It's all Greek To Me: 36 Hours in Rome

Wow, I had a crazy quick trip to Rome! My flight landed at the Rome Fiumicino Airport at 1 pm on Sunday and I had to figure out how to get to the city centre and to my hotel, which was near the Trevi Fountain. I researched some options and found that a taxi would cost me 50 euros or taking the Leonardo Express train would only cost 14 euros! Of course, I took the train. It dropped me off at the Rome Termini Station. I decided to walk from there to my hotel. It only took about 20 min to locate my hotel! I was really proud of myself for finding my way there!

After checking in, it was only about 3:30 so I headed out to explore Rome! I walked over and saw the Trevi Fountain and took some pics there before moving on. Next up, the Pantheon. After checking out the Pantheon, it was still pretty early, so I headed towards the Colosseum. While walking towards the Colosseum, I passed by the Roman Forum. The sun was setting so I had a really pretty view of the sunset and the forum. I only got to see the outside of the Colosseum on Sunday night so I knew that I was going to be heading back there on Monday to go inside. After checking out the outside, I headed back towards my hotel for dinner and gelato! Along my way back, I passed by a lot of leather stores and couldn't stop myself from stopping in! I found a bag that I fell in love with but didn't buy because I didn't want to spend the money on it. I stopped in a little restaurant for dinner close to the Trevi fountain. I had a delicious dish of baked lasagna and a side of bruschetta. This was the first time that I've had pasta since I've left home and it didn't disappoint!

Once I was finished with dinner, I thought I would head over to the Piazza de Spagna and see the Spanish Steps. So many people were sitting on the steps that it was hard to get a good picture, but I'm glad I went by there. Then I headed back towards the Trevi Fountain and got some gelato and sat and watched the fountain.

Monday morning I got up early because I had booked a tour of the Vatican. I asked the concierge at my hotel the best way to get there and he recommended the Subway. I left really early and walked to the entrance to the Vatican museum. Since the company I booked the tour through didn't send me a verification email, I couldn't go on the tour. Frustrated as hell, I headed back to the hotel. Upon walking in the doors to the hotel and my phone connecting to the WiFi, I received an email from the company telling me that my request for the tour had been declined since their offices were closed when I put the order in. There was another tour leaving at 2:30 so I booked that and decided to head to the Colosseum and Roman Forum instead. On my walk to the Colosseum, I had to pass by the Trevi Fountain again. This time, all of the water had been drained and they had collected all of the coins from the bottom. I watched while they cleaned the fountain and counted the money. They take the coins out every morning but only clean it every 2 weeks. It was kind of cool to see it all drained of water. It's definitely much prettier when the fountain is full!

The Colosseum was next on my list. I bought a ticket for entrance online so that I could skip the line and it was a great choice since the line to get in looked to be about 45 min long. It was neat to walk in there and see something I'd only ever seen pictures of before. Some parts of the Colosseum are very well preserved while others are completely gone. The pure size and design are incredible. I really enjoyed reading about the construction and history while walking through.

After the Colosseum and Roman Forum, I had lunch at a little pizzeria. I felt like when in Rome I had to have pizza! The crust was really thin and surprisingly, the pizza itself was really salty. No matter, it was still delicious. I stopped in the leather shop that had the bag I fell in love with and decided to buy it. I knew it was something that I could keep forever and it would always remind me of my trip. Next up: tour of the Vatican. I was in one of those awesome groups that gets to wear the identifying stickers and gets to wear a headset so you can hear your tour guide. I looked like the ultimate tourist because I was wearing my camera around my neck. The only thing that would have completed my look would have been a fannypack. Anyways, we spent a lot of time in the museum of the Vatican, and rightfully so because there are so many things to see. There are some things I wish we could have spent more time looking at and other things we could have bypassed altogether in my opinion. I loved seeing the Sistine Chapel. It is an incredible piece of work.

Our tour ended at 5:15 and we still hadn't seen St. Peter's Basilica. I thought it was included in the tour so I was kind of confused when we didn't go! I quickly bought and sent some postcards from the Vatican Post Office and then walked very quickly/ran to the Basilica. It closed at 6 and I was worried that if I didn't get there early enough before 6, they wouldn't let me in! No worries, I made it inside in time and got to see the Pieta and the tomb of Pope John Paul II. There was a mass going on so there was a big section of the church that was blocked off. It was so beautiful inside and I wish I would have had more time to spend in there. Dinner on Monday night was at another restaurant close to my hotel. Pasta and bruschetta were on my menu again, of course!

Tuesday morning came too soon and I had to leave early to catch my flight back to Athens. I was sad to leave Rome but I had a great trip and made the most of my time there! I'm really glad I decided to go and see everything there. It would have been easy to stay home and just hang out at my apartment for 2 days but I went out of my comfort zone and I'm really glad I did. Check out some pics from my trip below!