Travelogue: All Roads Lead to Rome
12:58 AM
Ah-ha so this travelogue comes in 2 months late but as I always like to put it across... BETTER LATE THAN NEVER!!!
I'm still very determined to share my travelogues so as to not waste the photos I took, and also better to serve as a good recollection of memories years down the road. I know I dayre-d this trip quite regularly, but it's still a different feeling altogether to sit down and consolidate your trip into one single post that is better organized and can potentially be informational to you guys reading this in the near future!
It was my first trip to Europe and of course I was freakin' excited. My first long haul flight and first time traveling halfway across the globe! SO! EXCITING!! LOL I was pretty lucky because I managed to grab round trip flight tickets on Lufthansa Airlines for $780 (SG to Frankfurt to Rome) !!! It's a steal, I must say. (Traveling during off peak season helps!)
That said, Frankfurt airport is really very, very efficient as compared to Rome's.
We spent about 4 days in Rome and the other 5/6 days in other parts South Italy but I shall just focus this post on the capital of Italy itself.
HELLO, ROMA!
For our first 3 nights, we stayed put at a hotel situated 30min away from the city centre. It wasn't the most convenient location, but there is direct transport to the city so all was fine for us.
The architecture of Rome is seriously breathtaking and they are all super majestic :O I legit did feel like a 井底之蛙 seeing the world for the first time... Here are some of the places we visited for the 3 days we were there!
Being a tourist hotspot, there are just so many "must-go" attractions and luckily they were all quite near each other!
1. Spanish Steps
Wait, what steps? I only see humans? T.T
2. Trevi Fountain (Fontana di Trevi)
Sometimes, at very touristy places, you really can't expect to see much. Just look at those crowds of people... LOL we were squeezed all the way at the back but managed to find a pretty decent spot to snap a photo. Like, I'm only gonna be here maybe once this life, so let me just do ma touristy thang~
Crowd aside, idk I feel like I'm super blown away by how majestic all these building and structures are! Like how did the people in the past even build them??? It's a very mystical feeling because it makes you feel so, so small in this world. That there are literally things larger than life right here.
3. Pantheon
Do you see what I mean by majestic???
Inside the Pantheon
4. Colosseum
One of the 7 wonders of the world, the Colosseum is kinda a must visit if you're in Rome. We bought our tickets outside the Palatine Hill for 12 Euros, and it gives us entry into both Palatine Hill and Colosseum. The queue to enter the Colosseum is without a need to say, congested but it moves quickly and not rowdy at all!
We walked from Palatine Hill over to Colosseum, and so we basked in its exterior beauty (which is free of charge, haha) before entering Colosseum itself!
The inside of Colosseum
The Colosseum at night
Lucky (or not) for us, we were there over the Easter weekend AND we had to squeeze with sooooo many people but we also got to celebrate Easter at the Colosseum and saw the Pope there! We were just there to soak in the festivities since we're most likely to never get to experience this anywhere else!
5. Palatine Hill
Tbh, there's nothing much to do at Palatine Hill except to take a nice stroll around the area and enjoy the nice scenery!
6. Roman Forum
Visiting 4,5 and 6 together for a half day trip is enough to make you feel like you're not living in 2017 but in ancient Roman times. If you're someone who love to sightsee, be on your foot and check out landmarks and landscapes, you'll definitely fall in love with these places!
7. Vatican City
Well, we actually visited Vatican City not once but twice because the first time we went, it was Easter Day itself but the Basilica was closed!!! It was such a disappointment because we made sure to check all websites to make sure it was opened + we felt it'd be rlly special to be at Vatican City on Easter itself. Well, all of us, including tour groups made a wasted trip then.
But we didn't give up and still went back on our last day in Rome!
A picture speaks a thousand words, and no words can even describe how beautiful St Peter's Basilica is...
By the way, you literally have to queue half of the country just to get into the church HAHAHA but the queue moves super quickly! I think we queued about 15 min? It's free entry unless you're heading up the dome. If you're without a tour, I think an audio guide is available for 5euros or something. But we went ahead without, and read off the boards and also eavesdrop into English tour groups... :P
Our favourite coffee place this whole trip -- Cafe Tazza D'Oro. This is located just around the corner from Pantheon, with a good cuppa served to you at just 1.10Euro!!! It seems like there is always a long queue (we went twice) but the queue moves relatively fast :)
BEST LASAGNA EVER AT 9EUROS.
I highly recommend everyone to go..!!! Almost everyone went there just to eat their lasagna :O This place is called Cantina & Cucina!
Just 1 of the 10000000 gelatos we had this trip LOL. I mean, if you're in Italy and you don't eat Gelato, are you really in Italy?!?!
Something a little more interesting, we had these chocolate shots at 3euros a shot! This is a quick pop of booze, pree sure you're in and out of this small little haunt in under 5 minutes hehe
Please don't judge a book by its cover, this Risotto di Scampi was THE BEST we had this entire trip and we didn't even know or plan on coming here. Most days we just idle and walk and roam around Rome (whew) until we find somewhere we think we like and we head in. This was 10 Euros, and I'm sorry I neither have the name and location of this place but this is in one of the main shopping/dining alleys near Piazza del Popolo, which is near Villa Borghese.
That's about all the main places we went in Rome, plus the many other food we ate, and coffee we drank! We spent the rest of our trip in Southern Italy, which is even more breathtaking, less touristy and definitely the best part of our trip :')
Till the next post!
Love,
Xin Lin
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