One of the oldest items on my bucket list is to eat my way through Italy. I am very much looking forward to ticking it off one day, but for now I have at least been to the country! I booked my tickets about a month in advance and had next to no time to plan or research what to do there beforehand, but I think I still managed to knock off a fair chunk of the must-dos and must-sees.
Germany had a long weekend last week to celebrate the Reformation - so to celebrate Germanies break from the Catholic Church, when Martin Luther claimed the Pope to be the antichrist, I thought a trip to Rome and the Vatican might be a nice idea!
I picked up a jetstar flight there and a Germanwings return flight, costing me about 100€ all up. I arrived at 11pm at Fiumicino and caught a bus to Termini. I had booked into a four room dorm at Alessandro's Palace. I arrived just before midnight and pretty much jumped straight into my squeaky top-bunk bed.
Bright and early on Friday morning I stepped out into the streets of Rome and made my way over to the Vatican. Having had no time to research for this trip I decided at the last minute to book onto a few sight seeing tours so that I could learn it all while I was there. I had breakfast at a touristy cafe and used their free wifi while I waited four my first tour of the day. I had booked into a tour that starts an hour before the Vatican is open to the public. There are several tour companies that do this, my group was a small group of three - plus our tour guide. One of the other members of my group was one of those inappropriate-gaspers that would gasp at almost every piece of information that came out of the tour guides mouth.
The Vatican is pretty bloody impressive! Though it also reeks of double standards, after my trip to Wittenberg earlier this year, learning about Martin Luther and the protestant reformation, I found myself pre-sensitised to the insanity of a community that takes vows of poverty with a leader who has a summer palace. I know this has been covered extensively by others before me so I won't go on, but this was at the forefront of my mind as I wandered through the Vatican museum, St. Peter's Cathedral, and the Sistine chapel. The Sistine chapel is of course interesting, the thought of how long it must have taken is rather awe inspiring, but it's not so interesting to me as it is really just a big comic strip of stories from the bible. It is masterfully well done, and I can totally appreciate the talent and patience required, it just didn't capture me. I am really glad I went though, I realise I am sounding rather underwhelmed but the visit through the Vatican really inspired me to dip a little deeper into the history of the papacy, because I don't really know all that much about it, and though all of the stories of corruption in the church are a bit sexier and easier to sell, there really is a lot more history there.
Then there was, of course, the Colosseum. I did one of the extended tours down to the underground and up to the third tier. It was interesting to see the underbelly of the Colosseum, where all of the gladiators would have been, where they kept the animals. It made it easier to understand the mechanics of the "elevators" and trap doors the Gladiators and animals would pop up out of at random locations around the arena. The top tier of the Colosseum was the figurative (and literal) high point of this for me though. The view of both the Colosseum itself and of Rome from this height was breathtaking. I'm glad I paid extra for it! We also wandered through the Roman Forum and saw where Julius Caesar was cremated.
Then I popped into a restaurant for a delicious lunch - the half garlic cloves in the penne puttanesca changed my life!
The Spanish steps are only called the Spanish steps by tourists and tour guides apparently - the locals call them the steps of the Trinita Monti, named for the church at the top of the steps. There are several touts trying to sell selfie sticks and laser pointers sand various other random wares. At the top of the steps is a handful of artists painting and selling, offering portraits and caricatures. It reminded me a bit of the artist's square behind Sacré Cœur, much smaller mind. I sat up at the top and soaked in the view, it was one of the moments I wished I had someone there to share it all with, but I told myself that there is something to be said for having a moment like that all to yourself.
After a delicious gelato at the top of the stairs I met up with the next tour guide, he was showing me and a pair of American honeymooners around for the next few hours. Unfortunately the Trevi Fountain was undergoing a bit of a facelift, so it was covered in scaffolding. The scaffolding took us up closer to the fountain than you can normally get.
The Pantheon
We also saw the cat forum where there is now a cat rescue set up and you can see the cats hanging out amidst the Roman ruins. Then he suggested some places for dinner, I delved into the Jewish Quarter for some Jewish-style artichoke (droooool).
The next day I went on a tour of the catacombs, as well as the Basilica of San Clemente, and the museum and crypt of the Capuchin monks. We weren't allowed to take any photos but I seriously recommend googling the crypt of the Capuchin monks!
The catacombs tour was particularly chilling due to the fact that we were visiting on a holy-day, so some of the tombs had groups of monks chanting in them, and the echo of chanting monks followed us around the tunnels of the underground catacombs. So cool!
I also noticed the plaques in the pavement, like the ones we have here in Berlin, which have personal information about people who were taken during the holocaust.
Then out for some pizza for dinner! Mmmmmmmmmm! My waiter was overly flirty even after I explained that I was not available for a Roman Holiday fling, he gave me a free dessert.
My last morning I wandered through a farmers market before taking a quick trip through the Capitoline museum, let's start with an interesting snake wall mural:
My last afternoon I had a quick Gelato picnic sitting on some ancient Roman ruins.
Rome was beautiful! I am so glad I went. I hope to go back with my Love to drive around Italy, we will probably stop into Rome together, as there were a few things I missed this time! The Borghese Gallery is on my list!
