The changing of our plans the day before turned out to be perfect. As yesterday was so muggy and grey, doing indoor activities like the Vatican Museums and the Basilica were the perfect use of the time. Today was brilliant blue skies and sunshine, perfect for outdoor activities (if a little on the warm side, we were heading for a top of 28). The alarm went off at 6.30am again, but this time we were able to drag ourselves up and out. The ticket booths for the Colosseum opened at 8.30, and I was aiming to get us there about 8am.
The train journey this morning was also a bit more pleasant - full, but not squash packed. We alighted at the Colosseum and wandered across to the ticket booth. We went to the one across from the Colosseum, which I think is the ticket booth for the Forum. I found out later there was a ticket buying queue actually at the Colosseum next to the ticket holder queue, but we ended up sauntering past all these people. I skip ahead, though.
The morning was still nice and cool, but there was a small crowd gathered in the shade while the ticket booths were in full sunshine. One or two people were at the booths, the rest in the shade. At about 8.20am, I insisted to Dan that we move over into the sun, and a few minutes later an employer came out and put ropes around where we were standing, effectively putting us right at the head of the queue. 8.30am rolled around, and we were pushed in front of once or twice but by 8.35am we had our tickets to the Colosseum and the Forum.
Over to the Colosseum by 8.36am, joined the security queue there, sauntering past the ticket buyers which I mentioned earlier. We were in by 8.45am! Perfect. It was also the perfect time to be inside - while there were already a lot of people in there, we were able to take photos relatively people free. Half an hour later when we walked around again, it was shoulder to shoulder and 2 people deep along the whole wall.
We stopped along the way reading the signs on the wall, but we had actually been around the whole area within half an hour. Wanting to get the most from our money, we did it again. This time Dan noticed a small offshoot that we had missed the first time so we peeked at that. I had wanted to do the underground tour but these were all sold out - and to be honest by this point we had some serious ruin fatigue, and we could see most of it anyway.
So that was the Colosseum! We popped out on a different side than we had gone in at, and consulted the map. Our ticket was also valid for the Forum, and the direction we wanted to travel was at the other end of the Forum, so we decided to use it as the path. The queue moved quite quickly and we were in. Initially we just thought we’d walk straight through, but it was considerably bigger than expected and we figured we might as well get our money’s worth. We sat underneath a tree on a piece of ruin and had a quick snack, looking at the giant archway and the map. The majority of the Forum was to our left, so we wandered up that way, which consisted of a lot of stairs. We emerged at a “grotto” which had been reconstructed and it was quite beautiful (and relatively cool, too).
I realised about now that going into the Colosseum any later in the day would have been pretty awful. It was quite hot by now and by going in early we had beaten the heat of the day. It was definitely sweatsville in the Forum! We spent a short while wandering through some of this, more than we intended because we got a bit trapped up the top, and ended up having to backtrack all the way back to the arch and choosing a different path.
At one point, when we reached a deadend, we overheard a rather strange conversation. I wanted to ask the guard if we could get out this way, but he was distracted by a woman asking him very odd questions. The gist being, "Is this a Roman city? As in, is this an ancient Roman city?" Um. Well. Yes. It's the original Roman city...
We weren’t sure if there was an exit at the far end, so when we saw one, we took it. Might have been a bit of a mistake. The crowd here grew and grew until it was at a complete standstill. This was because the road had been blocked off with stadium seating for either an upcoming event or an event that had just happened. This then blocked most of the footpath too, and it was a shoulder to shoulder shuffle in the blazing sun. A man selling wooden…crap…seemed to be causing a fair portion of the hold up as his stall was roadblocking the path right at the centre.
Eventually we popped through, and our next stop was the Spanish Steps. Turns out they weren’t THE Spanish Steps - it was just some steps that I always thought were...oops! They were blocked off, and there were a group of people at the top in various uniforms and states of dress. I wondered if it might be a state funeral or something - there were two pyres burning, or maybe it was some kind of military procession or graduation?
We stopped here in the shade for a little while. I was of course getting hungry, and wanted to head somewhere for food. Food would be near the Pantheon, so we plotted a course towards there, stopping in at something quite different that I would imagine not many people know about in Rome - a feral cat sanctuary. Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary is located next to a ruin that cats naturally migrated to - there are lots of hidey holes and humans are not allowed to enter. As a result, the sanctuary has positioned itself on the outskirts and offers food, water, shelter and neutering of all cats that come its way.
We got to the ruin in the height of the midday sun. It was sweltering, and I knew the sanctuary only opened at 12pm. It was exactly that now. I spotted one cat in the ruin, and thought this was all it would be. We thought we would do a lap just to see if we could see any cats in this heat, and as we continued around I noticed a sign and some steps, and someone disappearing down them. The sign for the sanctuary was down here, as were a couple of cats, so we decided to brave it.
Probably a highlight of the day - I'm so glad we wandered down those stairs! We stepped inside and immediately to our right was a gorgeous pure white cat with blue eyes that suffered through a few pats by us, before being greeted by a happy American lady. She explained the situation - the cats are free to come and go as they please - the ones that hang around inside are friendly with humans and are happy for pats. There were some cages around the walls too - a litter of kittens in one, which we gave a gentle poke even though we weren't supposed to (they were so CUTE) and a few other sleepy cats. These were for cats who were going to be adopted - you could either "adopt from a distance", by giving money which helps feed the cats and keep them healthy, or you could actually adopt cats to take home.
To the left was a large walk in cage. This was for the cats who were too ill to be released again once they walked in - the people running the sanctuary couldn't in good conscience let them back out again. We were allowed to go in here - many cats were wandering freely through the large cage although there were a few in cages on the wall. The signs said DO NOT TOUCH THE CATS IN CAGES . they might have been diseased or had something far too wrong with them for the average person to try interacting.
However strewn all over the floor were all sorts of cats. Many missing an eye or were tripods, missing a leg (Although this isn't enough to warrant them to stay here in the big cage - there was something else wrong with them), and the majority of them just wanted some love. My favourite was a big fluffy tripod that hobbled over to me. Meanwhile, a scrawny tufty black thing littler jumped up and perched itself gracefully on Dan's knee - and refused to move! In this position he attracted a few more cats, before he eventually had to extricate himself.
I played with another one for a while - it liked the toy that made noise and did not want to give it up. Many in this room were completely blind too, so we were told to move a bit slower around this room so as not to startle them.
We eventually had to leave, and stood talking with the American lady for a while. Turns out she and her husband were serial expats, and so she knew our situation quite well! I expected her to try to get us to buy something or adopt from a distance, but she didn't try to push anything. She was just happy we had come to give the cats some love. We finally had to bid them adieu, and made our way to the Pantheon.
On the way, there was a procession of military personnel holding a couple of helmets on pillows. We weren't sure if this had anything to do with what we had witnessed earlier, but did seem rather funeral-like to me. Many tourists stayed in their way of course, and there was a lot of shouting.
When we got to the Pantheon, it was rammed. Just. So. Many. People. I didn't have the energy to deal with it on an empty stomach so insisted we find somewhere for food first. We walked a little way - nothing was taking my fancy, it was all too expensive. We eventually settled on a place that was a little cheaper with a nice outdoor setting (and a Tripadvisor sticker). The service was a bit mediocre as was the pasta, but it did the job and it was tasty enough without breaking the back.
Ok. Back to tackle to Pantheon. Now that most people had headed to lunch, it was a fraction quieter. We were able to walk in straight away (a lady in front of us was turned away as she was wearing a midriff top). I had a greater appreciation this time for the sheer enormity of the dome - it's huuuuuuuuuuuge. Dan and I did a short lap - and I will always marvel that this is free to enter. You'd think they'd put a price tag on this, too!
We weren't far from the Trevi Fountain so that was the next stop. When I had been here last it had been covered in scaffolding, so I hadn't seen it properly. We knew we were getting close because of the crowds...seriously, Rome in May is awful. I can't imagine it in July - August! Anyway, we got to the fountain and I managed to secure a spot standing up on a bench. This was good for a few photos. Dan and I took a few more photos before deciding it was too chaotic, and to leave.
As we walked around the fountain, we stopped briefly on the other side. We kept hearing a whistle blaring and now we saw it's owner - a guard was blowing his whistle and shouting at everyone who was sitting on the edge of the fountain. This appeared to be his job. Kind of like the SILENCE guy at the Sistine Chapel. An Italian man confronted him after he was shouted at rather aggressively, and there was a lot of animated shouting and hand waving and even a praying hand symbol - I think the guard was eventually saying "I'm just doing my job."
It was hot. And we were stuffed. We went back to the hotel and collapsed for a while. We weren't sure what to do for dinner - we didn't want to pay too much as we had already spent quite a bit of money. Dan had the suggestion that we take a picnic to the Colosseum - which would also use another trip on our 2 day metro pass, so this is what we did. We gathered our things and ran to the supermarket in the train station, picking up a delightful Chateau de Cardboard (mostly because it was the only thing that was screw top!), a couple of pizza focaccia breads and some sweet cannelloni desserts. We were set.
We got to the Colosseum and walked around the side looking for some where to sit. On the left hand side is a tree stump where everyone has their photos taken - you have to climb over a low railing but it doesn't seem to be a problem. A little further on from that we found another tree stump and this was the perfect place for us to set up.
The next few hours passed as we sipped our wine, watched the sky turn from blue to yellow to pink to black. We took a lot of photos of the Colosseum in front of us, and the Forum to our right. Below us, a policeman kept watch (so we kept our wine hidden, just in case). We also watched as a couple had their twilight wedding photos taken in front of the ruins.
Oddly, I looked down at the tree stump at one point and noticed in the hollow that there was some rubbish. One of the pieces of trash was a hard Espresso Wine plastic cup - just like ours! We laughed and wondered where we could possibly buy some more in case we broke ours? They've been invaluable, not just for wine, but for juice in the mornings or for taking our multivitamin drinks.
Eventually the wine, limoncello and the food ran out, and the sun was fully set. We returned to the train station and went to go through the gates...BA BOW. Red light. We both looked at each other in confusion and then realised - shit! Our 2 day passes have run out! We never quite made full use of them, and now we were in a small quandary. Do we buy a train ticket (the queue was ENORMOUS), or do we just walk it?
Walk it, was the decision. It would take just as long to queue for a ticket and catch the train as it would to walk, and it was a lovely warm night. The walk took a little under half an hour and was probably a good way to walk off a little bit of the wine.
The next morning we were already heading on to Florence. Rome was never my favourite city, and it's still not, but this was a lovely note to end on and I had a fantastic time here with Dan - it was definitely elevated in my eyes.
Til next time,
xx
The train journey this morning was also a bit more pleasant - full, but not squash packed. We alighted at the Colosseum and wandered across to the ticket booth. We went to the one across from the Colosseum, which I think is the ticket booth for the Forum. I found out later there was a ticket buying queue actually at the Colosseum next to the ticket holder queue, but we ended up sauntering past all these people. I skip ahead, though.
The morning was still nice and cool, but there was a small crowd gathered in the shade while the ticket booths were in full sunshine. One or two people were at the booths, the rest in the shade. At about 8.20am, I insisted to Dan that we move over into the sun, and a few minutes later an employer came out and put ropes around where we were standing, effectively putting us right at the head of the queue. 8.30am rolled around, and we were pushed in front of once or twice but by 8.35am we had our tickets to the Colosseum and the Forum.
Over to the Colosseum by 8.36am, joined the security queue there, sauntering past the ticket buyers which I mentioned earlier. We were in by 8.45am! Perfect. It was also the perfect time to be inside - while there were already a lot of people in there, we were able to take photos relatively people free. Half an hour later when we walked around again, it was shoulder to shoulder and 2 people deep along the whole wall.
We stopped along the way reading the signs on the wall, but we had actually been around the whole area within half an hour. Wanting to get the most from our money, we did it again. This time Dan noticed a small offshoot that we had missed the first time so we peeked at that. I had wanted to do the underground tour but these were all sold out - and to be honest by this point we had some serious ruin fatigue, and we could see most of it anyway.
So that was the Colosseum! We popped out on a different side than we had gone in at, and consulted the map. Our ticket was also valid for the Forum, and the direction we wanted to travel was at the other end of the Forum, so we decided to use it as the path. The queue moved quite quickly and we were in. Initially we just thought we’d walk straight through, but it was considerably bigger than expected and we figured we might as well get our money’s worth. We sat underneath a tree on a piece of ruin and had a quick snack, looking at the giant archway and the map. The majority of the Forum was to our left, so we wandered up that way, which consisted of a lot of stairs. We emerged at a “grotto” which had been reconstructed and it was quite beautiful (and relatively cool, too).
I realised about now that going into the Colosseum any later in the day would have been pretty awful. It was quite hot by now and by going in early we had beaten the heat of the day. It was definitely sweatsville in the Forum! We spent a short while wandering through some of this, more than we intended because we got a bit trapped up the top, and ended up having to backtrack all the way back to the arch and choosing a different path.
At one point, when we reached a deadend, we overheard a rather strange conversation. I wanted to ask the guard if we could get out this way, but he was distracted by a woman asking him very odd questions. The gist being, "Is this a Roman city? As in, is this an ancient Roman city?" Um. Well. Yes. It's the original Roman city...
We weren’t sure if there was an exit at the far end, so when we saw one, we took it. Might have been a bit of a mistake. The crowd here grew and grew until it was at a complete standstill. This was because the road had been blocked off with stadium seating for either an upcoming event or an event that had just happened. This then blocked most of the footpath too, and it was a shoulder to shoulder shuffle in the blazing sun. A man selling wooden…crap…seemed to be causing a fair portion of the hold up as his stall was roadblocking the path right at the centre.
Eventually we popped through, and our next stop was the Spanish Steps. Turns out they weren’t THE Spanish Steps - it was just some steps that I always thought were...oops! They were blocked off, and there were a group of people at the top in various uniforms and states of dress. I wondered if it might be a state funeral or something - there were two pyres burning, or maybe it was some kind of military procession or graduation?
We stopped here in the shade for a little while. I was of course getting hungry, and wanted to head somewhere for food. Food would be near the Pantheon, so we plotted a course towards there, stopping in at something quite different that I would imagine not many people know about in Rome - a feral cat sanctuary. Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary is located next to a ruin that cats naturally migrated to - there are lots of hidey holes and humans are not allowed to enter. As a result, the sanctuary has positioned itself on the outskirts and offers food, water, shelter and neutering of all cats that come its way.
We got to the ruin in the height of the midday sun. It was sweltering, and I knew the sanctuary only opened at 12pm. It was exactly that now. I spotted one cat in the ruin, and thought this was all it would be. We thought we would do a lap just to see if we could see any cats in this heat, and as we continued around I noticed a sign and some steps, and someone disappearing down them. The sign for the sanctuary was down here, as were a couple of cats, so we decided to brave it.
Probably a highlight of the day - I'm so glad we wandered down those stairs! We stepped inside and immediately to our right was a gorgeous pure white cat with blue eyes that suffered through a few pats by us, before being greeted by a happy American lady. She explained the situation - the cats are free to come and go as they please - the ones that hang around inside are friendly with humans and are happy for pats. There were some cages around the walls too - a litter of kittens in one, which we gave a gentle poke even though we weren't supposed to (they were so CUTE) and a few other sleepy cats. These were for cats who were going to be adopted - you could either "adopt from a distance", by giving money which helps feed the cats and keep them healthy, or you could actually adopt cats to take home.
To the left was a large walk in cage. This was for the cats who were too ill to be released again once they walked in - the people running the sanctuary couldn't in good conscience let them back out again. We were allowed to go in here - many cats were wandering freely through the large cage although there were a few in cages on the wall. The signs said DO NOT TOUCH THE CATS IN CAGES . they might have been diseased or had something far too wrong with them for the average person to try interacting.
However strewn all over the floor were all sorts of cats. Many missing an eye or were tripods, missing a leg (Although this isn't enough to warrant them to stay here in the big cage - there was something else wrong with them), and the majority of them just wanted some love. My favourite was a big fluffy tripod that hobbled over to me. Meanwhile, a scrawny tufty black thing littler jumped up and perched itself gracefully on Dan's knee - and refused to move! In this position he attracted a few more cats, before he eventually had to extricate himself.
I played with another one for a while - it liked the toy that made noise and did not want to give it up. Many in this room were completely blind too, so we were told to move a bit slower around this room so as not to startle them.
We eventually had to leave, and stood talking with the American lady for a while. Turns out she and her husband were serial expats, and so she knew our situation quite well! I expected her to try to get us to buy something or adopt from a distance, but she didn't try to push anything. She was just happy we had come to give the cats some love. We finally had to bid them adieu, and made our way to the Pantheon.
On the way, there was a procession of military personnel holding a couple of helmets on pillows. We weren't sure if this had anything to do with what we had witnessed earlier, but did seem rather funeral-like to me. Many tourists stayed in their way of course, and there was a lot of shouting.
When we got to the Pantheon, it was rammed. Just. So. Many. People. I didn't have the energy to deal with it on an empty stomach so insisted we find somewhere for food first. We walked a little way - nothing was taking my fancy, it was all too expensive. We eventually settled on a place that was a little cheaper with a nice outdoor setting (and a Tripadvisor sticker). The service was a bit mediocre as was the pasta, but it did the job and it was tasty enough without breaking the back.
Ok. Back to tackle to Pantheon. Now that most people had headed to lunch, it was a fraction quieter. We were able to walk in straight away (a lady in front of us was turned away as she was wearing a midriff top). I had a greater appreciation this time for the sheer enormity of the dome - it's huuuuuuuuuuuge. Dan and I did a short lap - and I will always marvel that this is free to enter. You'd think they'd put a price tag on this, too!
We weren't far from the Trevi Fountain so that was the next stop. When I had been here last it had been covered in scaffolding, so I hadn't seen it properly. We knew we were getting close because of the crowds...seriously, Rome in May is awful. I can't imagine it in July - August! Anyway, we got to the fountain and I managed to secure a spot standing up on a bench. This was good for a few photos. Dan and I took a few more photos before deciding it was too chaotic, and to leave.
As we walked around the fountain, we stopped briefly on the other side. We kept hearing a whistle blaring and now we saw it's owner - a guard was blowing his whistle and shouting at everyone who was sitting on the edge of the fountain. This appeared to be his job. Kind of like the SILENCE guy at the Sistine Chapel. An Italian man confronted him after he was shouted at rather aggressively, and there was a lot of animated shouting and hand waving and even a praying hand symbol - I think the guard was eventually saying "I'm just doing my job."
It was hot. And we were stuffed. We went back to the hotel and collapsed for a while. We weren't sure what to do for dinner - we didn't want to pay too much as we had already spent quite a bit of money. Dan had the suggestion that we take a picnic to the Colosseum - which would also use another trip on our 2 day metro pass, so this is what we did. We gathered our things and ran to the supermarket in the train station, picking up a delightful Chateau de Cardboard (mostly because it was the only thing that was screw top!), a couple of pizza focaccia breads and some sweet cannelloni desserts. We were set.
We got to the Colosseum and walked around the side looking for some where to sit. On the left hand side is a tree stump where everyone has their photos taken - you have to climb over a low railing but it doesn't seem to be a problem. A little further on from that we found another tree stump and this was the perfect place for us to set up.
The next few hours passed as we sipped our wine, watched the sky turn from blue to yellow to pink to black. We took a lot of photos of the Colosseum in front of us, and the Forum to our right. Below us, a policeman kept watch (so we kept our wine hidden, just in case). We also watched as a couple had their twilight wedding photos taken in front of the ruins.
Oddly, I looked down at the tree stump at one point and noticed in the hollow that there was some rubbish. One of the pieces of trash was a hard Espresso Wine plastic cup - just like ours! We laughed and wondered where we could possibly buy some more in case we broke ours? They've been invaluable, not just for wine, but for juice in the mornings or for taking our multivitamin drinks.
Eventually the wine, limoncello and the food ran out, and the sun was fully set. We returned to the train station and went to go through the gates...BA BOW. Red light. We both looked at each other in confusion and then realised - shit! Our 2 day passes have run out! We never quite made full use of them, and now we were in a small quandary. Do we buy a train ticket (the queue was ENORMOUS), or do we just walk it?
Walk it, was the decision. It would take just as long to queue for a ticket and catch the train as it would to walk, and it was a lovely warm night. The walk took a little under half an hour and was probably a good way to walk off a little bit of the wine.
The next morning we were already heading on to Florence. Rome was never my favourite city, and it's still not, but this was a lovely note to end on and I had a fantastic time here with Dan - it was definitely elevated in my eyes.
Til next time,
xx
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