In the distance, we could already hear the water of the Trevi Fountain splashing - our next destination. According to legend, tossing a coin over your right shoulder into the fountain is supposed to bring good luck. Everyone seems to want to do that too. Wow... it was so narrow and crowded at the edge of the pool! We only took one photo (although we came back later again to try with fewer tourists and also at night) and quickly walked on to one of the most important squares in Rome: the Piazza Venezia.
It is one of the city's main transport hubs. From here all roads lead to Rome's main attractions. There are also magnificent buildings as far as the eye can see. One of them is the monument to Victor Emmanuel II, also called Vittoriano. This huge white marble building was dedicated to the first king of Italy. Very showy but also very impressive. Especially at night.
Only a stone's throw away is the Roman Forum, the former market square and one of the most important archaeological sites of ancient Rome.
Right next to it is the Colosseum, the largest amphitheater in ancient Rome, the city's landmark, and the largest circular theater ever built. The legendary and cruel gladiator fights took place here from 80 AD to 313 AD. Up to 50,000 spectators fit into the arena.
Too bad the queue in front of the Colosseum was too long, so we could not go inside with a waiting time of about 2 hours. But we came back at night for another round of pictures:
On our next visit, we will definitely take more time for the Colosseum and the Roman Forum!
The path took us further to the Pantheon and the Egyptian obelisk on the Piazza della Rotonda. What majestic entrance columns! The Pantheon is an architectural masterpiece! The visit is free. So we walked right in. Inside, we admired the huge dome and the oculus, the opening of the dome that gives the entire church unique lighting.
There is a lot of hustle and bustle on the piazza. The perfect place for a break in one of the cute cafes. You can also find Piazza Navona very close by where the church Sant'Agnese in Agone invites you for a short visit.
The sun was already setting while we walked comfortably along the boulevard that runs along the Tiber to Castel Sant'Angelo or the so-called Castel Sant'Angelo. Just up the stairs and we were standing on the bridge, which is decorated with 10 angel statues - just in time for sunset.
And because we hadn't seen enough for the first day, we walked to St. Peter's Square in the dark to take a picture of St. Peter's Basilica at night as well.
We had planned a visit to the Vatican, the smallest country in the world, and the Sistine Chapel for the second day.
To get to the Vatican, we crossed the huge St. Peter's Square. In St. Peter's Square, on special days, the Pope can be seen giving his blessing from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica.
After a long wait (luckily in the shadow of the many columns), we were finally able to enter St. Peter's Basilica. Of course, we wanted to go up to the dome to see the entire city from above. To get to the dome, we climbed more than 300 steps through a narrow, low-ceilinged corridor. It wasn't easy... but we were rewarded with a gorgeous 360-degree view of the city.
Then we walked to the visitor magnet par excellence - the Sistine Chapel with the world-famous frescoes by Michelangelo. You are not allowed to talk or take photos from these to keep modern flashlights from damaging the art. So all the people are huddled together and looking up at the ceiling, which has some of the most famous paintings in the world, like The Creation of Adam or The Last Judgment. We both don't know that much about art, but the paintings in the Sistine Chapel are very impressive. Linda made one little Snapshot from the frontal area before we left:
But you are allowed to take pictures of some very impressive pieces of art that cover the whole room on your way to and from the Chapel through some of the museums:
You can feel with every step you take through the Vatican grounds, that this place has a very long and very impressive history. Not just because of the art or the buildings, but the whole atmosphere has a different kind of feeling.
On our third day, we needed a little break and drove to Villa Borghese. This beautiful and tranquil park is approximately 5 km² in size and houses the Galeria Borghese, a private art collection, and a zoological garden. It´s a really nice place to just relax and calm down from the hectic city for a couple of hours.
In the afternoon we drove to one of the most beautiful districts of Rome - the Trastevere district.
There are many cute restaurants, bars, and cafés in the narrow, winding, colorful streets. In addition, small markets invite you to stroll and look. And there is street music on every corner in the evening. After listening to the music for some time and enjoying the sunset on the river, we had dinner in a good restaurant in Trastevere, and afterward, I was able to convince Linda to walk with me up the Gianicolo mountain, which is located above Trastevere to see the city from above at night.
From there we had a wonderful view of the city on the one hand and on the other hand, the fountain "Fontana dell'Acqua Paola" offers a beautiful backdrop for the question of all questions. Linda was just looking at the city and when she turned around again, I knelt in front of her, declared my love to her, and asked her the question. After what felt like an eternity, she finally said "yes".
On our fourth and last day in Rome, we rented bikes and raced with the cars on the street through the city before leaving the crowded streets onwards to the historic Via Appia. It's a miracle that we survived with the driving style of the Italians
The Via Appia used to be one of the most important trade routes in the Roman Empire. Along the entire street, we saw ancient columns, tombs, castles, and other structures from ancient times that have more or less been integrated into everyday life. It´s quite humbling to see so many structures and other remains still standing.
We are very glad that we had eBikes because otherwise, we would probably not have made much progress on the cobblestones.
