When I was in Rome I chose a hostel close by the train station rather than a central location, so I wouldn’t have to walk a lot with my luggage. Because I didn’t mind wandering the city for all my sightseeing, that I want to talk about today.
Just do it as the Romans did
After I dropped off all my stuff at the hostel for checkin I went straight to the sightseeing part of my trip. As always I decided that walking would be the best form of transportation and I was especially right in Rome. While the distance might’ve not been so short, the old streets and buildings were worth. Almost every street corner had a little water fountain (where I filled up my waters). The first stop of the day was the world famous Trevi Fountain and to say it was crowded is probably an understatement. But its totally worth the visit as it looks just amazing.
Fun Fact: Did you know that the money people throw into the fountain for good lucks adds up to around 1,5 Million Euros each year and gets donated to a catholic charity that supports local homeless and poor people.
From here I made my way to the Colosseum as I had “Skip-The-Line”-Tickets reserved online prior to my trip, so that I could avoid waiting in the hot sun for hours. On my way there I passed the Piazza Venezia an impressive building with the Monument Vittoria Emanuele II infant of it and totally worth to stop by for some nice pictures.
Historical Fact: Mussolini was residing here and held a lot of his speeches on the balcony.
Walking past the Forum Romanum I finally got to the world famous Colloseum and it was even more impressive than I imagined. The size of it is just unreal, especially if you consider the time it was built in. The Audio Guide Tour was pretty cool and you can do it at your own pace, which is especially nice as a solotraveller, because you are not stuck with a tour group. I spent almost 2 hours at the colosseum before heading over to the Forum Romanum, which is included in the Colosseum ticket and shouldn’t be left out. The ruins and artifacts over there are super impressive as well and worth your time.
On my way back to the hostel I stoped by the Pantheon and got myself some authentic Italian gelato at Gellateria della Palma, a gelato place with over 150 different gelato flavors, which are made fresh everyday. Definitely worth your time (and hey vacation calories don’t count especially if they are from Italian gelato)
In the Vatican City for a day
During my breakfast in the hostel kitchen I asked around if anyone would like to join me at the Vatican for the day. My original plan was to (for once) take the the public transport, but the group that we gathered decided, that we would walk the entire way and stop along the way at the Trevi fountain and the Pantheon.
Once we got to the Vatican we were torn between getting in line for tickets the see the Sistine Chapel or the St.Peters Basilica first. Since the line was shorter for the chapel and I had a ticket for the chapel already, we decided to do that first. I even got in with the others despite it being prior to my chosen entry time.
The museum was really cool and a lot of information to be found about all the different parts and history of the Vatican City and where certain names are coming from. What kind of sucked was, that in the Sistine Chapel pictures are not allowed… I mean I understand their reasoning but its still kind of sad.
Part of our group didn’t visit the Chapel, so we met them at the basilica, where we had to wait in line for quite a while before getting in. The basilica is really beautiful and I love all the different historical types of architecture and sculptures and so on. We spent almost two hours in the basilica and bought some postcards at the end in the souvenir shop.
Fun Fact: There is a small post office right outside the basilica, if you drop your postcards off there, you get a special Vatican post stamp.
Important: Dont forget to cover your shoulders and knees as they are especially strict here and they don’t offer anything to cover up (not for free and not for charge).
We spent almost the entire day at the Vatican and although none of us are super religious we enjoyed our time there for sure. And when in Italy you have to eat gelato. So for today we went to the Giolitti, one of the best ice cream places in Rome and another one that you have to add to your list of places to visit.
All this walking. made us tired enough, so that we just headed back to the hostel for a group dinner and hung out together until late at night.
A morning in Rome well spent
On my last day I packed all my bags and stored them at the lockers at my hostel, before heading out with one of the guys I went to the Vatican with. The agenda for today was rather small and so we took our time.
We headed straight to the Spanish steps for some nice pictures and actually managed to get their before the big masses. We even climbed up all these stairs and it wasn’t easy. Once on top we wanted to go into that little church, but they wouldn’t let me in because my shoulders and knees weren’t covered…
On we went our way to the Terazza del Pincio, the perfect place if you want a view of the entire city of Rome. You can see everything you might desire. The colosseum, the Vatican just everything.
On our way back to the hostel we decided to walk across the Piazza Navona and to the Trevi Fountain one last time and here it was time for my last ice cream in Italy before heading home. But instead of getting authentic gelato I decided to go to the Magnum Pleasure Store, where you can create your own chocolate cover of a Magnum Ice Cream Bar, what a perfect way to end my vacation.
Kathi's Travel Adventure 