Roma - The Eternal City

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We arrive in Rome on a sunny January afternoon. Got to our hotel, just north of Vatican City before having a rest (3:30am start!) and heading to the Eternal City for some much needed culture and quattro formaggi.

We stayed at Park dei Massimi which is located on one of Romes 7 hills behind Vatican City. We made the mistake after arriving of walking down said hill to the Vatican - probably not the best idea after getting up at 3:30am and traveling from London! Luckily the hotel offered a free shuttle service up and down the hill which we used for the rest of our stay, along with public transport.

Vatican City/St Peter's Basilica and St Peter's Square - we spent quite a lot of time in the square just people watching

Vatican Museums

The Necropolis at Vatican City

Sistine Chapel

Colosseum

Trevi Fountain

Pantheon

Pope Benedict

The Palatine

Luckily, we had amazing weather when we were there apart from on our last day when it rained, but being English that didn't bother us too much.

Our top 3 favourite things to do in Rome were the Vatican Museums, The Necropolis (underneath St Peter's) and the Colosseum.

We had to buy tickets in advance for the tour of the Necropolis underneath Vatican City from the Vatican website as you have to pre-book weeks in advance. This was a must! It is the sight of the first Basilica and very eerie to walk along 'the street of the dead' which has only recently been discovered. Plus, what they believe to be St Peter's bones are buried under here so if you are at all religious it is a rather moving sight.

Our visit to the Colosseum was a bit disappointing, the Colosseum itself is amazing but unfortunately every tourist in Rome wants to visit so it is packed! We visited in January, which isn't peak season but there were still long queues to get in and it was very busy inside which took away from the overall experience.

Rome wasn't as beautiful as some of the other places we have visited in Italy (mainly Venice and Lake Garda), but is definitely a must see city.

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