Roma 26th March 2011

Roma 26th March 2011

Coloseeum
Colosseum
We woke up at around 8am and left the hostel at about 9am as we planned to see a lot that day also. We went straight to the Colosseum, we walked from our hostel as it is in walking distance. It took approximately 15 minutes and is a nice way to see Rome. We did not purchase tickets in advance which I would highly recommend you do when you go to Rome if you are not going as part of a tour. The queues are ridiculous especially during high season. We were there in March which isn't particularly hot but it was still very busy.  There are several tour guides around the Colosseum touting for business, I would recommend a tour if you are not aware of the Ancient history as my friends and I were not so a tour would have been quite helpful. The rates are pretty reasonable but shop around and you also may be able to haggle. You could also try to tag along with the tours whilst in the Colosseum as no one will really know that you are not part of the tour group.

Palatine Hill
Roman Ruins (Palatine Hill)
We started queuing and one of the tour guides gave us a tip that it would be quicker to queue at the Palatine Hill where the Roman ruins are. There was a queue but was considerably shorter than the one for the Colosseum. We bought tickets for the Palatine Hill and the Colosseum together. I cannot recall the price of the ticket but it was around €16 but slightly less for Europeans under 26. Palatine Hill is quite pretty and interesting to walk around. We were there for about 2 hours then had lunch and gelato at a nearby restaurant.
Palatine Hill

Inside Colosseum
After lunch we went to the Colosseum and as we had tickets for it from the Palatine Hill we didn't have to queue. The Colosseum was far better than I expected. There is so much to see, different levels and a lot of literature to take in. There are several different views and full of perfect picture opportunities. After the Colosseum it was about 3pm so we went back to the hostel and took a nap before we went out again for dinner.

Linguine
Prawn Salad
Although all the food in Rome we have had so far has been incredible we wanted to try some food at a less touristy place where real Italians eat. We took a bus from Termini station to an area called Trastevere. The bus was cheap, at around €1.50. You can buy the tickets on the bus and then validate it but the bus inspectors never came on the bus when we were there and even if they did you could probably play the 'dumb tourist card' and pretend you didn't know you had to validate your ticket. Bus tickets can also be used for the metro. It was about a 10 minute journey. We then found a restaurant where there were several Italians, it took a while for us to be seated but the food was well worth it. I had a prawn salad, Dawn had a cheese and ham Calzone which I tried and was very filling and tasty. Porter had a linguine, after dinner we had our bi daily dose of gelato. There are several bars in this area so we went to a bar and had some drinks, there were several people there of several nationalities which was nice. There were still some souvenir stores open also, there are a few streets on a grid system where the bars are along with more restaurants. After drinks we got the bus back to the hostel. The buses run quite late into the night, up until 1am if I recall. If yo decide to stay later you could also take a taxi as it's not that far from the hostel.  As soon as our heads hit the pillow of our beds, we were out like a light.


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