"Rome - Ruins, History and Vibrance" a Rome Travel Page by Mikebb

We arrived at Leonardo Da Vinci airport Rome early evening and after an hour's wait for our luggage we exited customs into the hustle and bustle of this large airport. We decided to take the easiest way to our hotel and hired a taxi. It was dark and on the long trip to the city centre, at extremely high speeds, I wondered if we were being ripped off, when suddenly we came over a hill and in front of us stood the Coliseum, brilliantly lit up and looking absolutely magnificant. During the next minute or two we saw many ruins, all superbly lit and I thought how lucky we were. All thoughts of being "ripped off" quickly vanished and we were immediately won over by Rome.
We quickly checked into our hotel and as the night was still young the urge was to get out and have a quick look, we received a street map from reception and were told the Spanish Steps and restaurants were 5 minutes walk. Every step was a new adventure and upon reaching the Spanish Steps we saw a typical movie scene of young lovers in the night, sitting and standing on the steps, flower sellers selling single roses and everyone enjoying themselves. We knew we were going to enjoy our Roman Holiday.

We had 4 days to ourselves before we were to join a Coach Tour, a good time to be at leisure and do the things we wanted, to be able to do as much or as little as we liked, to sleep in or linger several hours over lunch. Some of these days were extremely long as we got caught up sightseeing, however we always found time to find a traditional Italian restaurant for the evening meal. These little restaurants are all over Rome and give you the opportunity to enjoy local food at reasonable prices and observe local families enjoying themselves.

We found we could walk to most of the major sites, made easier by planning your route prior to leaving the hotel. As it was late September the weather was kind to us, warm but not unbearable. We visited the Villa Borghese, situated in a beautiful park, only to find it was closed and the lesson learnt is that most museums close on Monday.

The metro rail gives a good coverage of Rome and we used it a few times but preferred to walk where ever possible as it gave us a greater insight to Rome and its people, the opportunity to go down that little lane and be surprised, the opportunity for my wife to quickly pop into this shop and that, all missed when you are underground. However the metro is great for those who have limited time or are exhausted.

We arranged a 13 day tour of specific cities within northern Italy and found it most enjoyable, good value, a fountain of information and enjoyed good companions. We had been touring by ourselves for 5 weeks of a 9 week holiday and planned the coach tour to enable us to enjoy the companionship of people our own age. Our tour director was magnificant, the guides provided at various sights were knowledgeable and spoke English with an accent we could understand, all guides provided commentary through the use of " Whispers" technology which enabled you hear what was being said even though you may be 30 metres away. The tour enabled us to see and enjoy many more sights than we could do ourselves in the limited time available.

Places visited on this tour were Rome, Pisa, Florence, Milan, Lake Maggiore, Lugano ( Switzerland), Verona, Venice, Ravenna, Assissi, Pompeii, Naples, Capri, Sorrento, Montecassino, returning to Rome.