Rome, day 3

After being rudely woken up by the cleaner (who opened the curtains and turned the lights on - so sad), we commenced our final day with a shared tub of yoghurt and a walk to Villa Borghese, an 80-hectare park to the north of Rome’s centre. As always, we accidentally passed the Spanish Steps for a third time on the way up. We liked these pony tie-up points on the front of Villa Medici.

Villa Borghese was reminiscent of the enormous Parque de El Retiro in Madrid: vast and crispily dry, but full of mature chestnut avenues, fountains, and clearly very much beloved by locals. The whole park was covered: groups of teenagers messing about on go-karts, families riding self-powered tuk-tuks, couples going for bike rides and everything in between.

Jess wanted to go for a paddle on the lake, which turned out to be a great idea. In addition to seeing Aesculapius in his temple, we also got to say hello to geese, sunbaking turtles, and at least 5 people who were rowing their boats backwards with full conviction.

One of the perks of having millennial WWOOF hosts is that they know where the Fitzroy of Rome is. So, thanks to Andrea and Simone, we headed to Trastevere for a lovely last supper. Crossing our tracks several more times, we rolled right through the middle of Rione IV Campo Marzio and Colonna, Rione IX Pigna and over Tiber River.

Trastevere looks like it’s rewinding, in the best possible way. Every second building has become a vertical jungle, and every other wall seems to have some sort of guerrilla art on it. Vases of dried roses, paintings and words were dotted all over this thriving corner of the city, which also seemed to have endless cosy cafes and shops to explore.

We tried to eat as many vegetables as possible, knowing that this would be our last real meal until Saturday. We did pretty well, but this saffron-infused citrus drink was too intriguing not to try.

Walking across Isola Tiberna, we said hello to yet another gorgeous little piazza,

marvelled at some ancient ruins near Teatro di Marcello,

smiled at the chunky Roman horse statue in Piazza del Campidoglio that looked just like the ponies at our agriturismo,

accidentally passed the Forum once more,

and finished with a second visit to our favourite gelateria. Jess got the lemon and basil flavour again. I got cioccolato, nocciola and fragola. The best way to end the best honeymoon ever.