Ciáo Roma

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July 25th 2006

Published: August 20th 2006

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Kez Dave

Sunset......

So we said goodbye to our lovely hosts in Holland, Leonie and Sam, and headed off for the boiling hot temperatures and long queues of Rome.
We arrived safely and headed for our hostel. We arrived at the address but it looked like a deserted building, and we thought 'ah shit we have been ripped off'. We asked around and all we had to do was press the buzzer for the hostel, derrr!!! But still it turned out that we had to stay at another hostel around the corner because there was a Gas leak in the one we were meant to stay at, eek!! So Ciáo Roma it was for us.
We immediately started the sightseeing as we only had 3 days to see Rome. So we put on our walking shoes and headed for some food and our first stop, The Spanish Steps. There is so much to see around the whole city and its all quite close together so we saw lots on our first afternoon. That afternoon we saw The Spanish Steps, ate Gelati at Trevi Fountain, The Pantheon, Various Piazza's and Plaza's, some extremely old ruins and the Colosseum. It was dark before we knew it

Colosseum

and we had been walking around for 5 hours, that would explain the hunger pains. So when in Rome........we splurged and ate out and had a lovely meal that consisted of the usual, Pizza and Pasta!!!! Not as expensive as we thought, just like most of Europe. We then walked back to our hostel and crashed for the night to prepare for the next day of more sightseeing in 40 degree weather, yipee!!!

The next morning involved more walking. We headed out early expecting big queues but we were pleasantly surprised as we cruised through everywhere. That day we saw the inside of the 2000+ year old Colosseum, the Baths of Carcalla (some over the top in size baths that are just as old as the Colosseum), the catacombs (where they used to bury people) and the Roman Forum, some more very old buildings. Everywhere you walk in Rome you are constantly amazed at what you are looking at, It is all so old and awesome and HUGE.

The next day we were off to see the Pope at the Vatican. We werent so lucky that day as the crowds were there before us, doh. We realised that

Us on Top of St Peters Basilica

later is better in this case as all the tour groups come early and when we came out a few hours later, no line.
So we saw the Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo's works of art in the Vatican Museum. We then moved on to St Peters Square, massive, and then into the Basillica, massive too. I am not a religious person but these churches in Italy are amazing. We then decided to go to the top of the Church to the Cupola as they call it. We were tight arses and decided to take the 551 stairs to the top, even though it was 35+ degrees, because it was 3 euros less. So we got the best view of Rome and a lovely breeze from the top of the Vatican and snapped a few photo's before the much faster walk down the stairs. By this time we had spent 6 hours in the Vatican City and were absolutely zapped of energy, and besides the Pope was not home anyways. So we headed back to the hostel for a nap and then dinner.
That was our time in Roma and we were then off to Florence for the next day............... I