As the saying goes, “When in Rome do as the Romans do and fast on Sundays”. We arrived on a Sunday. We lasted till 2pm… good pizza though! We arrived at 10am in the morning. It was nice knowing we had three nights here and keeping our feet on the ground a little more than usual. Having said that, the pace didn’t change at all and we still managed to squeeze every drop of Rome and surrounding areas into our four days there.
When we first arrived we jumped on a open-top tour bus, while a lot more expensive than a standard public transport bus it does a big loop around the city getting you close to all the tourist attractions, and provides commentary through headphones in your chosen language as you drive. So while not only easy and carefree, it’s also very informative and educational.
We got to our hotel, right next to the Vatican City, and then set out on foot to explore the immediate area, before hopping back on our tour bus to do the other half of the circuit we hadn’t done en route from the Train Station to our hotel.
We jumped off at the Colosseum. Wow! What an amazing feat of human engineering. It really is hard to appreciate the sheer size from photos, but try your best.
Buying tickets in advance has paid off so far the whole trip, but no more so than here, the line looked hours long winding it’s way around the entrance way. Two minutes after arriving we were inside looking around!
Where the floor used to be inside the arena is no longer there, but this allows you sights down into the old dungeon areas where the slaves were kept before their fights.
For those that don’t know the Colosseum was an arena used for fighting games. Slaves, prisoners or those just wanting fame and fortune are entered into the games where they must fight each other, often with the addition of a couple of wild animals namely lions and tigers (and bears. Oh my?).
Just over the road is the old Roman town and wandered around the ruins for a couple of hours. It really is so hard to picture what these ruins and left over structures once were. Plenty of photos of this area, so will let them do the talking.
Back on the tour bus, we continued our circuit back home for the night before an early start to Pompei.
Now I was going to throw all three days of Rome into this one blog, but the given the sheer brilliance of day two, it just had to be in it’s own blog. Go on now to read day two, Day trip to Pompeii and Amalfi Coast or continue reading day three below.
Up nice and early on day three, the close proximity to the Vatican had paid off, but lack of signposts had us running around the city trying to find the entrance for our guided tour. At one point I yelled to Emma that I felt like Tom Hanks. Arriving with seconds to spare we started out three hour tour of the Vatican City.
Starting in the Vatican Museum, the history of the Pope and the city was talked about in depth before wandering the museum looking at all the sculptures, paintings, and tapestries on the walls.
Our guide gave us all ear pieces so we could hear her better.
It was then into the Sistine Chapel which features some of the worlds most brilliant art works. Wall to ceiling is coverage in amazing works, painted directly onto the stone. This chapel is the place where the Papal Conclave takes place (the process by which a new Pope is selected)
Then into the St. Peter’s Basilica which is amazing on it’s own. Blessed Pope John XXIII is displayed in a glass coffin when his body was discovered so perfectly preserved 38 years after he died.
Outside they were setting up for the popes weekly ceremony where 10,000+ people are expected.
Meandering around the city again we headed to the Spanish Steps. We then called it a day and headed back to the hotel. The last couple of days I have been getting progressively sicker. What a place to get a case of the man flu! Rather than trying to push through it, a good nights sleep and some rest seemed like the best idea.
Up early again at 7:30am we headed a short distance to the Piazza Navona.
After looking at the amazing statues and fountains here we walked to the Trivi Fountain, where they say by throwing a coin into the fountain it will ensure you return to Rome.
We headed back to our hotel, grabbed our bags, and jumped on the next bus to the train station. We are now on the train from Rome to Venice where we will be spending two days.