I haven’t done one of these in a while because of the pandemic but as the world gradually gets back to normal it’s time for another adventure! I’ve been to Rome before with my family but I was 8 years old at the time so I don’t remember much of it. So I was happy to go again as an adult, this time with some friends (Sarah, Matthew and Glyn). So here’s what the four of us got up to on our weekend away in Italy’s capital city…..
Friday 26th August
As we stepped off the plane at Ciampino Airport we were embraced by the midday heat that had reached a whopping 32°. We then had to stand in that heat for about an hour while we waited for a taxi to come and take us to the Airbnb.
The Airbnb was a nice little flat with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a seating area and a small kitchen complete with a breakfast bar and bar stools. It was small but cosy and we were all happy to be staying there for the next few nights. After claiming our rooms and dumping our bags we headed straight back out into the heat in search of food and groceries. We had lunch at a local sandwich bar before picking up some food/snacks from a nearby supermarket. Then we went back to the flat to relax, drink tea and make plans for the evening.
We decided to do some evening sightseeing so we jumped onto the Metro and made our way into the city centre. A short ride on the train brought us to a station not far from the Colosseum so we got off and eagerly starting making our way to Rome’s most famous landmark. We weren’t walking for long before Glyn reminded us that we had originally planned to go to the Spanish Steps first before it got dark. We were so excited to see the Colosseum that we completely forgot about everything else we wanted to see!
So after turning around and getting back onto the Metro we soon found our way to the Spanish Steps. Sarah and I instantly activated ‘Tourist Mode’ and started taking photos before we all walked up the 138 steps. We made it to the top in time to see the sun setting over the city. As we were admiring the beautiful view a man came up to us and gave me and Sarah a rose each. We didn’t know what was going on so we just thanked him and walked on. He followed us and kept giving us more roses before asking for money. As this was our first night we hadn’t spent much yet so none of us had any spare change. We had to apologise and awkwardly give the roses back to him. This was our first tourist attraction and we’d already learnt not to take things from strangers. Which is common sense anyway but to be fair he did catch us off guard.
From there it was a short walk to the Trevi Fountain. I remember the Trevi Fountain being my favourite part of my last trip to Rome so I was excited to see it again. My excitement was justified, it looked just as magnificent as the last time I saw it but with an extra evening glow. We didn’t have any coins to throw in but I was happy enough to just admire it and soak in the atmosphere that surrounded it.
We carried on walking and came across a nice little Italian restaurant where we decided to have dinner. I had Lasagne and it was probably the best lasagne I’ve ever had! (Sorry Dad, I still love your homemade lasagne though!). Lasagne is one of my favourite foods so I had to have it at least once while we were in Italy. We all enjoyed our first Italian meal of the trip but decided not to drink any alcohol with it as we had an early start the next morning and by this point we were all tired enough already.
After filling our stomachs and satisfying our appetites we continued to explore the city. We walked past the Pantheon and ventured up to Capitoline Hill into the Piazza del Campidoglio, originally designed by Michelangelo. We then took a stroll around some ancient ruins before taking a short walk up the road to the Colosseum.
We had tickets to the Colosseum for Monday morning but we wanted to see it at night when it was all lit up. It looked fantastic! ‘Tourist Mode’ was activated again and we took lots of photos. We conveniently found ourselves standing right in front of the Metro station so we brought our first evening in Rome to an end and headed back to the flat.
Back at the flat we looked at where we had been on the map and calculated about 10 miles worth of walking. It didn’t feel like we’d walked that much though, probably because we were excited and enjoying it so much. Rome is a great place for a long evening walk, the city is so scenic and you can really feel the history of it as you ‘roam’ (pun intended) around.
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