Rome trip

After buying ticket we started to think about accommodation. First we tried couchsurfing even if we knew that it’s more difficult to find it for three people. Fortunately we were lucky and we found place to stay by this website.

When we arrived to the airport Ciampino, we were surprised how hot weather is there. We were waiting for a bus to the centre and then we were supposed to take another bus to get to the flat of our host, Luigi. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) he couldn’t meet us immediately when we arrived so on our way to his flat, we hopped off the bus in the square Piazza di Venezia. We were totally amazed by such huge buildings, monuments that we didn’t even have words. We were slowly walking to the Colosseum looking around, enjoying the beauty of this historical city!

After that we took the bus and we went to the flat of Luigi. He came by scooter wearing suit. He showed us his flat, his bathroom and “our” bathroom, our room, kitchen, he explained how to use everything in his flat. He also offered to us to take whatever we want from his fridge. We could make a coffee, tea.. Everything! He gave us the second key and he left to his work.

After chilling time we decided to go to Vatican. We visited also the Castle Sant’Angelo. Unfortunately we didn’t go to the St. Peter’s Basilica because we were late. In the evening we got back, we bought pizza and we were waiting for our host. He came home and he cooked for us. Of course we had to help him and that part was really funny! He just told us what to do.. “Take this, do this, put it there…” As appetizer we were eating zucchini flowers stuffed with cheese and small fish battered in flour and egg. The main dish was pasta carbonara and after that we had toast with mushrooms. It was delicious!! We were drinking white wine too. We were talking. It was such a great evening!

The day after we got up quite early but it took some time to leave the flat so we left at about 10 o’clock. Our plan was to visit Colosseum, Palatino, Monument of Victor Emmanuel II and Fontana di Trevi. We followed the advice and we went to Palatino first because there weren’t so many people and the ticket was valid for Colosseum too. At this moment I have to mention really funny story.

One of our friend gave us the confirmation of studying architecture to fill it and then we could have free entrance to all monuments. The first day we didn’t have problem with that, in the castle we got the ticket without problems. In Palatino we showed the confirmation and the lady told us that she has to see some student card where is written that we study architecture. That was problem for us so I started to tell her that usually they don’t write the field of studies to the student cards and that we are on Erasmus in Thessaloniki at the moment. She insisted to see something so I showed her my Greek student card (paso) where is written that I study filology but in Greek alphabet! Even if she couldn’t read it, she seemed satisfied and she gave us the free tickets!

Well, let’s get back to our second day. So first we went to Palatino, we were walking there for a long time because it’s really huge. It was also very hot weather, I cannot imagine being there without hat!  The good thing is that there are everywhere places where you can fill your bottle with the fresh water! After Palatino we went to Colosseum, it was also amazing. Near Colosseum we found the restaurant to eat pizza for a lunch. After lunch we were walking to Fontana di Trevi, unfortunately it has been in reconstruction. When we were walking back, we found Pantheon – really big rotonda, much bigger than in Thessaloniki and very beautiful inside!

To make our day even better we bought tasty Italian ice-cream and we were walking back to Piazza di Venezia. Unfortunately we got lost a bit but then we fortunately found the way to the square. We wanted to go inside to the Monument of Victor Emmanuel II, unfortunately it was closed at that time. So we just went to the shop because we decided to make Greek salad so we needed to buy some vegetable, olives Kalamata and of course feta cheese. When we arrived to the flat, we prepared the salad, we were relaxing and waiting for Luigi. He came back, he helped us to find oregano and he cooked for us again – pasta amatriciana. It was very tasty. We were also happy that Luigi liked our salad.

We went to sleep early because at 5 o’clock in the morning we had to leave to the airport. Luigi was so nice, he took us to the airport by car even if it was so early! We had wonderful time in Rome and we wanna come back there for sure. Two days are definitely not enough for such a historical city full of stunning monuments!