I've always wanted to visit Rome, as I love everything that is Italian and as I have a special interest in the Roman Empire. After some thinking, my girlfriend (Nicole) and I decided to book it. A trip to Rome! I went to Rome on the 26th of February until the 29th of Rome and we booked it through KLM package deals (which I recommend everyone). In this blog I will write about Rome as a tourist destination, but also about how I experienced Rome during my stay, my theater of dreams. If you're interested (which you are!), then feel free to enlighten yourself below. In the days before the 26th of February I didn't really realize how much I was looking forward to this trip. I think that I didn't had the time to realize it due to the piles of work I had to do for my Minor Destination Development. This was actually quite strange, given the fact that I've always wanted to visit Rome, especially with the love of my life. But then, there I was, sitting in the airplane of Alitalia, people speaking the most beautiful language of the world (yeah, that's Italian) and I finally felt the excitement.
On beforehand, we really tried to plan our trip well, due to the fact that we had a limited amount of time to visit such a big city. We decided to buy a guide on Bol.com which is called 100% Rome. Looking back at our planning and our overal trip, I have to say that it was a really helpful guide with a lot of 'local' tips and special hiking trails that would be a bit of the beaten track. As a experienced tourism student, I thought that I should be capable of making my own tour through Rome, using the tips and highlights of the 100% Rome guide as my designing guideline, and so I did. At our arrival at the airport near Rome, we took the train to the central station of Rome (Roma Termini) which was a really comfortable ride. The trains where quiet, airconditioned and spacious and are actually quite cheap (+-€14). Even with the 100% Rome guide, it still was a difficult job to estimate the walking distances within such a big city, but we decided to walk nonetheless as young and fit students. Our hotel turned out to be just a 5 minute walk away from the central station. At first, we couldn't find the hotel, expecting a big entrance or something that would be visible, but after asking another hotel where it was, we finally found it. The All Viminale Inn was hidden behind a huge door, with its small office placed within the courtyard of the building. After the very friendly receptionist showed us our room, we where truly amazed about the room that we had. It wasn't big, but it was beautiful. The walls where partly decorated with graceful paintings, the bed was comfortable and the view was stunning: Looking out of our window, we where looking directly at the Opera of Rome with on the background the beautiful towers of a church. The shower cabine was one of the other highlights of the room, the fully equipped massage shower cabine was right in front of the bed, but it gave an romantic touch to the room. Coffee, tea, drinkable water and cheap liquor where at our disposal, right around the corner of our front door. Then, about Rome itself. First of all, its important that you plan your trip well and that you make sure that you divide certain parts of Rome according to the amount of days of your stay. In this way you can make sure that you'll see everything that's worth visiting. We for example, divided the city in to three parts, one for every day of our stay. These parts where basically: The Vatican city, the 'center' of Rome, and the 'old' Rome. An important note for everyone planning on visiting Rome: Do NOT buy 'skip the line' tickets. These are very expensive and not necessary, we've been to every major attraction, and as long as you arrive around 10 o clock or earlier, there are virtually no, or small lines. Especially if you're a student, you'll save huge amounts of money by not buying these tickets and bringing you student card, by which you'll get nice discounts. The Vatican City is a must see for everyone that visits Rome. Sure, it's where every tourist will go, but its something that everybody should see once in their life, even if its only for the sake of the historical value that it has. The Saint Peter's Basilica, the Vatican Museum, and the Saint Peter's square are truly beautiful and impressive, showing the wealth and power of the Pope and the Christianity. The word 'Godly' is really applicable for the structures and paintings, designed by ingenious architects that truly deserved their place as almost holy figures within the Roman community. The Saint Peter's basilica is almost frightening due to its impressiveness and the Vatican Museum is just filled with endless interesting art, historical objects, and continuous displays of wealth. However, you should reserve at least half a day for visiting the Vatican City, especially for the museum, which seems to be endless, even to the extend that we in fact got fed up with the endless displays of art. From a professional view, the Vatican City definitely has a strong image, clearly representing the wealth of Christianity and the house of 'God'. Rome is different from every other city that I have previously visited, its impressive in its buildings and statues but, it somehow succeeds in retaining its truly Italian spirit. Most of the local restaurants that are not in the touristic city center serve products from the Lazio area surrounding Rome, which gives you the feeling that you're still experiencing the true Italian way of live, as the city somehow still breathes the relaxed atmosphere of the countryside. Of course, you'll have to look for other places than the crowded city center, but then again, you don't have to venture far to find the Italian spirit of which I am speaking. If you look a little bit further than the big statues and buildings, you'll see that the Romans value their faith a lot and that it is especially busy on the squares before the churches when the church services are about to begin. The small restaurants still take pride in making the perfect pizza or the perfect pasta and try to do so in the traditional way, with most of the time perfectly cooked 'al dente' pasta and just the right amount of sauce to go with it. When talking about the historical part of Rome, words are not enough. Again, I am using the word impressive, as it truly is impressive to see what the Romans achieved in that time. As someone who's is particularly interested in the history of the Romans I found myself walking within a dream with every step I took in the old city, imagining how it must have been in the times that the Roman Empire was at its height. The roman palaces must have been lush and beautiful and the Colosseum must have been an impressive stadium to be in, apart from the shows that where given in that time. Almost everything that is in the old part of Rome, speaks for the intelligence and ingeniousness of the Romans in their time. Even without a guide, you'll feel like you're traveling back in time when you walk through the gardens and the ruins of the old Roman city. To conclude this already long blog (my apologies, I seem to be an enthusiastic writer) I think that Rome is a city that will never bore and will always amaze. It lets you use all your senses and more, it lets you dream about the past (sometimes I wished I had a time machine) and it invites you to ask yourself critical questions about some subjects like: How bad/good has the rise of Christianity been for humanity? If you look at how developed the Romans where and how much the Christians destroyed just for the sake of Jesus or the holy pope, it really makes me wonder how far we would be if Christianity never existed and the Romans would have determined our future (I think that the 'Dark Age' is a correct name for the period in which the Christians and the Crusaders ruled). I can endlessly write about Rome, because it has endless impressions and possibilities and I could write a book about my vivid memories of certain places and special 'local hotspots' but by doing this I would spoil the fun of exploring a city for you as a reader of this blog. I think it says enough that even after a short visit, I already miss Rome as if its my hometown and I'm sure that I will return to it whenever I get the possibility. Follow, like, pin it, love it.
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AuthorAnthony Voskuilen, a driven tourism student, football player, brother, son and friend. Determined to achieve greatness on whatever path life sends me. Become wise.
Do you want to read my blogs ? Sure ! Just click on the "read more" button and enlighten yourself. (all written in Dutch)
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