Day 8: All Roads Lead to Rome

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Day 8: Wednesday, 26th October 2011

This morning, we bade goodbye to lovely Florence as well as to our friendly B&B owner, Casa before continuing our journey south to Rome, the capital of Italy. Even before stepping foot into the city, Casa had warned us to be extra mindful of our surroundings when taking the Metro as she herself, had been pickpocketed on several occasions when she wasn't on her guard.

Arriving at the sprawling Roma Termini Station that afternoon, it took us quite a while to find our bearings, to get to our prebooked accomodation at the Chinatown area. Without a doubt, our hotel room was clean, comfortable and functionable. Personally, however, this was a mediocre experience (no offence though) compared to the atmospheric B&B we stayed the night before.

It was strangely warm in Rome when we decided for once, we could finally leave our warmers in our hotel room. Our first experience with the Metro brought us to Spagna Station where the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain were situated. Later that afternoon, we relied on the same Metro system to bring us to the mighty Colosseum where 3 of us stayed on until the skies turned dark.

I wouldn't associate Rome's Metro system to be super user friendly given its confusing signages and the dark, dingy walkways which made travelling a harrowing experience. It did however brought us across the city centre quickly with its frequent service and low cost. A trip on the Metro costs a fixed tariff of 1 Euro regardless of how many stops we travelled on the network.

This was one of the best bargains to be had in expensive Europe. And we were glad that our wallets escaped unscathed from the many active syndicates ever present in the Metro.

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