Matt and I visited Rome last week which was interesting. I’d always wanted to go and experience the Colosseum and walk through Vatican City, so for me, Rome was a big deal!
I’ll stop rambling and instead, tell you what we did (and hopefully give you some ideas if you’re thinking about going 😊):
Day one:
Collosseum
We started the morning bright and early to get to the Colosseum for 9am. We had pre-booked our tickets to skip the line (and I’d totally recommend doing this as the line gets longer and longer throughout the day).
The Colosseum didn’t disappoint. The size is impressive, with an average audience of 65,000 who visited to witness gladiatorial contests, re-enactments of famous battles and dramas based on classical mythology.
It was just as spectacular in the dark too!
Palatine Hill and Roman Forum
Just opposite the Colosseum is the Palatine Hill – one of the most ancient parts of Rome, looking over the Roman Forum. This was known as one of the most beautiful parts of Rome, with emperors and aristocratic making this place their home.
The Roman Forum used to be the buzz of the city. This large marketplace was where elections, public speeches, criminal trials and some gladiatorial matches took place. This was the heart of the city, and it’s were some of the earliest shrines and temples of the Roman Kingdom were found.
Now, this is a place of ruins – but it still blows you away and is a must-see when visiting this city:
After having a look around, I found that it was also great for getting some long distance shorts of the Colosseum:
AND…another thing that I kept going on and on…and on about to Matt were the trees. Honestly, they were incredible – they reminded me of something that you’d find in an African safari park or something. I know you probably don’t believe me, but these photos don’t do it justice!
Not only were these trees scattered around the city, they were sometimes joined by these lovely orange trees (obviously I had to stop and take photos of these – I did receive a few funny looks as there were probably a lot more interesting things I could have been photographing!).
Day two:
Vatican City
Vatican City is an independent state which is surrounded by a wall. It’s also home to the Pope, and is also known globally for its incredible architecture and art – which is clear to see as you walk through the Vatican Museum.
I cannot express how amazing this place is. I was blown away by the talent of those who built this place. The amount of detail that went into creating such a magical place is so impressive. It’s a once in a lifetime place to experience (but remember to pre-book tickets so you can skip the line which goes around the wall!). I have a ridiculous amount of photos but just picked a few to share with you guys…
On our way back from Vatican City, we also came across the Altar of the Fatherland. This place was huuuuuge, just look at how small everyone looks:
Aventine Hill
We walked up to visit Aventine Keyhole. You can look through a keyhole and you can see St. Peter’s Basilica. It sounds weird but it’s really cool. Because it’s such a tiny hole I couldn’t get a photo as my camera wouldn’t focus! But it was really cool and definitely worth the hilly walk.
Just before this we also came across a beautiful little park called Orange Garden. This place had magnificent trees, I thought they were beautiful!
At the end of this park was Aventine Hill, a place where you were able to look over the city. I loved this place, mostly because we stumbled across it by accident and it was a pleasant surprise!
Day three:
Trevi Fountain
Trevi Fountain is in the middle of three roads and is pretty big. It’s 26.3 metres high and 49.15 meters wide. It’s literally just at the end of three cobbled roads. Matt and I were walking down an ordinary street and we could hear some water and then we turned the corner and WOW. It was just there. And it was incredible.
Although this was by far the best fountain I came across, there were a few others scattered around Rome which were amazing.
Pantheon
The Pantheon is a former temple which is now a church. This place is really cool. The ceiling has a circle hole in it and when it’s sunny (luckily for us the weather was lush the whole week!) the light beams through the church.
Spanish Steps
The Spanish Steps were originally built to link the church above it with the square below. Just like Trevi Fountain and Pantheon, this place was packed full of tourists. It’s a pretty bit of the city to walk around as the streets around it are full of restaurants and coffee shops.
Day four:
Basilica Di Clemente
We visited Rome’s Basilica Di Clemente. This church has three floors to it. When you enter, you’re able to witness the stunning interior from a 12th century built church. Then when you walk down to the floor below, you experience a 4th century church containing some of Rome’s oldest Christian wall paintings. Then one floor down from that are the remains from a 3rd century pagan temple.
Unfortunately you’re not allowed to take photos, but the difference in architecture and design is obvious and it’s quite interesting to see how this evolved throughout the years. The experience would have been a little better if there was more explanation about the 3rd century church as there was no information available when walking through it.
Capuchin Crypt
This is a small space which contains lots of small chapels underneath a church. However there is a bit of a difference with this one as it contains roughly 3,700 bodies, yes BODIES, believed to be Capuchin friars, buried by their order.
Some of the bodies are shown as full skeletons, but a lot of the bones have been used to make decorative patterns on the walls and ceiling – well atleast, that’s the one way I can describe it! Some people may have been a bit creeped out by this. I did think it was a little weird but I also found it really interesting. I did take a few minutes to pay my respects. Again, you’re not allowed to take any photos – you can find loads online if you’re interested however I found this a bit disrespectful to the dead so I haven’t got any to show you!
Day five:
On our last day, there was a lot of mooching around and photo-taking of lots of random things!
Rome-ing around
I absolutely LOVED the buildings in Rome. I think Matt may have gotten slightly frustrated with me as every street we turned I was like “oh wait, I need to take a photo of this.” They’re all just so beautiful – take a look for yourself (I also included a couple of random photos which I wanted to share with you):
Street art
Since I went on a London street art tour last year, I’ve loved visiting other places and seeing the street art around those areas. We were staying on the outskirts of central Rome and did around 50 miles of walking altogether, so I managed to capture a few cool pieces of street art on my adventures:
Would I recommend Rome? Totally! Although I reckon you could do it all in three or four days. I would probably rate it around 7/8 out of 10. There’s two reasons for this:
1) Even a couple of streets away from the main square, the pavements are very dirty with lots of rubbish around them.
2) There is a huge amount of homeless people. I’m not put off because I think it’s gross. It’s just sad. So much money goes into Rome from tourism, so why can’t some of this money be used to help the homeless get back on their feet? I find it heartbreaking that there are so many people sleeping on the streets – and even worse, they have to sleep on streets full of rubbish!
But overall, I enjoyed my time there. The building were stunning. The cheese was delicious. The wine made me happy and the pizza was super tasty.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my blog. Please feel free to take a look at my other adventures by visiting my ‘travel’ page. 😊
J x
Single Asian Mama 
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