After 6,700 kilometres in the car, 216 kilometres on a ferry, 10 countries and 20 cities in 7 weeks, we arrived at our last stop. It is only fitting that all of the roads we have driven have led to this place: Rome!

We dropped the car off near the Fiumicino airport in Rome with only one minor dent in it then caught a taxi into our accommodation, the Hotel Barocco. This is a boutique hotel on Piazza Barberini, which sports a huge Bernini fountain in the middle of the square.

No sooner had we dropped the luggage into the hotel than we were out the door exploring. Lidia would not even let me stop for lunch, even though it was 12:30 and all we had was a banana. We headed straight to the Spanish steps which were only 5 minutes walk from our hotel. From there we dropped into Bulgari's flagship store, which Lidia had been looking forward to since we booked the holiday. Unfortunately this was a bit of a let-down, since the numerous staff there were not very friendly and we had to go and ask them to serve us. After that she didn't find what she was after anyway, so we left with no jewellery, but a lot more money than we otherwise would have left with.

From there we walked to the Trevi Fountain, stopping for the mandatory gelati on the way. We then went to the Pantheon and Piazza Navona, where many Bernini fountains are located.

Back to the hotel after this for a few prosecco's in the bar, then out for dinner to a place called Il giardino di albino, which was a fantastic Italian meal of fettucine funghi, lasagne and the best antipasto I've ever had.

The next day we had booked into a food walking tour of the suburb of Testaccio. Our tour guide, Sara, took us around this local Roman neighbourhood where the store owners are obsessed with serving the best food. We went to a deli that has been serving the best salamis, prosciuttos and cheeses for 100 years, then to a restaurant called Masto Donato, where the owner Donato served us with tempura vegetables and cheesy jokes. He was a real character and had us all laughing. From there we went to a cemetery for foreigners where John Keats and Percy Shelley are buried. The cemetery is also a cat sanctuary and is home to a pyramid built 2,060 years ago as a tomb for a politician.

From there we went to a store specialising in pizza, where we tried pizza Bianca, being a Turkish bread type pastry filled with sun-dried tomatoes and pork.

Then onto the local market where we met a few of the vendors, then made our own bruschetta with fresh bread rubbed with olive oil and garlic, then topped with fresh tomatoes and basil. Delicious! We then mixed the leftover tomatoes with buffalo mozzarella as a salad and ate that. The tomatoes here, it is worth mentioning, are absolutely amazing. They are so sweet and tasty and taste just like tomatoes are supposed to taste. We found the same in Croatia and it really hit home to us how much our tomatoes in Australia are genetically modified not to ripen. We are missing out on so much! Interestingly, our tour guide told us that GMO foods are banned in Italy.

After the salad we went to another stall for arancini balls and something I call Italian dim sims. They are called Bombette and are like a pork dumpling thingy with cheese in it, that is crumbed and fried and totally delectable. This all came with boutique beer. It is safe to say that by this time we were absolutely stuffed and there were still 3 stops to go!

Next stop was for lunch, believe it or not. The restaurant was really interesting because it was dug into the side of a mountain. In fact, many restaurants and wine shops are dug into this mountain. What is interesting about it is that the mountain is man made. It is entirely made up of smashed up amphorae, or terracotta urns that were used to transport produce over centuries in Rome. Testaccio was once a thriving marketplace because it is located right on the Tiber river. The amphorae cannot be re-used, so the ancient Romans had to decide what to do with them. They decided to stack them all in one area, and over centuries this dump site became a small mountain. So basically, this mountain is one of the oldest garbage dumps in the world.

The thing is, the Romans soon realised that underneath the mountain was a constant 14 deg celcius. So they started digging into the mountain creating restaurants and wine shops. This temperature is perfect for storing wine.

We ate at one of these restaurants and although it was mid 30's outside, it was wonderfully cool inside and they didn't even need air conditioning, they just opened a window at the back of the restaurant which has broken terra cotta shards on the other side of it with vents into the mountain. Incredible! Also incredible was the food: 3 different types of pasta and house wine. Unfortunately, most of the pasta went uneaten because all 6 of us on the tour were so full, we could hardly eat any of the beautiful food. It broke our hearts to leave it there!

We waddled out of there to our next stop, which was an old bakery for coffee and a shortcrust cake. Fortunately, they weren't big portions so we were able to squeeze them in. Our final stop after that was for some authentic Italian gelati. Our tour guide first educated us in how to spot the real gelati, and then it was into the tasting.

It's safe to say that after all of this we were ridiculously full. We couldn't let that stop us though, since we still had a few hours of daylight left, so we jumped on a train and headed to the Vatican. We walked all over the square and then into St Peters Basilica. Lidia took some shots of her favourite Swiss guards and is still mooning over one of them who she says was "stunning".

It was still incredibly hot in Rome, so we were grateful for the many water fountains that are all over the city that spout cold, fresh water out of them. You can fill up your drink bottles from them, which we did constantly during our time here.

The next and final day we spent doing a tour of the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. We hadn't been into the Colosseum before and it was a great experience. The forum was also very interesting and we loved learning about the history of it and seeing ruins that were built a century before A.D.

Tonight we went to a restaurant called Hostaria Romana for our final meal of our holiday and it did not disappoint. Service, food and prosecco were all excellent.

Home tomorrow, but we are looking forward to catching up with everybody after our long adventure where we have seen and done so much. It's been an outstanding trip!