Fiiiiiinally Rome!
You probably wouldn’t have guessed it, but with all my city trips and world tours I had never made it to one of the most important European capitals. Again and again I saved up Rome „for later“ and thought I will have to go there on a long weekend, probably almost a week, once I have more time. In June this year I finally wanted to go – the wait had been long enough! 😉 So me and my parents booked a trip for the Whitsun weekend. We found a nice apartment near the Colosseum and visited Rome’s highlights in 2,5 days. It’s possible, but only with a lot of advance planning and organization (and early mornings).
We started our first day bright and early at the Colosseum. Even though we queued up at the online tickets-line, there were already some people in front of us and it was good to have been there 30 min before opening time. Then, we were finally able to enter…and WOWWW! This really blew me away!!! Of course, I had seen many pictures before – but really standing in this big arena myself, was something different. The size really impressed me and I could vividly imagine, how gladiators fought for their lives back then.
After checking out every corner of the Colosseum and taking hundreds of pictures, we walked across the square directly onto the Roman Forum. Luckily the ticket we had bought online was valid for the Colosseum, as well as the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, so we were able to enter rather quickly. And what should I say! The Forum was really beautiful and worth visiting. It was quite something, walking around between all these old ruins. If these old rocks could tell stories…
Practically on the same site was the Palatine Hill so that we decided to venture there afterwards. The best part of the hill was the view point for me from which you could see the Roman Forum really nicely from above! In addition to that, there were some other interesting ruins spread out over the hill.
Slowly but surely we needed to make our way to the Vatican since we had booked online tickets for 13.30 for the Vatican Museums. Booking a ticket and time slot in advance online is absolutely recommended – if you don’t want to be standing in the line for hours!! We arrived a little early and were let in at 13.00. Inside, we were welcomed by masses of people pushing forward. That was a bit crazy admittedly. But in the end I was able to ignore what was going on around me pretty well and still really enjoyed the museums. You just have to go with the flow – literally 😉
But…I will not keep you in the dark: The Vatican Museums were what impressed me most in Rome, in the end! I just couldn’t stop marvelling at anything and everything!! The most amazing part for me was not the Sistine Chapel but The Gallery of Maps. This gallery was just incredible – from ornate ceilings to the maps themselves to the beautiful floors – I didn’t even know where to look first! 🙂
At one point I want to go back to Rome, probably in winter when there are less tourists and see the Vatican Museums again, as well as some other museums we didn’t have time for during this visit. This time we also had to make sure that we would arrive on time at St Peter’s Basilica. A little trick helped us in doing so 😉 If you’re a bit sneaky, you can use a back exit at the Sistine Chapel which connects the museums to the Basilica. Technically this exit is only for groups – but with us no one was standing there to check! Hehehehe…made it! We were very happy about this since it meant saving a significant amount of time 🙂
But first, we wanted to climb the basilica instead of going directly inside. Of course by foot, since we hadn’t walked enough yet 😉 It definitely was exhausting in the end, but SO worth it! First we had a great view of the inside of the basilica, being really close to the dome, and afterwards we could see across St Peter’s Square outside. Tip: You can buy cheap coffee and snacks in the little cafe on the roof of the basilica. Didn’t expect such cheap prices at such a location!
Then all the way down again, into the basilica. What was really beautiful was that right in this moments there were some rays of sun coming in through the windows in the middle of the basilica. The church was impressive already, but this gave it a somewhat mystical feel. Simply amazing!! St Peter’s Basilica is massive, so you do need quite some time to see it all. Behind every corner something more pretty is hiding. Wherever you look – splendour. Beautiful splendour 😉
Everything has to come to an end – and so did our day full of sightseeing since we were getting tired and in desperate need of a pizza! 😉 It still took a little though, since we still took a walk across St Peter’s Square, past the Castel dell’Angelo and across the bridge into the historic center of the town. We also passed by Piazza Navona and the Pantheon and got some first impressions of these places. At night these are beautifully illuminated!
Somewhere in the alleyways around the Piazza Navona we finally found our well deserved pizza and cheered to the first successful day! But since Rome is Rome, we automatically came past another couple of ruins on our walk home afterwards. This is how a long walk home becomes fun, even if your feet are in pain already!
Alright – second day! We had seen most highlights on the first day, but there were still some waiting for us. So first of all we walked to the Trevi Fountain. This is the best time to go, since the little square is not spilling over with people yet. We threw in our coins so to make sure we would return one day to Rome! 😉 What impressed me most of the fountain was how it was built between the houses. It seemed oversized for such a little square.
Next stop: The Spanish Stairs. We were again still early enough to actually be able to see the staircase and not just masses of tourists 😉 And yes, it’s just a long staircase somehow…so I was not too impressed. By the way, you’re not even allowed to drink some water while sitting on the stairs – you will immediately have a guard whistling furiously at you… 😀
We walked further and further North until we reached Piazza del Popolo. Unfortunately one of the twin churches is under construction at the moment and half of the square was closed off due to an event. Lots of iron bars and scaffolding = bad for pictures and the overall impression. You did get an OK view from Pincio Hill still, so we climbed that one first and then continued our walk back along the Villa Borghese.
We continued our walk zigzagging in the direction of the Pantheon which we skipped for now since there was a long line of people. Probably still the aftermath of the rose petal rain which happens every year on Whitsunday in the Pantheon. So we ended up walking to the Capitol Hill next, from which you can enjoy great views over the Roman Forum, the Colosseum and other surrounding ruins. Really pretty! The monumental Il Vittoriano is just next to the hill and of course we also checked it out. Odd that this is not something typically mentioned under „sights“ since I think it’s very impressive!!
We then took the tram to Trastevere to rest our tired feet a little. After a little snack we walked through the small roads and up a hill from where we had another pretty view over the city. Of course we also had to see the impressive church Santa Maria di Trastevere. Somehow everything in Rome is amazing!! After some delicious pizza and past in a cute little restaurant it was bed time!
Hang on!! There was still time for a little evening walk to the Colosseum! 😉 I really wanted to see it at night and this was our last chance! Definitely worth it!!
On our last day we of course needed to see the Pantheon from the inside – and luckily there was no line at all and almost no tourists inside, so we had the beautiful dome almost to ourselves… did I already say everything is amazing in Rome!? 😉
We still had a lot of time leftover, so took a walk along the Tiber river, onto the rather boring Tiber island and further until the Boca de la Verita and the surrounding temple ruins. Ouuufff! A long walk in the heat! We didn’t feel like queuing up for Boca de la Verita though – just to hold your hand into a hold in a rock plate!? 😉 Rather take a quick picture from the side, and continue…
We fled from the midday heat into the gallery Doria Pamphilj, which turned out to be a lucky strike. It was good to be away from the sun and the tourists and definitely worth it! I can recommend the little gallery to everyone.
Then we already needed to pass by our apartment in Monti, pick up our luggage and start the walk to central train station, which turned out a bit longer than expected, especially with our trolleys and the cobblestone! We did make one last pit stop with one last sightseeing „to do“ – the Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore. This church was a successful conclusion of all our sightseeing in Rome: Really impressive once again and somehow special! But – that was it – on to the train and to the airport…! Rome, you will definitely see me again at one point. I did throw a coin into the Trevi fountain after all 😉
Here are some more pictures of Rome.
Just Booked A Trip 
wonderful issues altogether, you simply gained a logo new|a new} reader. What could you recommend in regards to your publish that you just made some days in the past? Any positive?