Rome was the last city we visited during our Switzerland and Italy adventure! You can click the links below to catch up!
Zurich, Lugano, Lake Como, Venice, Florence, Cinque Terre/Pisa
When I think of Italy, I immediately think of Rome. For this reason, I knew I wanted to visit the city during our adventure. Taylor was a little hesitant, because in his mind we could visit Rome when we did all of southern Italy one day. Neither of us know when we’ll be back in Italy, so we added Rome for my sake. I think it was the perfect last stop for us!
There is so much history here, and you could spend days roaming the streets and reading about the Roman Empire.
Obviously, we had to visit the Coliseum! You can’t miss it! If we visit Rome again, I’d like to do an audio tour of the Coliseum, because I think we would’ve learned so much more. There are plenty of signs about the history, but they can be difficult to keep up with.
Since Rome is such a popular city in Italy, be prepared for all the tourists. There are soooo many people. If you don’t show up early to buy tickets into your favorite attractions, expect to wait at least an hour. We arrived at the Coliseum when it opened and we still waited at least 30 minutes in line. You do have some options to skip the lines with guided tours and booking online, but we weren’t planning out days to use these options. There are tons of people outside of the main attractions badgering you to skip the line… don’t fall in their trap. If you are going to skip the line its because you planned ahead!
The cool thing about Rome, is that a lot of the debris from the past is still protected and visible to see. It’s crazy to think about how solid and massive some of these buildings were for that time period!
We walked over 30,000 steps during our one full day in Rome! Now, you absolutely do not have to do that many because there are great public transportation options, plus tours that will save you the steps. We wanted to see places off the beaten path, so we walked everywhere. We refueled with some amazing roman pasta!!
After eating an incredible lunch on the backstreets of Rome, we walked to the Pope’s home! 🙂
We decided to explore the Vatican Museum, because Taylor really wanted to see the Sistine Chapel and see Michelangelo’s famous ceiling painting. Michelangelo hand painted this massive ceiling in the Vatican between 1508 and 1512. Photography was strictly forbidden in this room so I could’t get any photos, but I took some pictures all over the rest of the museum. It was gorgeous!
The one downside to Rome was all the vendors. They were AGGRESSIVE. I’ve never been so annoyed in my life. They will try and scam you at all costs. At one point, I had to tell someone to leave me the heck alone because I was so over it. They kept harassing (yes harassing) me about my shorts, telling me I wouldn’t be aloud into the museum and I needed to buy a scarf to cover myself. Taylor and I have been to a lot of places that require special attire, but we knew this wasn’t one of them. As long as you dress modestly you’re fine. So many woman were scammed into buying these scarfs thinking they wouldn’t be aloud inside. Nobody even blinked twice at my shorts. I hate people like this that ruin a beautiful place by being pushy.
Once we were done walking around the Sistine Chapel, we went to see the Trevi Fountain! I don’t think there’s ever a good time to go, as we went twice and it was packed both times. You have to force your way into a seat along the fountain.
**Me being hit by someone else’s coin.
Our time in Rome was so special, and we couldn’t believe it was the last stop on our European adventure! We are so thankful for careers that allow us to still do what we love most together. If you’ve been reading all the posts about our time in Switzerland and Italy, thank you so much!! I love writing and sharing my photos, so I hope you enjoyed it. 🙂
