Although it's hard to believe I made the trek nearly a month ago, I visited Rome over a free four-day weekend in the beginning of June. As you may have read in an earlier post, upon arrival back from my Roman respite, I found myself swamped with school work and a long list of things to see and do in my final two weeks in Athens. So as promised, here is an account, albeit a bit delayed, of my adventures in "Roma."
I flew directly from Athens to Rome, arriving on Thursday night around 8: 30 p.m. After a 30-minute ride on the "Leonardo Express" from the Fiumicino Airport to Termini Station, I began my search for the Legends Hostel, located within a five-minute walk from the train station. A few of my friends in the Athens program stayed there when they visited Rome over spring break and highly recommended the facility. You definitely can't beat a clean bed, hot shower, free breakfast and free pasta every night for about 30 Euros a night.
Although it was close to 11 p.m. after I checked in, I felt famished, so I took a short walk around the corner to a small restaurant, where I found a delicious margarita pizza and glass of red wine. Just a short distance from there, a cone with two scoops of chocolate and strawberry gelato was waiting for me. And these scoops are literally what three or four scoops of ice cream are in the states. So, pizza, wine, gelato...I was certainly enjoying every second of embracing Italian food.
On Friday I woke up early to walk to the Coliseum and Forum. Along the way, I stopped at a few piazzas, fountains and walked through two churches with beautiful frescoes inside. As I walked along the one main road, I could tell I was approaching the center of the city, as I could see some columns inside the Forum straight ahead. I glanced to the left as I crossed the street--and the Coliseum was...just...there. I didn't realize I stopped in the middle of the street with my jaw wide open until I heard an angry driver beep his horn. I scuttled to the sidewalk and began walking slowly toward the ancient arena, in a complete daze. I arrived shortly after the site opened, so it was virtually empty of tourists, allowing for a slow and tranquil walk around every nook and cranny.
After about 90 minutes in the Coliseum, I made my way to the Forum, passing first the Arch of Constantine and then walking around Palatine Hill. Although most of the sites in the Forum are simply foundational remnants, it's easy to imagine Romans hustling about through the political center thousands of years ago.
After meandering through most of the historical segments of Rome, I walked toward the Trevi Fountain. Although the fountain and sculptures are incredibly beautiful, what was most amazing about my experience, at least, was that I could hear the water a few hundred yards away before I even approached the fountain.
From the Trevi I walked to the Pantheon, which is unbelievably much larger than I ever imagined. I actually ended up sitting inside for about an hour, just absorbing every little detail.
Then after strolling by Piazza Navona, I somehow ended up down by the Tiber River, so I crossed a pedestrian bridge, found gelato, and then made a slow walk back to the hostel for free pasta at 7 p.m.
The hostel operator cooks pasta every night; it's just simple noodles and sauce and sometimes vegetables or different cheeses, but it's tasty and above all, free! And it's great because the kitchen serves as a large gathering room, so I got to converse with all of these travelers, some from Australia, New Zealand, others from Canada, but most from the states. It's neat to sit around and swap stories and share ideas about what to see in Rome and other parts of Italy. Talking to all of these adventure-seekers definitely has me considering taking a few months to just travel. In the kitchen, there's also a TV and DVD player, and after some of the guys were done watching the French Open semi-finals, a group of us decided to watch "The Gladiator"...we thought it would be fitting. One of the women I began talking to, Tara, just graduated from Purdue University and is spending a few months traveling around Europe. It turned out, though, that she was heading to Athens on Monday, the same day I was returning to classes, to meet a friend of hers who studied in Athens last year. We exchanged contact information, and that Thursday we met up and went to dinner at my favorite restaurant in Athens! It's just insane how small of a world it can be, and now with technology, it's so easy for us to keep in touch.
On Saturday, I met my friend Elena, who lives in Chieti, a town about two hours outside of Rome. Elena visited my hometown, Tamaqua, two summers ago for an exchange program, and I showed her around LVC, took her to Chocolate World, and we promised to keep in touch, which we have. When I first met Elena, I was just beginning to think about studying in Greece, so I told her if the plans became definite, I would make it a priority to visit her in Italy. We spent most of the day meandering near the Spanish Steps, visiting the Keats-Shelley Memorial House, where John Keats retreated to stave off tuberculosis and where he wrote poems like "To Autumn" and "Ode to a Nightingale;" I saw where his desk would have been, overlooking the steps!
We of course ate some delicious Italian food at this quaint little restaurant, and Elena took me to the "best" gelato place in town. You walk in, and there are literally at least 75 or 100 flavors from which to choose. My indecisive self had so much difficulty selecting, and although the mango and pineapple were delicious, I definitely regret not trying some of the unique flavors. They all just sounded too tasty.
That night I joined three other travelers from the hostel on a night tour of Rome. We first walked down toward the Coliseum, but we were disappointed to find it not lit up. So we headed toward the Trevi Fountain instead, where we tossed coins over our shoulders to assure our returns to Rome one day. The others stopped for gelato, but I was on a mission to find tiramisu, and I finally stumbled upon a little restaurant that would let me order some to go. We then bought a cheap bottle of local red wine and sat on the steps of the fountain in front of the Pantheon, conversing about a myriad of topics.
On Sunday Tara and I woke up early to visit St. Peter's Square and the Basilica. Since it's a trek, we decided to test the metro system, which is actually relatively easy to navigate and costs only 1 Euro to ride. Our feet were happy to make the monetary sacrifice.
It's impossible for me to put into words the beauty found inside St. Peter's Basilica. Every square inch is covered with ornate art; the mosaics were most amazing to me, as from a distance they appear to be paintings or frescoes, but looking at them up close, I was astounded that such exquisite art could be formed by thousands of small fragments.
We attended the 10:30 a.m. mass, thinking it would be a neat experience to hear the priests speak in Italian, but ironically, they spoke French, which ended up being even more interesting. The mass ended just after noon, when the Pope delivers a blessing over the square. Since we just exited the Basilica, we could not get out to the square in time to see him from the window, but we did get to hear him and watch the crowd's reaction. So, I did hear the Pope, in real time, from just a few hundred yards away.
After we realized we could not get back into the square in time to see the Pope, we began our ascent to the top of the Basilica. Although it requires walking up hundreds of spiraling steps, the view from the top is wholly worth it, as a panoramic view of the entire city unfolds before your eyes. It was a little overcast, but we could make out the Coliseum in the distance. We could also look down on the Vatican and see where the Sistine Chapel is...I evidently didn't do my research thoroughly, because I planned to visit the Vatican Museum to see the Sistine Chapel on Sunday after walking through and to the top of the Basilica; but, the museum is only open on the last Sunday of the month. Oh well, it just means I must return to Rome, an occasion guaranteed by the coin I tossed into the Trevi, anyway!