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Rome was our final destination on the tour, and what a great city to end it in! We had a long bus ride from Venice to get there, but as soon as we arrived we stretched our legs and did a walking tour with Mariangela. We saw the Piazza del Popolo, Piazza di Spagna and the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Panthenon, the baroque Piazza Navona and Bernini’s Fontana Dei Quattro Fiumi (fountain of 4 rivers).
It was a good walk and we learnt some interesting things but we could have spent more time at each site, especially the Trevi fountain and Spanish steps. At the foot of the Spanish Steps is the Barcaccia sinking boat fountain and apparently if you drink the water you will fall pregnant. I don’t know what the Romans put in their water, but I hope it’s not what I think it is! Of course at the Trevi Fountain we threw a coin over our shoulder into the fountain and made a wish. This also means we’ll be coming back to Rome one day! Someone on our tour saw someone throw in a 100 euro note! We hope their wish comes true! Apparently they
collect an average of 3000 euro per day which we hope goes to charity! It’s fabulous to see things like the Trevi Fountain which we’ve only seen in pictures before. It’s more beautiful in real life and Neptune, his tritans and seahorses almost look alive!
The Panthenon is a beautiful 2000 year old temple/church and holds Raphael’s tomb. Piazza Navona is a huge piazza where the Romans used to hold chariot races. Now it is filled with tourists, artists and pigeons! It was interesting to learn that on the fountain Bernini made, there’s a man facing the basilica with a look of disgust and shielding his face with his hand from the basilica designed by his rival... We however thought the basilica was beautiful!
The next morning we went on a guided tour of the Roman forum and the Colosseum. Both of these sights were fascinating however unfortunately our guide was a little annoying and we didn’t get to spend much time in the colosseum. Nevertheless, we learnt a lot about the forum and it brought back some vague memories from history at school. We might have to do some more reading up on this when we get
home as it was a bit hard to take in what the guide was saying. It was also cold and rainy! We saw where Julius Ceasar was cremated and where Marc Antony announced his death and where the 4 virgin lived. It’s amazing that modern day Rome is built on top of all of these ruins. They care much more for their history now than they did before! We also saw the Arco de Tito built in 1881 to celebrate the victories of battles in Jerusaleum. Next was the iconic Coloseum! This really blows you away, especially when you think about how many people/animals lost their life in the arena and that it was all for entertainment! We wish we had more time to see more of it, but we had to cut our visit short to rush off to St Peter’s square where the Pope was addressing the crowd. This made up for the quick visit to the Colosseum! We couldn’t get too close however it was pretty cool to see the Pope addressing big groups who had travelled a long way to see him.
Next was lunch then we headed into the Vatican Museum for another guided
tour. After listening to our guide for about 2 hours throughout the Vatican Museum a few of us chose to leave the guide behind as he was again very boring! He really didn’t read his audience well. Don’t get us wrong - the Vatican Museum was amazing but it was much more enjoyable to go at our own pace and enjoy the pieces without hearing EVERY detail about them! We were glad we ducked off as we got to spend more time in the Sistine Chapel which was truly breathtaking. Our necks are still recovering from gazing upwards! If you visit Rome and don’t see this place there’s something wrong with you! The pictures really don’t do it justice. Michelangelo was so gifted. It’s sad that he was nearly blind by the end of painting the chapel.
Next was St Peter’s Basilica, and to quote another of our tour guides (from Pompeii) “oh, my, godt” it is absolutely huge! We’ve seen a lot of cathedrals so far on our trip but this has to take the cake! We again only had a short time to visit as we then had to get back to the hotel to get ready
for the farewell dinner!
Dinner was lots of fun! We and our Contiki friends were serenaded by two opera singers and Richie helped out with a tamborine on a couple of songs and danced with an old lady on the way out! One of the dinner highlights was a performance by Kayla of the rap she’d written about our trip. It was hilarious and we can’t wait for the video to come out! We’re your biggest fans Kayla! We said some goodbyes after dinner and drinks. It was sad to say goodbye to our Contiki family, as we have grown so close with them over the 12 day tour! We hope to remain in contact with them on Lysh’s facebook page and our blog of course 😊
We had our final goodbyes with those we hadn’t left yet over breakfast. It was nice to have a leisurely breakfast and not be on a schedule! On our own once more we decided to head back towards the Colosseum to take a couple more photos, wandered past the Forum again and bumped into a couple of the Contiki crew for one last group hug! Next we walked across the city
to Castel Sant’Angelo and crossed the bridge of angels. After lunch we boarded our 4 and a half hour train to Florence (it was the cheapest option). Hopefully our coins landed in Trevi fountain safely, because we would definitely want to return to Rome again! Although we will note that it is definitely not the city with the best service or cleanliness it is definitely worth visiting for it’s unique sights! The trains and metro are much dirtier, smellier and crowded than anywhere else we’d been! Nevertheless it’s still a good way to get around!
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