From Venice to Rome (4/4)

Rome. January

Considering that it isa longer journey, the flixbus was coming from further away and it was possible not to find places next to each other, we make an extravagance and reserve 2 places upstairs in front, with 3 euros each. We had the scenery with the villas in Tuscany all the way.

We arrive at our accommodation and then start from Piazza del Popolo and Terrazza del Pincio. The view is magnificent, it is a place from where you can see Rome from above, in all its splendor. It’s about an hour before sunset and we decide to walk around the park until then. It is full of lakes, fountains, statues of personalities, strange trees (which became my favorites), ducks and geese. When we return to the terrace the light is amazing, a gentleman sings and makes good atmosphere and besides what caught our attention is a man who made soap bubbles. All of it creates an incredible feeling that I didn’t expect.

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We descend to the Spanish Stairs, another objective on our list to be checked. There are a lot of people. As we climb, we find Mrs. Gloria that approaches us, asking us to sign for her campaign against drug use. Although we are skeptical, we tell her we would help her anyway … we start to fill in the paper and see that it also implies a donation. If we started, we agree to continue even if we both realise that we got screwed. We agree to donate one euro each so we can go. That is until Mrs. Gloria shows us her daily target of 40 € and tells us that she thought we would give 10 € each. We lose every bit of enthusiasm and trying to escape the situation, we tell her that we only have money on cards (it was not really a lie). The lady calls her colleague who comes with a POS. We are shocked. We give up completely without paying and the one thing we want to escape this situation. We go towards the castle and bridge of Saint Angelo. The castle is so beautiful and we begin to cross the bridge when suddenly the traffic stopped and we get in the middle of a movie or video, that remains a mystery.

We buy some ice cream because not a day has passes that we missed the chance of eating gelato.

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The next day we leave for Vatican. I bought tickets online for 21 € to avoid the queue. At this time the line is not that big so tickets can be bought directly from the museum for € 17.

The interior is impressive. So many paintings and sculptures. The route through the museum finally ends with the Sistine Chapel. Not long ago I saw the movie “Two popes” that I liked and I immediately recognized the room that appeared in the movie. Lots of people inside and the best known works of art. After leaving the chapel we realize that we had not seen the famous Michelangelo’s painting that was on all the postcards and magnets from the souvenir shops. Adam’s creation. We then realized that it had been in the chapel in the middle of the ceiling, but the multitude of paintings was so overwhelming that we missed it on the moment. Anyway it had appeared in the pictures we took.

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Near the museum, “Sphere in the sphere” the sculpture that appears in the movies Inferno.

Pantheon – another impressive building that makes you feel tiny compared to the columns at the entrance.

By far, Fontana di Trevi exceedes our expectations regarding its size. I had seen it in pictures, but never thought it was this big. But the crowd I heard about was very real.

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Piazza Venetia and Altar of the Fatherland are other great attractions worth visiting. The last offers you a pretty beautiful view of the city, from above, although, if you want to get up on the roof with the elevator, it will cost you 10 euros.

It is already beginning to get dark and I realize that we have wasted quite a lot of time in each place. We go to the Colosseum with the promise of returning tomorrow during the day.

Another disadvantage of the traveling in January: at 5pm it is dark outside. On the other hand the weather is very good for this period and the crowds are not as big as in the summer months.

There are many seagulls waiting to be admired.

There are so many flavors of gelato that you can’t even imagine how it came to some of them.

In the morning we pack, eat and I drink my coffee. We want to explore the Colosseum area on daylight. A very useful thing is that although we had to check out at 10am, we were able to leave our luggage at the airbnb until the evening when our plane was scheduled. It’s a huge difference to walk around all day without a heavy backpack.

Behind the Fatherland Altar we found Lupa (wolf) with Romulus and Remus .. much smaller than we expected. From there are some paths that go up the hills from where you can see the whole area of the Colosseum, with different ruins, columns, and foundations. Here we find Trajan’s Column. The Colosseum is exactly what you would expect after seeing all the pictures. We only explored it from the outside, but for me it was not the most impressive building in Rome.

We go to see what we have read to be the only pyramid in Europe. It’s at a street corner and next to it we find a small restaurant of some Italian family where we sat down to eat lunch.

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At the end of the trip we agree to tick the Adventine Keyhole off our list. It is said that you can see St. Peter’s Basilica through the keyhole of the Maltese Embassy, ​​which is practically Maltese territory, and around the basilica the panorama of Rome. So 3 countries in one picture. Everything looks beautiful and exactly as in the description, but when to take a picture .. surprise .. the basilica is not appearing. It was too much light and the phone didn’t focus well. We are a little disappointed. We want to leave buuut we see through a fence an amazing view of the Vatican basilica. And so much more. The whole panorama. I discovered the Orange Park and it looks great. We leave satisfied afterwards.

** McDonald’s has free bathrooms, so if you need to use the toilet more often than coffee/meal breaks it may be a good choice.

We also make the stock of magnets, postcards and little bottles of alcohol and then we leave for the airport. On the road we are almost hit by a car and this reminds me that I forgot to mention the chaotic traffic in Italy. The cars do not stop at all at crosswalks.

The dutyfree from the airport is small, but has acceptable prices. Small limoncello with glass 4.9 euro, biscuits 4 €, cappuccino 1.6 €.

A little tired and slightly nostalgic that our adventure ends here and we have to return to adult life with responsibilities we board the plane. However, we realize that it is only Friday and we still have the whole weekend ahead until we return to work.