Touristic ride starting at the Colosseum, passing the Roman Forum to the Trevi Fountain, then to the Spanish Steps, across the Tiber and then around the Vatican on its outer wall with a final crossing of St Peter's Square.

On the actual ascent up to the St John's Tower, you overcome around 50 metres in altitude over 1.5 kilometres.

Start at the 2,000-year-old Colosseum. My rickety hire bike hardly looks any younger, but will take me to the Vatican Hill today without any problems.

At first you can cycle on the wide road without any traffic.

This changes at the Trevi Fountain. Crowds of people force you to get off your bike.

The route continues through narrow side streets.

But even at the Spanish Steps it's almost impossible to get through by bike.

St Peter's Basilica appears in the background for the first time at the Tiber river.

And after a few kilometres, I find myself on my unattractive bike at the EU border between Italy and the Vatican City State. Now it gets exciting. Will they let me in on my bike? If so, where is the highest point?

Actually, there is no problem to get onto the square with my bike. Neither police nor military is interested in me and so I can easily slalom around thousands of visitors. Unfortunately, there's no uphill here, in fact it's even slightly downhill. The obelisk in the centre of the square is even slightly lower than the square border.

We continue to the entrance of the non-public part of the Vatican. This is where the approximately 1,000 citizens of the state live. The Swiss Guard stands guard at the entrance and does not let any tourists through. What is still folklore at the front becomes a little clearer 20 metres behind, where the Vatican gendarmerie is stationed. In view of the 20 million (!) annual tourists, it's understandable that you can't get in here.

To the side, you can follow the enormous outer wall of the Vatican. This surrounds the entire state and leads uphill. This is also where I meet the only racing cyclists in the city today. I struggle up with my three gears bike.

Entrance to the Vatican Museums

At the south-western tip of the wall, you have reached the highest point of the Vatican Hill. My GPS measures 77 metres at the height of St John's Tower.

Behind it, the route then descends again towards St Peter's Square. This western route is much steeper than the eastern ascent I chose. This is actually a one-way street upwards - so it's better to go the other way round.