Rome, the Eternal City.
What can be said about Rome that hasn’t already been said a million times over?
So when given the opportunity to go to Italy, the first place I wanted to visit was Rome. As a life long history buff, it was important to me to visit this ancient city and capital of the Roman Empire.
Rome is a city stepped in its history, everywhere you look there is either an ancient monument, an art piece or a building centuries old that is still in use today.
So our adventure began at the Termini Train Station
I should probably point out that neither I or my girlfriend speak Italian but luckily her second language is Spanish which came in quite handy as many of the words are similar enough so that those we spoke with could make out what she was saying and direct us to where we needed to go.
We took a taxi to the hotel we where staying at while in Rome, the Rome Cavalieri.
(Couldn’t leave Rome without taking a selfie with my friend Julius)
The Rome Cavalieri is the definition of elegance with several pieces of fine art throughout the hotel.
The Cavalieri is absolutely gorgeous, with a view to die for:
After a nice breakfast in our room, we got dressed and headed out, the first stop…The Colosseum!
Walking around the Colosseum instantly brought thoughts of the film Gladiator as we walked past the gates the fighters would use to enter the arena. To think this was built without machines fills you with the wonders of human potential.
After taking in a bite to eat (you can’t come to Italy without eating pizza) we heading off to our next destination, The Vatican.
Here are a few things I learned about visiting the Vatican that I want to pass on to other travelers:
- The Vatican is big, please bring comfortable walking shoes
- The Vatican is both the base of the Catholic Church but also a very extensive museum.
- Tickets are needed to enter the museum portion of the Vatican, while groups are available, we found it better to go by ourselves and take our time.
- Flash photography is discouraged and in some area not allowed due to the age of the art and tapestry (that was what we were told, we didn’t test it). There was enough light coming into through the windows to allow me to use my mobile phone to take pictures. The photos used in this blog were all taken from an iPhone 6 Plus.
- Photos are not allowed in the Sistine Chapel. If you can find a way to be sneaky (i.e. using the selfie camera on your phone) you may be able to sneak a few shots.
It was beginning to get late so we said goodbye to the Vatican and headed off to find dinner (okay so we had pizza twice that day don’t judge me).
On our last day in Rome, we visited the Pantheon
It should go without saying that we will be coming back to Rome. The city is far to big with countless things to see that less than a week simply will not do. The city is spread out so a taxi will be necessary to get around but they are everywhere so you shouldn’t have a problem finding transportation. If you find yourself in Italy, please explore, enjoy, drink lots of wine and eat lots of pizza!
Cheers!
Jason Nelson 