My boyfriend and I chose to do something different. We needed a holiday. But instead of just travelling to Rome for a week, we decided to take on Rome as well as the famed Amalfi Coast.. It definitely wasn't a relaxing type of holiday where you eat pizza by the pool and don't move further away from the usual hotel-colosseum-restaurant-hotel route. It was a full-on-active holiday. But looking back, I wouldn't change a thing if I could. We spent two days in Rome, four days in the Amalfi Coast and then another 1,5 days in Rome. And we walked a lot. We cycled a lot. But most importantly - we saw a lot. We used all kinds of transport, from train and bus to scooter and metro! It was exhausting, but soooooo worth it. We will definitely be reminiscing about these holidays even when I'm 90..
Rome needs no introduction. The City of God has always been in my bucket list, but I had never got around to visit it.. This captivating city is a mix of haunting sights, amazing art and vibrant street life and I can easily label it as one of the world's most beautiful and inspiring capitals.
To see more of Rome, we decided to rent bycicles.. and it was a great plan! We saw so much more and I could eat more pizza!!!
I got to visit a bistrot I had read about (a restaurant every catlover needs to pay a visit to) - Romeow Cat Bistrot! This half vegan cafe was a love at first sight. And so were the six beautiful kitties living in there..
Romeow..
Before heading to our first cultural visit, we had to have the national food and drink first! Two Aperol Spritz, one Caprese Salad and a Diavolo Pizza was exactly what we expected and even more.. We cycled to a random restaurant (called Rendez Vouz) that served us excellent food and had a charming terrace with lights.. Recommend!
The first night we visited the famous Vatican Museums that contain masterpieces of painting, sculpture and other works of art collected by the popes through the centuries. The Museums include several monumental works of art, such as the Sistine Chapel, the Chapel of Beato Angelico, the Raphael Rooms and Loggia and the Borgia Apartment. And you can imagine how beautiful and magical it looked at night..
The next day we took on the Colosseum, Palantine Museum and the Roman Forum tour. It was quite a walk, but it was really a walk back in time.. The Roman Forum was just enchanting. Originally a marsh, the Romans drained the area and turned it into a centre of political and social activity. The Forum was the marketplace of Rome and also the business district and civic centre. This is a sight you must see when in Rome!
When construction was completed on the Colosseum in 80AD it was the largest amphitheatre built in all of Rome and could house over fifty thousand people! Although it is a magnificent sight, there is a dark side that is not as beautiful as the place itself.. The Colosseum was built primarily to entertain the masses in brutal and barbaric games. Some were beast on beast combat to the death. Others were people fighting animals to the death, while the most popular was the human on human combat. It gets worse! The gladiators were slaves, often captured in war, that were trained in special schools to fight each other to the death. Thank god those days are over..
The next day we headed towards the South.. Like Rome wasn't built in a day, I will work on my next post and soon you can read about my Amalfi adventures! :)