Rome, Italy

My first semana blanca (or vacation week) consisted of five different cities in three different countries. Needless to say, we packed in a boatload of places to see in such a short time. We left the bus station in Granada at midnight to Madrid. Once in Madrid, we took the metro system to the airport, honestly Madrid had the nicest metro system I have ever seen... ever. We arrived in Rome at about noon, and we were off! We started by finding the way to our hostel, which ended up being quite far from the city center, but we managed to figure out the metro system fairly quickly. It was our first experience in a hostel with a room full of bunk beds, although the worst hostel we stayed in on our vacation, I can't complain because it was safe, the owner was helpful, the other people in our room were extremely quiet when we were sleeping and nothing got stolen... in my book a good place to stay! So my days broken down with pictures:

I left for a 10 day vacation with only a backpack and a small purse. Pretty proud of that.

Friday: We arrived early afternoon, so after getting settled into our hostel, we just went down to the city center, got gelato and walked around to get a feel for the downtown area. 

At the Plaza del Popolo, one of the most famous plazas in Rome.

Overlooking the plaza.

There were people all over Rome doing this for money, by the end of the trip after seeing so many of them, I finally figured out how they do it... with a little help from my Physics memory.

Pictures don't do justice, but I thought Rome has the most beautiful buildings and streets ever. (Once I ignored the giant tourist trap it was.)

Gelato #1: Mint Chocolate Chip and Nutella. You better believe it was amazing!

The Spanish Steps. No matter the time of day or day of the week, there are always hundreds of people gathered around these steps just hanging out.

 Saturday: Our tourist day began at 9am, by visiting the Colosseum. Surprisingly, there was zero line since we arrived so early and was much cheaper than we expected. Needless to say, the day started off great! We visited quite a few ruins, ate lunch and finished our evening at the Vatican City and the Trevi Fountain. Needless to say, it was a busy, hot day, but we saw some amazing sights!

The first view when entering the Colosseum.

The view from inside the Colosseum looking out.

Each level gave a more spectacular view than the previous.

Maria, Nicole, Julia and I.

After leaving the Colosseum, we visited other ruins around another stadium.

Obsessed with these trees.

Overlooking Rome, again, one of the most beautiful cities I've been to.

Ruins on ruins on ruins. We didn't take any official tours through these, so I'm not quite sure on the history here, all I know is it's thousands of years old, quite amazing to think about.

Outside the Vatican.

Gelato #2: Lemon, Strawberry and Pineapple.

The Vatican is full of amazing art, but since I was a little exhausted and there were millions of people inside, I didn't take too many pictures.

Impressing ceilings.

It may or may not be prohibited to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel, but Michelangelo's paintings were amazingly detailed.

"You are what you eat."

The Trevi Fountain.

Throwing in my coin.

Sunday: Since we made all of our major stops on Saturday, we decided Sunday would be a day to just roam around Rome and see what we could find, our destination being the Mouth of Truth.

Gelato #3: Strawberry, melon and pineapple.

Listening to some soldiers play their instruments and sing what appeared to be the Italy National Anthem.

Beautiful trees while walking along the river.

The Mouth of Truth. The myth says if you say a lie with your hand inside, it will bite off your hand. I wanted to tell a lie so bad, but I actually just stood for a picture and forgot about saying anything at all. Boring, I know.

My favorite view of Rome that we just randomly walked to.

The Spanish Steps from the top.

Gelato #4: Nutella.

The metro system we dominated!

I can truthfully say that I successfully navigated my way through Rome! With a little help from a map and a metro system, anything is possible. Sunday evening, we took our first ride share to Florence, Italy. Although the car was extremely small, our driver was friendly and we made it there!