Rome

I have always wanted to go to Rome. It has been on the top of my list ever since my tenth grade history teacher showed us photos of his travels there, and then especially when I took a college elective course in ancient archaeology. Rome has the Colosseum. It has some of the most ancient histories, old archaeological finds, and is one of the oldest continually occupied cities in Europe. It is the Eternal City.

Rome was our first stop in our travels. We checked in to our hotel, and even though we were jet-lagged and in need of a nap, we had to muscle through and stay awake until nightfall so we could try to correct our time clock. We decided to walk to the Colosseum and Palatine Hill, since it was so close to our hotel. Seeing the Colosseum in person for the first time was amazing. It is so BIG, and it is hard to fathom how old it is. We heard buying tickets at the Palatine is the best because you avoid the long line at the Colosseum, so we went straight there. The ticket combines Palatine Hill and the Colosseum, good for two days. Since we were already near the entrance of the Palatine, we did that first. Cameron and I absolutely loved it. We were thrown into one of the most ancient areas of the city, which was our biggest draw to Rome in the first place.

We were originally going to see the inside of the Colosseum the same day, but after walking around the Palatine, we were toast. We walked to a small street side café and had pasta, then went straight to our hotel. As soon as we hit the bed, we were out at seven o’clock. I remember Cameron and I waking up at midnight, and we were both thinking we had completely messed up the plan, but luckily enough we went back to sleep and woke up at the normal time.

Day Two: We walked straight to the Colosseum at opening. No line, hardly any people, and practically the whole Colosseum to ourselves. Complete win! If you’re planning to visit, there is no other way to do this (enjoyably). I had the best time taking photos because there were hardly any people crowding the views, and the sun rising over the wall of the Colosseum made beautiful light for the camera.

The next stop was Vatican City. We took the subway over there, and even though it was still morning, the lines were already super long. A guy on the street was selling company tours and we decided to take it, because group tours can skip the line, and then you have someone guiding you around and telling you some of the facts. Overall, the tour was not that great. She actually kind of rushed us through the museum, and we didn’t get a whole lot of explanations, but it was worth it to skip the line and navigate through to the Sistine Chapel. Even during the off season, parts of the museum were so crowded it was like herding cattle. The Sistine Chapel was… incredible. I couldn’t take any photos, but staring up at Michelangelo’s famous ceiling masterpiece was a bit surreal. We walked around St. Peter’s Basilica, which was pretty awesome. Crazy to think Saint Peter, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus, is buried there.

After the Vatican, we saw a bunch of other sites – The Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Altare della Patria, and the Imperial Fora.

On the third day we saw the Pantheon and had lunch in Piazza Navona, then headed over to the Villa Borghese. We had packed the entire city of Rome in just two and a half days, seeing several sites twice over. We were ready for our next town, but Rome was such an amazing start to our trip. We got to check off so many awesome places from our list. 

More photos after the jump...

Colosseum interior

St. Peter's Basilica

Vatican City

Spanish Steps

Trevi Fountain

View of Rome from the top of the Altare della Patria

Trajan Markets

Tiramisu gelato. Best ever.

The Pantheon

Piazza Navona

Villa Borghese

I think what I liked most about Rome was the fact that you could be walking around the metropolitan city, and then turn a corner and see ancient ruins in the middle of it all. Stuff that is hundreds of years BC. That part of it was mind boggling. The other thing I loved about Rome was all of its cobblestone streets. They're everywhere, and they just feel so European and wonderful.

P.S. Cameron and I use the Eyewitness Travel Top 10 books for all of our travels, and I highly recommend them. They cut to the chase, have great maps, and are small enough to carry around.