ancient obelisks in Rome. This one was Egyptian, dating back to 1300 BC and was brought to Rome by Augustus in 10 BC. It was rediscovered in the sixteenth century in fragments, and reassembled as you see it today.

 

And then, in the area beside the obelisk, along with all the tourist souvenirs, we spotted a stand selling garden seeds. Not your typical souvenir, but we were on the hunt for the chicory that is used to make puntarelle, so we had a look and … another success.

For a day that started without any particular objective, we were doing amazingly well.

Next it was onward to the Spanish Steps. We had heard there was an admission fee, but not today. There weren’t all that many people either.

Based on the limited crowds at the Spanish Steps, we decided to check out the Trevi Fountain next. When we turned the corner, our first view was encouraging.

But then we turned around and…

If you wanted to get right down to the edge of the fountain, you had to buy a ticket, but if you just wanted a look, it was free. So no Instagram photos from me, but you weren’t getting those anyway. I’ll close with a closeup of the detail above the fountain … because you know I love closeups.