Spanish Steps, staircase in Rome’s Piazza di Spagna that climbs the steep slope between the plaza and the church of Trinità dei Monti above. It consists of 135 steps and was built between 1723 and 1725. Though it was funded with a bequest left by a French diplomat, it was named for the Bourbon Spanish Embassy to the Holy See in the plaza.

After decades of debate over what to do with the slope between the Spanish and French plazas, the idea to build a staircase originated in the 17th century, and planning began with the diplomat’s bequest. The original design included an equestrian statue of King Louis XIV of France at the top of stairs. Papal opposition and a challenge to the bequest called a halt to the project until a compromise was reached, allowing the building work to continue. The stairway was designed by Francesco de Sanctis and Alessandro Specchi. The compromise between the papacy and the French is evident on the staircase itself, which contains carvings of the fleurs-de-lis of the Bourbon family along with the checkered eagle coat of arms of Pope Innocent XIII.

At the bottom of the staircase lies the boat-shaped Fontana della Barcaccia (Fountain of the Old Boat), believed to have been designed by Pietro Bernini, father of architect and sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and completed in 1629. The fountain is said to have been inspired by the flooding of the Tiber River in 1598, when a small, flat-bottomed boat used to carry people to safety was found on the spot after the water ebbed.

The buffet breakfast had all the usual options on offer; I enjoyed choosing items from the continental selection.

Before leaving the hotel, we purchased a three day ‘I Love Rome’ hop-on hop-off bus ticket. The hotel receptionist advised us to catch the bus at Piazza Barberino stop 8, the last stop, being the nearest to the hotel.

We didn’t have long to wait for the bus and when we were seated, we donned the headphones to listen to the audio tour whilst the bus took us round most of the major tourist sites in Rome. We hopped off at the last but one stop, the Spanish Steps.

We had lunch in Pasticceria Dagnino which is located next to the Spanish Steps. I chose smoked salmon crostini, which was delicious. There was a bit of a kerfuffle with the ranch door toilet and some American customers who couldn’t understand how I had managed to get into the toilet ahead of them without them seeing me go in.

A rose seller instantly tried to ply me with a bunch of roses on the Spanish Steps. Despite his insistence, I declined politely even when he poked me from behind with the stems. We descended the steps in 96-degree heat. It was difficult to take photos because of glare of the sun but I managed to get a few. We wandered around the nearby streets taking in the Basilica di San Lorenzo in Lucina which contains some beautiful artwork.

We could probably have walked back to our hotel from here but we were unsure of the directions so we ascended the steps and hopped back on the bus to listen to the final part of the guided tour. We got off at the Piazza Barberino and picked up some bottled water on the way back to the hotel where, after cooling down, we headed to the rooftop terrace for a refreshing drink.

Later we dined in La Lampada where the fish I had chosen was filleted in front of me. The waiter later confessed that he had found this difficult as the fish was softer than usual making it hard to remove the bones. The fish, sea bass, was delicious and it came served with carrots and tomatoes to which a few mussels and prawns had been added. When we had almost finished our dinner the restaurant had a power cut and we were suddenly in the dark. This meant that some of the other customers had to wait for their dinner until the power came back on. We found out later that something in the kitchen had tripped the switch and eventually the electricity and lights were restored.

Back at the hotel we once again made use of the roof top terrace, looking out over the city of Rome.