When in Rome...

After 5 days in Rome Michael and I still aren’t sure what it is that the Romans do that you are supposed to do ‘when in Rome’ but we decided that it probably should revolve around drinking red wine so we made that a priority haha!

While we were in Rome it rained.

Seems to be a trend with most places we visit – we actually had a 50 year old local tell us that this is the most rain he has seen in a summer in his whole life, this didn’t really make us feel better about it haha!

Day 1 was spent pretty much trying to cope with the rain. About 15 minutes into our explorations the rain hit and it hit hard, it poured and we both rain into a coffee shop to avoid getting soaked (that didn’t work) – good thing Italy is also the home of amazing coffee! 

How cute are the tea cups they served us coffee in - I told Michael he has to stick his pinkie finger out when drinking from a tea set like this!

After realizing that the rain was pretty much never going to pass we decided we would spend the day having the world’s longest lunch, we walked through the downpour and into Trastevere, a smaller and more quieter suburb of Rome. We had stayed here overnight on our way to Croatia and been told that it was much cheaper and less touristy, which pretty much ticks every box for me. We headed to the first café we saw and were thrilled to see that mains were only 5 euro and a litre carafe was only 8 euro – you can probably guess what we ordered first. 

This little old ute filled with wine barrels sits outside the restaurant everyday! They even had photos of it inside covered in snow, what a trooper.

It’s safe to say that a litre of wine can help make a rainy day better. After lunching for almost 3 hours (don’t worry we only ordered one plate of food each) the rain had finally eased off!

We walked through Trastevere and up to the peak of Janiculum hill, which offers views of the whole city of Rome and was surprisingly completely empty of other tourists.

The picture above is of the view over Rome (the photo app won't let me put the big photo on top...) and of the gelato we got in Trastevere, it was homemade, gluten free and absolutely delicious! Turns out gelato can also make a rainy day better!

We then headed past the turtle fountain, which is literally a fountain with turtles on it and to Campidoglio square – which was designed by Michelangelo himself (there is another statue of David replica here, they are everywhere!).

The weather was about to take a turn for the worse (again…) so we quickly stopped by the Roman Forum, which is a collection of ruins dating back to Ancient Rome – these ruins used to be the main square of the ancient city. We ended up coming back another day to look around properly but were getting pretty sick of being rained on.

---

Although Rome was not our favourite city in Italy a highlight was definitely visiting the Coliseum. 

Pretty decent view of the Coliseum, photo taken from Palatine Hill in the Roman Forum.

We bought tickets online with the idea of skipping the queue, it did save us a lot of time but getting into that place was hectic!! As soon as we walked in the entrance there was just people everywhere pushing, squeezing past and nobody really knew where they were going because there were no signs so it was pretty much just a complete mess! Once we finally figured out where we had to be we got in pretty quickly, the line outside for buying tickets was ridiculous; people wait for hours and sometimes don’t get in at all if too many tickets are sold online, what a stupid system.

The coliseum is pretty amazing, it’s hard to believe that we got to stand somewhere where gladiators actually fought! We walked around the bottom level for a while, it is actually amazing that so much of this place is still standing – especially considering that one of the rulers back in the day actually started dismantling it so they could use the marble (I think this is the reason only half of the upper level is still there).

We then went upstairs and checked out the top level, which was a really good view (even though they are doing construction, seems like they’re doing construction on pretty much everything in Europe though).  There was a sort of museum on the top level that provided heaps of information about the Coliseum (I’m pretty sure that we were some of the few people actually reading any of the signs…). 

The Coliseum was originally built to make the people of Rome happy; this is just crazy to me! They had gladiators fighting that lived in the base of the Coliseum and they kept wild animals there to fight against each other and against gladiators! The spectators used to sit and bet on the fighting and carved little pictures into the walls of their favourite fights or gladiators – there are heaps of these carvings still on the Coliseum walls and in the little museum area (above set of photos, bottom two). From what I remember it could hold about 70,000 people, which is huge!!

After our Coliseum visit we spent some time walking around the Roman Forum that we had seen briefly the previous day. This area used to be the main square and city centre of Anicient Rome and is now filled with ruins, mostly monuments and churches but also some shops and the site of the Trajans Market (the old marketplace) is here also. 

If I am being honest I really cannot remember the names of the different arches and monuments but I promise I read them at the time! I do remember that the picture below is of the original site of the Trajans Market! The Giant pole-like thing behind me is Trajans monument.

We also went and checked out the National Monument to Victor Emmanuel II, which is that big white building with the Italian flag coloured flowers out the front. This building is also a museum (although I’m not really sure what kind) but it seems to be more common for people to just check it out from the outside as it’s a really impressive and huge building with a huge roundabout in front (and traffic going everywhere!)

The rest of the day was spent walking along the Tiber River and heading back to Trastevere for some more inexpensive but amazing food – this neighborhood was quickly becoming our favourite part of Rome!

---

Another day was spent checking out Vatican City – home of the pope! Most of Vatican City is taken up by a huge museum filled mostly with statues and huge old paintings.

Our heads didn't quite fit in the gaps but we did try!

This room (above) was the best one; there were really cool and detailed paintings all over the roof with three dimensional frames. We have seen A LOT of roof paintings in various churches and palaces all over the place so it takes a bit to impress us (roof painting seems to have been a trend in Europe) but this room was pretty cool.

We also headed into the Sistine Chapel, you can’t miss this, like the Mona Lisa in the Lourve, this whole place is based around this one chapel and it is listed on every sign in the place! I have to admit I think that this chapel is hugely overrated! I was expecting something really amazing but I actually think we have seen way better roof paintings than this one and in much less crowded places – I suppose it’s popularity is based on the story of Leonardo Divinci lying on his back painting the roof… You aren’t allowed to take photos in here and there was a bunch of guards so I didn’t get to take any sneaky ones either.

This photo of Michael 'having a bath' in an old huge bathtub makes me laugh every time I see it!

  

After getting bored of the statues and paintings which were all starting to look the same we went to look at Saint Peter’s Bascilia – I don’t know much about Christianity in Italy but I do know this is where they present the new pope and he stands on the balcony and addresses the people of Rome (Michael and I can mostly relate to this because on the movie Eurotrip one of the characters stumbles onto the balcony and the people below think he’s the new Pope haha). It’s actually a pretty nice looking church with a huge square out the front but there was no way we were going to stand in a huge line to get inside – we have pretty much decided not to visit any more churches in Europe unless they are completely amazing because we have seen way to many and now they are all starting to look the same.

We had a home cooked meal and then headed to the Spanish Steps for the evening. The fountain at the base of the Spanish Steps and the monuments at the top are all under construction so it really doesn’t look too impressive right now but there were heaps of people hanging out anyway and some Europeans playing a really funny drinking game that involved throwing a shoe at a beer can haha! 

We went to a pretty cool dessert store and grabbed some tiramisu (very Italian), we got a little sample plate with pistachio, hazelnut, raspberry and original Tiramisu and savoured the deliciousness while chilling on the Spanish Steps!

Our last day in Italy was spent in the rain. Again... This is become a really cruel trend. Our flight wasn’t until later in the day so we decided to suck it up and still go and see a few things before packing up and heading off. We ventured to the Pantheon, as you can see we were pretty sad and hiding under an umbrella the whole time. The Pantheon is actually pretty cool, it’s huge and quite impressive – we didn’t go in because we didn’t want to fight other umbrella wielding tourists to get through the door! 

We also went to Navona Square and had a look at the Fountain of Four Rivers – there were actually poncho clad tourists everywhere here which was pretty suprising! We did try to see the Trevi Fountain, which I had really wanted to do but it was actually completely closed (water drained, barricades up) – Whaaaattt! Seems like everything in Europe is mostly inconveniently under construction when we are there!

  

That pretty much sums up of our time in Rome it was a pretty interesting city, definitely with a lot of culture and history but unfortunately we spent most of the time either boiling hot or getting rained on. I didn’t dislike Rome but it certainly wasn’t my favourite city in Italy – bit hard to compete with the Amalfi coast and Cinque Terre!

Now we are off to Greece!

Sorrento, Pompeii and the Beautiful Amalfi Coast =)

Back in Italy!

From Croatia Michael and I took a plane, an airport bus and three different trians to get to Sorrento, it took us most of the day and kinda sucked (especially the last train to Sorrento - worse than Melbourne public transport!).

We did happen to get to Sorrento in time to accidentally stumble upon the most beautiful sunset we have seen so far in Europe - gorgeous!

We only took a few pictures haha!

The next day, after being woken up by almost everyone in our dorm we ended up getting up pretty early and heading off to Pompeii (where I annoyed Michael all day long by singing that Bastille song haha!).

Michael at Pompeii with Mt Vesuvius in the background.

Pompeii is amazing. 

I am pretty sure everybody knows what Pompeii is but just in case anyone doesn't; it was once a Roman City in southern Italy and was completely covered by a Volcanic Eruption from Mount Vesuvius. The Romans basically cut their losses and left Pompeii as it was (aside from looting some of the richer houses for gold). The Volcanic eruption completely covered and therefore preserved the city of Pompeii, including artwork, tiles, pots, people and even pets.

Now, almost the entire city of Pompeii has been excavated (there are still excavations happening to this day) and is open to the public. It's pretty amazing to wander through what was a fully functioning city 2000 years ago and see what life could have been like. 

The pictures above (the one with me) are from a site that used to be a church (or bascilia), you can see where the pillars used to hold up the roof - middle picture is taken from what would have been the entrance, so it was a pretty huge church - hard to believe anicent romans were capable of building something like this without tools or cranes haha!

There are hundreds of artifacts on display that have been uncovered during excavations - mostly pots, pans and tools. They also discovered bodies that were preserved in the exact state they had been in, obviously they can't put dead bodies on disply but they made casts of these bodies.

 The volcanic eruption killed over 300 people who didn't escape in time. The cast above is of some poor person knowing they were about to die and was so sad to see... 

 The above set of photos is of what used to be the biggest/richest house in Pompeii, I am not sure if the owner fled Pompeii or died but their identity is unknown so the house is known as the House of Faun, after the little statue of a dancing Faun that was found in the entraceway. This house occupied an entire block and excavations even uncovered moasic tiles on the floor of the house (middle picture), which is just amazing!

The above (middle and bottom) pictures are of an old school take away store. The middle one shows an old bench top - apparently the people of Pompeii would buy hot food from these little stone bench tops, which would line the street. 

There are two amphitheatures in Pompeii that have been amazingly well excavated! This one was the smaller of the two and probably my favourite thing as it amazed me how well preserved something from over 2000 years ago could be! It's hard to believe that thousands of years ago people used to sit on these seats and watch performances!

The below photos (top two) are typical streets of Pompeii, you can see where all the houses used to be as the walls seperating them are predominantly still in tact. The streets were made of huge cobblestones and were actually a huge pain in the arse to walk on cos they were super uneven.

Below and above is the big ampitheature, it used to be used for sporting events, gladiators and stuff with animals (the guide was a little mysterious about this part), apparently it's the best preserved ancient ampitheatre anywhere in the world. 

The photo below shows Michael adopting a little house in Pompeii! The one next door must have had dodgy walls as it was being held up by scaffolding - there are a few sections of Pompeii which obviously aren't faring too well as they have people constantly working to keep it preserved. 

The above (bottom two) pictures are of the main square of Pompeii, yep, even 2000 years ago the Europeans still loved a good square to base a city around!

That probably covers the highlights of our trip to Pompeii, it's actually an enormous place and you could probably spend an entire day walking around and looking at all the remanants of the city but it was scorching hot (Michael almost lost it) and there is little to no shade so we opted for a half day trip!

We spent the remainder of the day exploring the Old Town of Sorrento (yet another Old Town... I kinda like them). It was a tiny little town with literally one main street but somehow one of my favourite places in Italy. 

Sorrento is renound for Limoncello - which is basically lemon, sugar and a lot of vodka. It was everywhere, as was anything and everything lemon themed. We wandered into one store and the owner was SO friendly, he offered us free samples of Limoncello and was telling us he often stays open until midnight having the odd sip of Limoncello and talking to drunk backpackers or people coming home from restaurants! He was so nice we of course had to buy some Limoncello from him ;-)

Sorrento was also home to the best gelato we have ever tasted in our lives!

The lady working here was also insanely nice, she gave us plenty of free samples of different flavours and different combinations of flavors and some advice on which went together the best. 

I got the above two flavours: Himalayan salted pistacio and ricotta cheese with walnut and honey - YUM! Michael got Limoncello and wine and peach - also delicious!

She also told us they make their gelato fresh on the premises every morning and if they happen to run out of a flavour they pop out the back and whip up a new fresh batch - apparently each batch takes about an hour to make and they rotate their flavours daily. She told us they even had beer flavoured gelato earlier that week!

After filling up on delicious gelati and Limoncello we walked along the coast and checked out the views of Sorrento. 

Sorrento actually has nice little sandy beaches all the way along the coast stunning line - we saw two separate weddings happening in this area so obviously they were after pictures with this background!

Unfortunately we didn't have bathers or I would have wanted to jump straight in!

---

Next stop: The Amalfi Coast.

The Amalfi Coast is a UNESCO listed stretch of coastline that runs along the Sorrentine Peninsula in southern Italy. It is comparative to the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, in that it has a narrow (and somewhat unsafe) winding road that runs the entire length of the coast and provides amazing views of the sheer cliff faces and beautiful ocean!

The bus drivers in Italy have a reputation for being lunatics so were were expecting a pretty crazy bus ride from Sorrento along the Amalfi Coast, however, it wasn't all that crazy or maybe I was too distracted by the scenery to notice. 

Sorry for the poor quality but I think they photos have come out alright seeing I took them from inside a bus. As you can see by the photo with me in it, the road along the Amalfi Coast is literally right on the edge of the coast, at some points there isn't enough room for two busses (or even a bus and a car) to pass by so everyone has to stop or reserve haha!

There are heaps of little inlets, beaches and hotels all the way along this stretch of coastline and views for miles. 

We passed the town of Positano (which we came back to see again later in the day) and got some pretty nice views of the colourful little houses perched up on the side of the cliff. 

After the most enjoyable bus ride of our lives we arrived in Amalfi, the unofficial capital of the Amalfi Coast. It's a tiny but gorgeous little seaside town based around a small port filled with boats. As usual the water was a gorgeous blue and we wanted to jump in and cool off!

Michael and I walked out along a long jetty (which there was pretty much nobody else on) and took in the view of this cute little town.

Afterwards we headed into the main part of town, which is only really one street but it was filled with tiny eateries and restaurants, gelato stores and souvenir stores. There was also this pretty cool looking old stripy church (below).

Who knew that chillies were a natural viagara!?

The little fountain (top right) was really cool, it will filled with tiny statues of little people just doing everyday things like knitting or carrying buckets of water - really cute.

Right around the corner was another even smaller town along the Amalfi Coast, called Atrani. We decided to walk here and were rewarded with some pretty nice coastal scenery.

Below is the town of Amalfi, looking back from Atrani - all the beach umbrellas make the beach look amazing (too bad they cost money to actually use!).

As you can see Michael and I were pretty much walking on the side of the road as sidewalks are pretty much non-existent in this part of Italy and you just have to hope the cars and nice enough to pay attention and go around you!

Atrani

Atrani was a tiny, tiny town with only a few eateries and a big beach - FILLED with beach umbrellas! We had the best slushies here, they were amazing, mine was watermelon and Michael's was tropical mmmmmm!

We also had granita which was served to us in cups and with a spoon! After all the slushy consumption we spent a few hours lying on the beach and swimming in the beautiful, cool ocean!

Our last stop for the day was in picturesque Positano.

Could you ask for a better view with your meal?

Positano is yet another gorgeous coastal Italian town, with apartments and houses built up steep terrain leading down to the gorgeous blue ocean! In a way these towns reminded us of more modern beachy versions of the Cinque Terre. In the below photo you can see that the buildings are built right down onto the beach!

 We spent the last part of our day on the Amalfi Coast lying on the beach and pretty much doing nothing - not a bad way to cap off a busy day!

Oh but just to make the day even better we headed back to Sorrento and grabbed some delicious Italian pizza! Now I have seen these photos I want to eat this pizza all over again! Mine was a pesto cream based pizza with walnuts, motzerella and mushrooms!!

Best gelato, best slushies, amazing pizza and Limoncello - it's safe so that that this region of Italy came up with the goods with regards to delicious food and drink!

We spent our last day in Sorrento on a boat cruising around the coastline of Capri Island - to be honest it was actually a bit of a let down because we thought were would be jumping off and swimming at different sites but we actually just spent about 4 hours cruising around on the rockiest boat of all time (several people threw up). 

When we finally got to jump in the water I was so excited, this whole trip I have wanted to jump off a boat - I jumped off so fast that Michael only got his awesome photo of me splashing into the water. 

View from the boat of the coastline of the island of Capri.

The video below was taken on our last night in Sorreto from the rooftop deck of our hostel. It was a finals game for some local soccer teams and the locals were amped! There was loud music playing for hours and when the teams were finally almost ready to take the field some dramatic classical tunes came on, just to add some gravity to the situation! Haha! We thought it was really entertaining and watched most of the game!

After several weeks in beautiful coastal towns we are heading off to Rome! 

More updates soon =)