The city of Rome is simply ridiculous. You're walking along ordinary city streets and then on your left is some 2,000 year old ruin. You pass by some restaurants and oh by the way Caesar died right over there. You really feel that there are thousands of years of history in the ground beneath your feet. Archeological digs are scattered throughout the city as well, where they continue to discover new things.
Our first official "attraction" was to tour the remains of the Roman Forum, a large plaza that underwent too many architectural and role changes throughout history to describe in this blog. It's a large and beautiful area, with signs explaining what the ruins are and the plant life trying to get in between the cracks. The area also connects to the Palatino or Palace, which is another enormous area that really drives home the grandeur of Ancient Rome. We spent almost 3 hours wandering all the ruins and still didn't see everything, so I would definitely encourage future visitors to dedicate plenty of time for this area.
The next day was our first full day in Rome, and we started it off by touring the Colosseum. It looks just as cool on the inside as the outside, and there is even a museum built into the walls. The whole experience was pretty mind-blowing for me, and also struck me with a strong desire to watch the movie Gladiator. There really isn't much more to be said about this marvel of Ancient Rome, you kind of just have to see it for yourself.
Although we had originally planned our visit differently, we learned that due to some Catholic holiday (something to do with St. Peter?) the Vatican would be closed that Saturday, so we had to go today. Thus we got back on the metro and went to Vatican City, which is technically the 8th and final country of our Eurotrip. Our first stop was the Vatican Museums, where we learned that unfortunately due to the holiday, the Sistine Chapel was not available for viewing! Although disappointed, we entered the museum anyway and viewed its still impressive art collection. Everything was cool of course, but I must say that Rafael stole the show. There are two rooms in the Vatican that were entirely painted by him, including his famous "School of Athens" painted on one of the walls. Additionally, 3 marvelous paintings of his borrowed from inside St. Peter's basilica were on display.
There was much more to the museum of course but it's difficult to do it justice in a blog post (as with all the museums I've described). After finishing I went to the aforementioned St. Peter's Basilica in St. Peter's Square. The line to enter the church wrapped around the entire square, but moved fast so only took 25 minutes (Compared to the Galleria dell'Academia in Florence, I learned that lines can be deceiving). The church inside was filled with tons of chairs for the upcoming holiday, and several sections were closed off as well so unfortunately I wasn't able to climb the dome or see Michelangelo's "Pieta". I did, however, witness the mass that was going on at the time, in which I am pretty sure the Pope was participating. He was very far away so it was hard to tell for sure, but there was an old man in a white robe and hundreds of people trying to take pictures of him. Regardless, the basilica was still great to see on the inside and I was glad that it wasn't closed entirely.
After this I headed home, but tried to stop by several attractions along the way. I didn't actually tour or enter any (it was pretty late) but I was able to see Castel Sant'Angelo, Ponte Sant'Angelo bridge, and Piazza del Popolo. They were all pretty cool, but if you're visiting Rome I wouldn't bother with the last one.
The following day was the very last day of our trip. We began in Piazza Venezia where we saw the beautiful Vittoriano building. By climbing its stairs we were also able to get a pretty descent view of the surrounding city, and have our morning coffee along with it. From there we checked out the Campidoglio which wasn't that exciting, and made our way down to see Bocca Della Verita. I had never heard of it but pretty much it's a large circular statue of a bearded man's face with his mouth open. You're supposed to put your hand in and make a wish or something (I'm not really sure) and if you are a liar supposedly the statue will bite off your hand. At any rate, Rodrigo really wanted to see it and it made for a great photo opportunity so I'm glad we got to check it out.
From there we went to the Pantheon, where we encountered further disappointments due to whatever this Roman holiday was. It was closed and we weren't able to enter, which was very disappointing for me as it had been one of my top sights to see. We moved on to Piazza Navona which was very sunny and beautiful. The fountain was gorgeous and I enjoyed walking through the square and looking at all the art for sale, most of which was really very nice.
At this point we had pretty much run out of major sights to see due to the holiday. We decided to go on a pretty lengthy adventure to the south side of town, where we got a glimpse of some gritty local life rather than just touristy areas. We searched for and eventually found the Fontana del Giancolo, which was actually surprisingly beautiful. Additionally it lies on the top of a hill giving a view of the city from above, and made for a nice place to relax or a while.
After this we pretty much just killed some time at a bar, then caught a bus back to the hostel to begin packing for our flight to Israel. We bought the necessary train tickets, had a great Italian dinner, and went to bed early since we would be waking up at 4:30am to catch our flight to Tel Aviv.
Overall, my visit to Rome was honestly a bit disappointing because the Pantheon and the Sistine Chapel were two of the top attractions I wanted to see, along with the Colosseum. But I suppose it just means I'll have to find an excuse to come back one day.
And thus ends my European journey. It has been 33 days, 10 cities, and 7 countries (11 and 8, respectively, if you count Vatican City). Now I am off to Israel for what will probably be 16 days but may end up being extended for over a month; I am not sure yet. I won't be blogging anymore because in Israel I will be less of a tourist and more just visiting fiends and family. If you've been reading my blog throughout this whole trip, thank you very much for sticking with me! I hope you enjoyed the tales of my travels.
See you in California!
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