Rome
Summer break means it’s time to travel again. Mom has a number of places she wants to visit. This year it happened that Europe had a few destinations we could cross off her bucket list. We started with 48 hours in Rome.
We flew into Rome, landing at about nine in the morning local time. To our bodies though it was midnight. Despite very little sleep on the airplane, we were determined to beat jetlag by treating the day as its own day and not constantly thinking about what time it was back home.
We took the train into town and then transferred to the metro to get to the Colosseum stop, the one nearest to our hotel.
We stayed at the Hotel Fori Imperiali Cavalieri. The hotel is well rated among hotels in Rome and was still affordable. It was only a few minutes walk away from the metro stop nearest the Colosseum. We loaded the location of the hotel onto the map before we lost service. This ensured we did not get lost in the labyrinth of streets.
Check-in at the hotel was quick and easy. Despite our early hour, our room was ready. This was wonderful. It gave us the chance to change out of our travel clothes (warmest items we had) and into something more suited to the climate of 30 odd degrees (Celsius). Rome has been experiencing a heatwave recently.
We headed back to the Colosseum, once we were ready. We walked around to get a feel for the area but we had plans to return the next day and spend as much time as needed exploring inside. So we took the metro north and got off at the Spanish Steps.
Spanish Steps
The Spanish Steps are a set of 174 steps, built-in 1724, between Piazza di Spagna and the Piazza Trinita dei Monti and its church at the top. Like many tourist destinations in Rome, you can’t help but have other people in your photos. You can spot people taking selfies and posing for Instagram/Snapchat photos.
The Spanish Steps were the beginning of what would become 14km of meandering our way through Rome and back to our hotel. We had a basic route planned to hit a number of walking destinations and loaded a map of Rome into Google Maps to keep us (me, mom can get lost anywhere) from getting too turned around.
We headed towards Trevi Fountain, walking down whatever roads caught mom’s eye. I made sure we stayed headed in the right direction.
Trevi Fountain
It is thought that there had been some source of water at the area of the Trevi fountain for 2000 years. In early 1600, a Pope decided the then-current fountain at Trevi was not enough. He commissioned an architect to redesign the fountain. Circumstances delayed the project until 1732. Construction was completed in 1762. The fountain has been restored many times since. The most recent time in 2014-2015, sponsored by Italian Fashion house Fendi.
As you can see, if you get close enough to the fountain you can make your pictures seem like your the only one around. However, there are hundreds of people there doing the same thing.
By this time the day was really starting to warm up. You could buy cold water and 15 minutes later it is no longer cold. To solve this problem we found a gelato place (not hard to do, they are everywhere in Rome).
Mom and I continued our adventure by heading towards the Pantheon.
Pantheon
The Pantheon is a former Roman temple and is currently a church. It was build between 113-125 AD. After the rectangular entrance, the main building is circular. The Pantheon is also famous for having the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world. One of the most well preserved ancient buildings, the Pantheon has been in constant use over the millennia. The building is still in use today.
Plazas Plazas Everywhere
After the Pantheon, we headed towards Piazza Navona.
Piazza Navona was once the site of a stadium and that can still be seen in the size and shape of the plaza. The area had a number of fountains and interesting buildings. The edges of the plaza are filled with restaurants where you can stop to have lunch and watch people wander around Rome.
We walked towards the river and then headed towards Piazza Venezia. Piazza Venezia is a place where many large roads intersect and also the location of the Vittorio Emanuele II Monument. The monument was built in honour of Vittoria Emanuele, the first King of united Italy. Build between 1885-1935 the monument includes the tomb of the unknown soldier. Chosen from unknow remains left from World War I, the remains are under the statue of Roma, who holds the eternal flame. The Shrine of Flags is also part of the monument.
It was about three in the afternoon and we were near to the hotel. Mom and I both felt tired and jetlagged. We went back to the hotel and set the alarm for an hour and a half later. Then we let ourselves have a nap so we could make it through the rest of the day.
Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Rome
When we woke up it was about 5 in the afternoon. We still felt tired but we wanted to get into a good sleep schedule. We decided to go out and see about taking one of the bus companies. This way we would be awake and seeing sites but not expending too much energy. The ticket was also valid the next day so we could use it to travel to the area of the Vatican.
It was nice to have the commentary that comes along with the bus tours to learn more about the sites you are seeing.
We disembarked the bus at the terminus station and went for a walk back to the hotel. Along the way, we stopped for something to eat and then had another gelato. We returned to the hotel to get ready for bed. Mom and I were both asleep at about nine in the evening.
We woke up around midnight to a thunder and lightning storm. It ended quickly and we were able to get back to sleep. We still woke up early (around 4). We used the time to get ready and planned for our day.
Breakfast began and 7 in the morning and we were there right away. Then we walked towards the Colosseum. Our plan was to start there because the ticket included the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. When we finished we could take the bus towards the Vatican and spend the afternoon there.
Colosseum
Leaving our hotel we went to the left. The first crossroad we came to gave us just a glimpse of the colosseum. We took the road and came to the end of the road, elevated above the main road and giving a great view of the colosseum. We weren’t the only people to think so. Despite the early hour, there were a few people there taking photos with us.
Once you have a ticket to enter the colosseum (and they have timed entrances, so be aware) you can walk around the main ground level.
After you can head up to the second level. This area has a permanent exhibit and well as a temporary exhibit. You can also overlook the colosseum and get a better idea of what was happening below the floors in the time of gladiators.
After you’ve spent your time exploring the colosseum you can head next door and take in the remains of the Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum.
Palatine Hill is one of the oldest parts of the city. This area has almost always been the home of rich and powerful people. Imperial palaces were built upon the hill and their ruins are still visited by people today. There are archaeological findings from the hill that date back as far as 1000BC. The hill still undergoes archaeological excavation to this day.
At the bottom of one side of Palatine Hill is the Circus Maximus. Circus Maximus was a large chariot racing stadium. It is over 600 meters long and could contain 150,000 spectators.
After our morning of walking, we were hungry. Mom and I decided to take the bus near the Vatican and find something to eat there. After wandering up and down a few streets we found a place to eat.
Castel Sant’Angelo
The Castel Sant’Angelo, also known as the Mausoleum of Hadrian, was commissioned by Emperor Hadrian as a tomb for himself and his family. Today it is used as a museum.
Due to time constraints and costs, Mom and I did not enter but continued on to the Vatican.
Vatican
The Vatican City State as we know it was created in 1929 by the Lateran Treaty. It is the smallest sovereign state in existence. Within the Vatican is St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museum.
There is no passport control to enter the Vatican, and there is no dress code to be in St. Peter’s Square but if you wish to enter St. Peter’s Basilica you need to have both your shoulders and knees covered.
I saw a number of people cover themselves to get through security checks and then take off their extra layers once they had passed through. I found this very disrespectful. This is a religious place and they have asked you to adhere to certain rules, please be sure that you can adhere to these rules of you are going to visit.
St. Peter’s Basilica
St. Peter’s is one of the most renowned works of Renaissance architecture and is one of the largest churches in the world. The entire interior of St. Peter’s is decorated lavishly with marble, reliefs, and sculptures.
Visitors are able to ascend to the base of the dome to get a good view of the mosaics that decorate the dome. If you take the stairs there are 551 steps. If you take the elevator and then finish with the stairs there are 320 steps.
Vatican Museum
The Vatican Museum holds a large collection of artifacts that have been acquired by Popes through time. The artifacts are works of art, sculptures, and other art mediums.
The Vatican museum is one of the largest and most visited museums in the world. People go to see the Sistine Chapel which was famously painted by Michaelangelo and is the last room that guests visit.
Tickets can be bought every day, but for people looking for a deal, the museum is free on the last Sunday of the month.
End of the Day
After visiting the museums we headed back to the area where we could catch the hop-on-hop-off bus. We took the bus back to the area near our hotel and decided to find a place to have dinner.
There was a restaurant near our hotel that was quite busy, being down a side street. We took this to mean that the food was good and stopped there for dinner. I had a nice pasta dish and mom was able to find something on the menu to eat with her limited palate.
After dinner, we returned to the hotel to pack and get ready to head out early and catch out flight to Dubrovnik.
