Rome, Naples, Pompeii OH MY!

My course has been completed and I decided I needed to get out of Barcelona for a bit, and on top of my list was Rome.  I decided to take a 3 night, 4-day trip by myself to discover the ancient city.

After traveling to London and with everything that I would have done differently, I now know how to pack and travel lightly.  I know how the airport functions and that I do not need to be there 2 hours before, like O’Hare.  So everything went smoothly on my trip to Rome.  No glitches!  That was feat and I was so happy about it.

So I arrived in Rome on Monday, September 3 @ 10am.  I made it to my hostel and everything went smoothly.  I decided I wanted to go see the Colosseum first since it was nice out and I would be mainly outside when I was touring it.  It was OUTSTANDING.  I cannot believe that I was walking around the inside of the Colosseum.  Only about 30% of the building remains, meaning that this was a HUGE building when it was fully intake. I also didn’t realize that this was not a blood bath, with the gladiators trying to kill each other.  It was more of a match until the other gladiator either gave up or was hurt too badly to go on, not until their death.  However the bigger shows were when the gladiators fought the lions.

You can see my picture where the main floor was; it was made of wood with sand on top of it for quick cleanup of blood and guts by simply sweeping it.  Underneath the “stage” are many tunnels and channels where the animals and gladiators stayed during the show.  The workers were like a machine cranking the lions on the stage by a lift by pure manpower.  When a lion was incorporated in the show it was kept in solidarity and darkness for 3 days straight.  When the was lifted on stage lion it was blinded by the light of the sun and the gladiator had an advantage for a while.

(Inside the Colosseum)

(Roman Forum)

The Kings and royalty lived across the way in their palaces.  There are tunnels leading from their castles to the Colosseum, which gave a clue as to where the king would sit during the fight.  Right up close!  The rest of crowd was divided into class with the highest sitting closest.  Women were up the highest.  There are prostitute houses right outside the Colosseum where the men would go while waiting for their wives to come down from the top of the Colosseum after the show.  The Colosseum fights took place once a month or twice a month, it was not a weekly or daily match like today’s sports.

The Trevi Fountain was beautiful and I threw in some coins, so we will see!  But I was surprised that buildings seemed to be surrounding the fountain very closely, I guess I was expecting a bigger square.  Either way the fountain was outstanding.

I then walked up to the Spanish Steps and had the best pasta carbonara for dinner.  The Spanish Steps were full of people just sitting around talking, drinking and having a great time.  While I was sitting there someone people were getting a bar crawl together.  So of course I went on it!  I won the chugging contest, thanks again Iowa!

(The Spanish Steps)

(On our pubcrawl)

Day 2 consisted of the Vatican City!  It was breath taking; I didn’t believe I would be that blown away until I went.  And it is HUGE!  I went on a tour and learned a lot about the statues, paintings and building in general.  It’s awesome that the Vatican City is its own state, with its own post office and the Swiss army is the military personal.  Not sure why though.

(View from on top of the dome)

(Sistine Chapel)

The Sistine Chapel was far more than I expected. The Renaissance artists including Michelangelo, Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino and Pinturicchio’a work are indescribable.  The colors and detail are so extraordinary that it boggles my mind. It was amazing to be in the official residence of Pope Benedict XVI.

After the Sistine Chapel I wanted to climb the dome of Saint Peter’s Basilica.  It was about 530 steps to the top and it was definitely a workout.  While I was climbing the steps had to conform to the dome shape, so at times I had to squeeze through little corridors that were slanted.  Once I got to the top I had a beautiful view of Rome.  Saint Peter’s is ginormous and exquisite, the statues, tile and color are amazing.

(Saint Peter's Basilica)

After a long day of walking around the Vatican City I went back to the hostel to take a nap.  After I woke up, I was getting ready to walk around again and I met a girl from Australia.  Her name was Lany and we ended up hanging out the rest of my time in Rome.  We walked around the city that night. 

Day 3 we decided to go to Pompeii.  It was a 2 hour train ride to Naples and then a 30 minute metro ride to Pompeii, we were up for the challenge in one day! Pompeii is a city located near a volcano that erupted in 79 AD that partially destroyed and buried the city under 13-20 feet of ash.  This suffocated the entire city and no one survived.  Walking through the streets of Pompeii was very sad but amazing how you could tell that this was once a thriving city.  Many of the buildings are still standing and you can make out the kitchen areas and bedroom areas.  Some of the original tile and paint are still on the walls.  This cobblestone city has a total of 42 watering fountains through out and most are used as drinking fountains now. 

(In one of the Pompeii homes, you can tell this was a kitchen)

(There were many pots and people covered in ash, very sad)

After a full day of walking around Pompeii, we headed back to Rome and stopped in Naples to walk around a bit.  Naples is disgusting!  The people are rude, the streets are filthy and I would never go back.

My last day in Rome had come and I wanted to see the Pantheon.  It is a 2,000-year-old temple of the Roman gods.  It is one of the oldest buildings in all of Italy and one of the best preserved.  It was beautiful inside and is used by the Roman Catholic Church today.

The food in Rome was pretty good, however, Lou Malnati's and Maggianos has way better pizza and pasta. Maybe I just didn't go to the right places but I was not blown away by the food.

(was very good, but not the best! Chicago still has the best)

My time in Rome was amazing and I met a lot of great people.  However, it was nice to go back to Barcelona.  Barcelona feels like my home base and I was excited to return.  And even more exciting than coming back to Barcelona is that Nic and I are moving today!  We are moving into the coolest/biggest/Spanish apartment!  It is exactly what we wanted and have been looking for during this past month!  I cannot wait J