It terms of lines, crowds, and waiting times, Rome was the worst. The city was completely overrun with tourists. In fact, I think there were more tourists than Romans. However, despite this setback, we were able to see everything we planned for.
The first day we visited Trevi Fountain. Legend has it that if you throw a coin in over your shoulder, you’re guaranteed to return to Rome. So of course we fought our way to the front of the crowd, and threw in a coin. I really enjoyed the fountain, it was massive, and I liked the way it drowned out the sounds of the city.
Next we headed to the Pantheon, the ancient Pagan temple. It’s amazing that it was built so long ago, and that it’s in such good condition. This is also the place where the artist Raphael is buried, so we visited his tomb as well.
Afterwards we visited a couple of piazzas that our guidebook suggested. The first was filled with artists selling their paintings. Here I ate some gelato while admiring the images of many famous Roman sites. The next piazza was a farmers market where everything from apples to wine to fresh meat was sold. Unfortunately it was totally overpriced and I wasn’t able to buy a watermelon.
After leaving the market we walked along the Tibur river towards the Spanish steps. Surprisingly, the river was really gross, but the walk was nice. After climbing the steps we headed to our hostel for the night.
The next day we visited the colosseum. However, it wasn’t as easy as it sounds. We didn’t have any cash because we couldn’t find an ATM. We decided to walk around in search of money.
Along the way we decided to stop for lunch. We ordered some pizza at what seemed to be a nice enough restaurant. Unfortunately, the wait staff was very rude (they screwed up our order and took about 20 minutes to bring us our check) and the pizza ended up making both of us sick. To make matters worse we still hadn’t found an ATM.
We decided to go back to the colosseum. I thought that with an entrance fee of 12 euros they would surely accept cards. I was wrong.
We were directed to an ATM that was supposedly located just across the street. It was not an ATM but a Money Exchange. The money exchange not only offered a bad exchange rate but also an additional 10 euro fee. We decided that it was a total rip off, so we continued to look for an ATM. After walking a couple of blocks we finally found one! Unfortunately when we turned around to leave, with our newly acquired cash, we were followed by a beggar. We took asylum in a store, only to find him waiting for us upon our departure. We went into the next store, and waited for about 5 minutes, finally he turned around and walked the other way.
We headed back to the Colosseum one more time. After waiting in line, we were finally inside. We looked around and afterwards headed to the Roman Forum. The ruins were cool, but I was totally exhausted from our ATM search, and it was super hot outside, so we didn’t spend too much time exploring.
We headed back to our hostel pretty early, and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. Our hostel in Rome was pretty unconventional. It was half campsite half hostel. We had our own little cabin, which was pretty nice, besides the lack of air conditioning. The campsite had its own restaurant, grocery store, and pool. Overall it was pretty good, except for the long commute to the city (and the slow internet.)
The next day we went on the tour that Nana and Papa gave me for Christmas. I thought it was a tour of the Vatican, so I was surprised when they told us we would be visiting a series of churches. We visited St. Mary Major, St. John the Evangelist (and the Holy steps, the steps Jesus supposedly climbed to his death), St. Paul, and finally St. Peter’s Basilica. I’m glad we were able to see these churches; they were all on my list for the next day’s itinerary. My favorite was St. John the Evangelist, it’s a nice mixture of gothic and renaissance design. St. Paul was also cool because it has a beautiful courtyard outside the entrance, and the inside has a portrait of every pope from St. Peter to the current Pope Benedict.
On our forth and final day in Rome we returned to Vatican city, and visited the Vatican Museum. Luckily the line didn’t take more than 20 minutes, but the wait was pretty awful. Lots of people were trying to shove their way to the front, which is incredibly annoying. Oh well, we made it in eventually.
The inside of the museum was very crowded, and we were kind of herded through like cattle. We ended in the Sistine Chapel, where people were packed in like sardines. Hopefully I can go back someday, maybe in the winter, and it will be less crowded.
Rome was a fun city, and I hope I can go back someday, with better conditions.
We’re on our way to Venice. I’m hoping it will be cooler and less crowded, but I’m not counting on it.
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