Rome, April 2016

We allowed ourselves almost three full days in Rome, our third stop, as we knew there would be so much to see. It probably was the most tiring part of the trip as we were walking such big distances around the city! On the first day, we conquered the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. It really is amazing to see these sites in real life as they are iconic, but you can't really picture how vast they are until you're there. Even in April it was boiling, but I would advise any ladies to take something to cover your shoulders/legs out with you as many of the religious sites won't let you enter with too much skin on show – I had to do a slight detour on our first day to run back to the hotel to get a cover-up, as our hotel was really near the Santa Maria Maggiore, and as we were walking past we could see they were about to start a sermon which was worth witnessing.

Our second day we visited the Vatican City and I would advise you to definitely pre-book your tickets as the queue is long. Be aware though there are a lot of tickets that are trying to charge you more but don't fall into the trap – You don't actually need to pay to go into the Saint Peters Basilica so you won't need any tickets that seemingly handily combined both entries for only a small extra price. We actually came back at a later date to visit the Basilica as we were exhausted after walking about the Vatican City Museums. The Sistine chapel is as amazing as you could imagine and of course the highlight although there are some, of course, other interesting things to see along the way. In hindsight I probably would recommend getting a tour as the museums are so big, a tour guide can really help you pick out the important pieces. We tagged onto as many tour groups we could find, including a perfectly timed moment in which the tour guide was explaining that the ceiling was painted in a special way to make it look 3D which you definitely wouldn't notice until you were told!



On our last day in Rome we spent it wandering around finding the rest of the famous sites like the Spanish Steps, (unfortunately during a refurbishment so not quite as dramatic as they look on pictures online) the Trevi fountain and the Victor Emmanuel II monument. We managed a brief look at the Torre Argentina Roman Cat Sanctuary (as cute as it sounds) but if you're looking for something to give you a little rest from the busy center I would advise visiting the Museo Orto Botanico. The park is in the Janiculum area of Rome and there are quite a few nice looking traditional restaurants nearby. The park itself is good too, really relaxing and I also always enjoy a bit of nature when I can find it!