Best day in Rome - the sequel

The second half of my day in Rome seems shorter as I’ve spent huge part of it in the Colosseum, but let me start from the beginning.

After having lunch sitting on the fountain steps across the Pantheon, we actually entered it. If you’ve been there, you know it’s a sacred place as all the churches even though it doesn’t look like that from the outside. Inside are the tombs of some very famous people, important for Italy as well.

Here you can see the tomb of Vittorio Emanuele II – he was king of Sicily to later become the first king of the whole united Italy. Umberto I is also buried here together with his wife Margherita of Savoy. Another famous person who can be found here is the painter Raffaello.

On top of the Pantheon’s roof you can see a huge hollow space. There is no roof there and when it rains, the water goes directly inside the building. Another curious fact is that one of the popes – Urban VIII Barberini tore away the bronze ceiling of the portico. Rumors about its fate are very different. First time I was in Rome our guide advised that the bronze was actually used to create the baldachin in the St. Peter’s basilica. However I deep dived into this and there is no certainty in any of the theories. The romans have a saying I find interesting and funny and they have it exactly because of this Pope – “What the barbarians didn’t do, Barberini did” and it aims the whole family which was very powerful.

 Next stop – Military museum of Rome.

We didn’t actually enter it, just took pictures outside. You’re still allowed to enter the yard but if you want to go into the actual museum there is a fee. And it’s huge so we didn’t really have the time. What I would most recommend here if you have some spare time, is to use the elevator – it’s at the back of the building, to go to the roof. Last time I checked it was 8 euro per person (covers both ways of course).

There is a great 360 degrees view from there and there aren’t that many tourists so you can take very nice pictures as well. You can stay up as long as you wish but the line for the elevator takes some time to go both up and down.

The museum itself is an amazing building made in a Venetian style. So it’s a little bit too much for the Romans, but to me looked very beautiful so if you don’t have much time I would still advise to go there and enjoy the nice views. You can take great pictures as well. I know I mention this a lot, but tourists really want to capture everything and bring it back. You can’t go to Rome every day, right? However you can take a brief look at the pictures instead and remember the great views, nice fresh wind, smell of fantastic pizza and gelato and the great colors around you.

Next step – Roman Forum

We took a brief look from the outside but then headed straight to the Colosseum to try and get inside. Besides with the Colosseum ticket you can go into the Forum and see it from the inside.

Next step – Colosseum

One of the icons in Rome and the monument we can see on the greatest number of magnets. For those who like to spend their days eating the amazing delights the city can offer and having coffee away from the heat, colosseum is just stones.

We were not very hopeful to be honest since we know that for most places of huge interest, there are huge lines and what were our chances to get in quickly? Outside a guy stopped us to ask if we actually wanted to go in and see the Colosseum. So we said “Yes”, of course we wanted to.

He offered us the last guided tour for the day which would be 45 mins guided walk in the Colosseum and then 1 hour tour in the Forum. This is for 27 euro per person. It didn’t include the dungeons and the upper floor so no view from the top (which is the best of all). I specifically asked for the top floor and the dungeons and he advised the dungeons were a completely separate tour for 30 euro/ person. So we said good day and walked away to reach the entrance. The guy followed us to say that we’ll be waiting for at least 45 mins just to get the tickets and approximately the same time to actually enter the building and we were going to pay 12 euros each for the ticket and then 12 euros more for the audio guide. Which was legit but still we walked away.

We waited for no more than 10 mins at the line to get the tickets and once you have them you enter immediately. The 12 euro ticket doesn’t cover the dungeons or the upper floor. You can get there only with a guided tour. And as for the audio guide – the extremely polite man who sold us the tickets advised us to only get 1 which would still be fine for both of us. And it was 5 euro, not 12.

So whatever you do, avoid people stopping you at the streets. They know that tourists would want to go and do all, see all and will take every opportunity to get your money with something you may not necessarily want.

We wanted to have free time and explore the Colosseum at our own speed. We were there for more than 2 hours, I can’t imagine having only 45 mins. However if you would like to take a tour with a guide, my best advice is to pre-book. The price is approximately the same, there will be no lines either. However the tour I pre-booked last time I was in Rome lasted 3 hours and did cover everything. Our guide was a local lady whose English was not the best but we could still understand each other with minimum effort and she was an historian which is very useful when you actually want to learn something new for the place you’re at.

No need to tell you much about the Colosseum – the audio guide is enough and there are curios facts included as well – for example I didn’t know that “arena” is actually the name of the sand they used to cover the floor with and this is how “arena” – the place where the gladiators fought, got its name from. Sorry for the twisted sentence J

Also – the most important people were seated closest to the arena and the poorest were seated far far away. Men and women were set separately for moral reasons. There is no historical proof that there were battles with ships in the Colosseum. However they had elevators to take the animals to the arena. And the gladiators were actually slaves. Their whole life was split between the arena where they were going to fight and to die, and their home – a place where all gladiators live and trained which was just a tunnel away.

Enough with the facts. It’s a great place where I felt strangely small, I was just a random nobody who was in the middle of something huge that was there for centuries and has seen things which modern society can only pray we don’t see. Magnificent, huge and also a little bit scary. But with a great view – you can see the Arc of Constantine from one of the terraces. And the Palatine hill which you can access with the same ticket.

Arc of Constantine

Next stop – Forum Romano and Palatine Hill

You can see e number of ruins – most of them belonged to temples – they used to be walls or decoration. You can also see whole buildings. I’m very curious and always want to enter but everything which is still a whole building is locked.

View of the Palatine Hill from the Colosseum

If you have more time you can stroll down the “streets” –because it’s huge and the paths are really like streets even now. You will be welcomed by another amazing arc. And what you have to do first and foremost is to turn to your right ones you enter and take the path leading to the Colosseum direction. You will reach a spot for great pictures. And it’s also incredibly peaceful. This is like the perfect spot if you don’t enjoy crowded places and still want a good view. And you can capture the whole Colosseum from there. Below is a personal favorite. It’s picture of me and a monumental building behind.

Thanks to: https://www.instagram.com/nicolaygeorgiev/

And this was all the sightseeing we did that day. We got back to our meeting point to continue with our journey to the next destination.

If you have just one day in Rome and you don’t want to break the bank, my advice is to only select one place to visit. We’ve spent so much time in to Colosseum – imagine how many hours the Vatican museum would’ve taken. The tour there is approximately 4 hours and includes the Sistine Chapel and tour in the St Peter’s Basilica. Which is also a must-see if you ask me.

The arena from above

But if you prefer to have a more relaxed stay in the city, take a look only from the outside. During this day we ate at the fountain which took us no more than 40 -50 mins and we’ve spent not more than 20 mins at each of the stops. To be honest we were a little bit in a rush. If I have more time however, I would plan it in a different way adding free time in the evenings to spend each evening at a different fountain – I like diving into the local culture and have opportunity not just to see all monuments but also do as the locals do, have fun in their way and have free time to just feel how they live “la dolce vita”. For me travel has to be an experience, an opportunity to feel the place, not only be able to say “the food was nice and we waited a lot to see the sights.”. Looking for something more.

Hope you enjoyed this and sorry for the long post. Still trying to be better, so let me know if this is at all useful and what you need more or less of.

xoxo,

Elle