Rome

They are right when they say :”No city in the world equals the history of the Eternal City”.

Whats the first thing that comes up in your mind, when we say Rome? The Colosseum? Where Russel Crow plays the powerful Roman general in the epic movie the Gladiator. Or maybe The Pope and the Vatican City? The Pantheon perhaps? Well as you can see this city is known about a lot of things.

Rome the capital city of Italy is one of the oldest cities in Europe. And has a rich history that spans more than 2500 years (753 BC). Honestly  after we visited  Milan and Venice we didn’t expected too much of Rome, just to see some historical monuments and museums. But wow what an amazing, lively city it is! The weather of Rome is great, good food, again very multicultural, atmosphere is perfect and the city is just like an open air museum ready to explore. Rome, definitely became one of our favorite city. Haven’t been to this city yet?  Put it on your bucket list because it’s worthwhile and we are sure you won’t regret it. Promise!

Things to see:

Colosseum

Address: Piazza del Colosseo, 1, 00184 Roma, Italië
Full price : €12;
Reduced  Fee : €7 for European Union citizens between 18 and 25 years old and for European Union teachers
Free entrance: Visitors 17 and under.

Colosseum also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre( named after the three emperors : Flavius)  is situated in the centre of Rome. The Colosseum (70 AD – 80 AD) built of concrete and stone is the largest amphitheater in the world. It’s amazing how big it is if you think that there was a capacity seating estimated between 50.000- 80.000 spectators. They all just wanted to enjoy wild animal fight, executions, gladiatorial contests etc. The Colosseum is the symbol and one of Rome’s most popular tourist attractions. We only admired it from the outside because of the long queue. But if you want you can also do a tour.

Roman Forum and Imperial Forums

Near the colosseum you will find the Roman Forum and Imperial forums.

Vatican City

The Vatican city is a separate sovereign state within Rome and is created on February 11^th 1929.  The city is ruled by the bishop the Pope. Even though you are in Italy they also speak Latin here. It’s so weird to see, because first you are in “Rome” and the next thing you know you are in a different city “ the Vatican City”  but still in Rome. They have their own stamps, post office, coins and bank ( with instructions in Latin, the only ATM in the world ). Within Vatican city are sites such as Vatican Museum, St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel.

St. Peter’s Basilica

The world largest Christian church. It took almost 100 years to build this beautiful church.

Trevi Fountain

Trevi is the largest Baroque fountain in the city. The fountain is 26,30 m high, 49,15 large. Every day it spills 80.000 cubic meter of water. We were so excited to finally see the Trevi Fountain, cause this is definitely also one of the star attractions in Rome! BUT when we got there, it was fully under construction! Bit heart-broken, like many others thinking WHY? Shame it had to been done while we were here. But we can say it’s still magnificent even whilst under construction. You still get to see all the statues. Still worth a walk round. It is expected to remain closed until October of 2015.

Spanish Steps ( Piazza di Spagna )

The monumental stairway of 135 steps. Just a wonderful place to sit and take it all in.