My friend and I arrived in Rome late at night. It was too late to take the train from the airport to the city center, so we took a bus. That’s a good thing actually. The train is much more expensive, no wonder the locals call it the tourist train. A round trip transfer is a few euros cheaper than a single journey ticket so i suggest buying a round trip ticket if you’re taking the bus and staying in Rome for only a couple of days. It took about an hour to reach the city center. The bus stops at the Termini Train station, which is the main train station in Rome.

We stayed at Hotel Lazzari. I picked this place because of its proximity to the Termini station. We would be taking the train a lot since we were also planning to visit other cities in Italy. Staying in a hotel near the station would save us a lot of time. I picked the hotel because it was one of the cheapest ones. Heh. It had free wifi, had fairly good reviews, so i thought it would be fine. Actually, it was a good hotel. The room was spacious enough, wifi was fast, breakfast was basic but filling. It’s fine if you’re not expecting much. It was just really hard to find at first. For one thing, the area where it is located is kinda sketchy. There’s not much lighting on the streets. There are lots of people even late at night, and there are a lot of restaurants and other hotels in the area so i guess it’s safe. The building where the hotel is located looked very similar to the surrounding buildings. The very small sign outside the door definitely didn’t help.

That’s how the door looks in the daytime. It looks exactly the same as the doors in adjacent buildings. If you’ll be staying here take note of the restaurant in front of it. That’s the best landmark.

It was a good thing i went to Brussels first, because if I went there after Rome I would not be able to appreciate it. Never have I seen a city with so much history. Of course what we wanted to see the most was the Colosseum. If you haven’t bought a ticket online, here’s a tip: Do not buy tickets at the Colosseum. Almost everyone would be buying tickets there. Instead buy your tickets at the Palatine Hill. When we got there, we were the only ones buying tickets. Buy a combination ticket to the Palatine hill, Colosseum, and the Roman Forum. Yeah you would still need to fall in line at the Colosseum to enter, but at least you wouldn’t need to fall in line for tickets.

So we started our tour in the Palatine Hill. The structures are pretty amazing, and it’s worth it to spend an hour or two walking around the area. We proceeded to the Roman Forum, and area with an even richer history. Walking through all these buildings was a surreal experience.

But of course that behemoth in the distance kept taunting us. It was becoming too hard to ignore.

We had to fall in line for more than three hours, but once we got inside, it was worth the long wait. There we were standing where ancient Romans watched gladiators fight centuries ago. Just standing inside the Colosseum was an unbelievable experience. You need to stay still for a while just to let it all sink in.

It was still early in the afternoon so we had a lot of time to visit other famous attractions. The Trevi Fountain was still being restored then, so I was a bit underwhelmed. it would’ve been amazing if we went there just a few days ago. I heard they have already finished the restoration.

We also dropped by the Pantheon, formerly a Pagan temple that is now used as a church. The architecture is simply amazing.

And of course, a trip to Rome would not be complete without a visit to The Vatican City! This place is a must visit. It doesn’t matter if you are Catholic or not. The architecture and grandeur of the place would inspire any person who sets foot in it. The Sistine Chapel was closed when we went there though. Apparently it’s closed on Sundays, and none of us bothered to check the schedule. LOL. Oh well, that’s one reason to go back i guess.

We did pass by other buildings on our way back to the hotel, but we didn’t have time to go inside each of them. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and it was wrong of us to assume that we can see everything in one day. So yeah, i would love to go back to Rome since I still haven’t seen a lot of its attractions. And i haven’t even mentioned the food yet. After having just a bite of Pizza in Italy, Pizza would never taste the same. Even if I’ve seen everything that Italy has to offer, I would go back just for the food.