Final stop: Roma. It’s hard to compare the four cities, but I think Rome might have been my favorite. I heard horrible things before I went so I was expecting the worst. Everyone said it was dirty, had way too many tourists and was really spread out. Well, it didn’t have any more tourists than any other place we had been. If anything, I thought it was cleaner than most of the other cities and we walked everywhere. It was definitely the most exhausting of the four cities because it is so rich with history. I think it’s safe to say we saw the best and most important things, but we could have seen more if we had more time. We tried to take the 10 am train from Florence to Rome, but it and the next two were full. We finally made it on the 11:10 train to arrive in Rome around 1pm.
In the train station we asked about tours in Rome and one sounded great. Then we heard the price: 37 euros. We decided to get to our hostel first and think about it. We made a great choice to skip it because when we checked in the guy at the front desk informed us of Rome Free Walking Tours (which I highly recommend). Yes, free, aka any college student’s favorite word. There were three tours: one to the City Center, one to the Colosseum and one to Vatican City. We already bought tickets through the Vatican Museum to see it, but we took advantage of the other two.
Our free City Center tour was at 4pm that afternoon. We started at the Spanish Steps. Our first tour guide said there were 120 steps, our second tour guide said 135, and Shannon counted and said 132, but Wikipedia says 138. So who knows. Either way, it was a nice area; we sat and enjoyed our gelato on them one day. Our tour took off from there to a small church where Italian sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s angels were. Our guide also pointed out Bernini’s past residence directly across from the church. Next, we went to the Trevi Fountain, probably the most crowded with tourists, but it’s easy to see why. It is the most famous and arguably the most beautiful fountain in Rome. I’m glad we were on a tour because our guide was able to tell us about each of the features of the fountain so we actually knew what we were looking at. She also told us the superstitions behind it: toss one coin and you’ll return to Rome. Toss two and you’ll get married. Toss three and you’ll get divorced. Well it was really crowded and I only had 1 euro coins, so I didn’t toss any…
Next on our tour was the Pantheon. I kept calling it the Parthenon, but quickly learned that is in Greece 🙂 The Pantheon is the worlds largest unreinforced concrete dome. Painter Raphael’s tomb, among other famous people and kings, is inside. It was built as a temple to the gods in Ancient Rome. When we arrived on our tour it was closed for a private mass, but we peeked in. It was interesting to see it without being full of tourists. We returned after the tour to view the inside and see the tombs. Another beautiful Roman building…
Next stop was Piazza di Pietra, which was ruins of temple. It was my least favorite stop, but still interesting I suppose, considering it was built in 145 AD. The 15 columns that remained are now apart of building used for business.
The final stop on our tour was Piazza Navona. The square is centered around the Fountain of Four Rivers and has the church of Sant’Agnese in Agone as its main attraction. Again, I’m glad we had a guide to explain each. The Fountain of Four Rivers was unfortunately under-construction, but we could still see its’ four figures, each representing a river of each of the four continents (Australia had not yet been discovered and Europeans count North and South America as one). The square also marks the place 12-year-old Sant Agnes refused to marry a pagan and was martyred. A figure of her is at the top of the church. The piazza was a great atmosphere with restaurants surrounding artists selling their drawings. We went back the next day to enjoy our gelato.
After the tour we went to Piazza de Popolo at sunset. It was beautiful and we could see most of the city of Rome at night. Then after an exhausting day in the sun–our warmest day yet (I wore flip flops and short sleeves) we returned to the hostel for an early night in.
We spent the next day in Vatican City and it was the point in the trip where my exhaustion truly set in. I tried to have coffee at our hostel “breakfast”, but it tasted weird and burnt. I say “breakfast” because it was yogurt, corn flakes and really thin bread. But hey it saved us 5 euros! Our tour wasn’t until 12:30 but we left the hostel at 9am to explore and because we weren’t exactly sure where to go. It was a pretty long walk from out hostel; we crossed the Tiber River, then walked passed Sant Angelo Castle and eventually made it to Vatican City. I knew Vatican City was separate from Rome, but I was surprised to learn that people who live there even have different passports. We took photos and spent a little time soaking up the sun in St. Peter’s Square admiring the beautiful basilica.
When it was time for our tour, we were pleased to find that we got to skip the line because we paid in advance once again. The tour took us through the Vatican Museum where we admired lots of art, saw the rooms of Raphael, various tapestries, and sculptures. Two hours later we arrived at the Sistine Chapel. It was beautiful. Sooo much to look at! (We couldn’t take pictures inside, but I did get a postcard). It was really overwhelming, so I’m glad we had a tour guide to explain some of it. After the tour we planned to wait in the insanely long line to see St. Peter’s Basilia….but it was closed to prepare for that evenings Easter Vigil. BUT we had just found out that we had tickets to the Vigil the next night! We were shocked. Shannon had e-mailed to try to reserve tickets, but hadn’t heard back, so we assumed we didn’t get tickets, but when we check at the ticket office, sure enough 3 tickets were waiting for us!
But before it was time to see the Pope, we took our second free walking tour, this time of the Roman Forum and Colosseum. This was one of my favorite parts of Rome. Our guide for this tour was much less informative, but it beat being one of the tourists staring at a map, looking for signs…
We again started at the Spanish Steps, then we walked through the most expensive street in Rome, where we saw a Jimmy Choo store. We all wanted to try on shoes so badly (despite not being able to afford them) that we almost left the tour. This tour seemed to be walking at a snail’s pace. We probably could have seen everything in 30 minutes had our guide picked up the pace. After what seemed like hours of painstakingly slow walking, we arrived in Piazza Venezia, the heart of Rome. In the square is Palazzo Venezia, where Mussolini used to address the people of Rome. Next to that is a beautiful monument called II Vittoriano. However, once we learned it was built in 1911, it seemed less impressive considering its proximity to the Roman Forum, built in the first century.
After, our guide took us to a great spot that overlooked the forum. There he told us some of its history, but I was a bit distracted looking at all of the ruins. Next, we walked to final destination: the Colosseum. It was really impressive, I loved it. The line to go inside was really long, and it was 12 euros. We didn’t go in because we didn’t want to miss our date with the Pope! I’ve heard from others that it is okay to miss, the outside is impressive enough.
We went home to shower and get ready for Easter Vigil with the Pope. The service started at 9pm,but the doors open at 7:30, and the line started hours before. By the time we arrived at 6:30 the line wrapped almost all the way around St. Peter’s Square. While waiting in line we grabbed dinner (a pizza sandwich) from a snack stand and took lots of pictures as the sun set. It was beautiful at night. When the doors opened, it was craziness. Once passed security, nuns, priests and normal citizens alike sprinted toward the basilica. It was hilarious. There were tons of chairs set up outside, so we were worried about getting inside to watch. Luckily, everyone in line made it inside; the chairs must have been for the Easter morning service. The inside of St. Peter’s Basilica was absolutely gorgeous. I liked it much more than the Sistine Chapel. I wish I could have had more time to wander through it, but hey we were in for free…and with the Pope! When we sat, our chairs had a candle and an 87-page program. There was one page in English. The majority of the service was in Latin, with one reading in English, Spanish, German, Italian and a few other languages. The singing in Latin was beautiful, despite my lack of understanding.
We thought the service might last an hour or two….well we were wrong. Two and half hours later, we were 52 pages through the 87 page program. We just couldn’t do it anymore. Let me remind you this was day 9 of an intense sight seeing trip where we woke up early and stayed up late…in hostels. Still, I am so glad we were able to attend. I mean, how many people can say they attended Easter Vigil with the Pope in Vatican City??? What a once in a lifetime experience.
The following day, it was time for the long journey home. We caught the three hour train back to Milan at 10:15, then took the hour bus to Bergamo airport. Then the hour long flight to Girona and the final hour long bus ride to Barcelona. We finally reached our room around 7:30pm. What a day. (It was much cheaper to fly in and out of Milan than Rome)
Italy was such an amazing experience and I have great memories with awesome friends that I will never forget. Now….to lose that gelato, pizza and pasta weight…
For a slideshow of my Rome pictures, click here! 🙂
Mackenzie en España 