Day 2 - Vatican City & the Trevi Fountain | Rome, Italy

It was a beautiful day in Rome again and we decided have a day exploring Vatican City (partly to say we'd been to another country!) Firstly we decided to walk over to the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore and this time I took a cardigan to cover my shoulders (its disrespectful to have bare shoulders/knees and you will be refused entry). It was beautiful inside, with tall windows which let in the bright sunshine. It was quite strange to see nuns and priests walk by in their robes.

 There were a lot of confession booths for people of all different languages. I couldn't find a Chinese one though, despite so many tourists being Chinese - I wonder if the priest would have been Chinese too?! Each of the booths had a light on the top so you would know if the booth was vacant or not (they're modern now days!)

L-R 1) An ice cream vendor. 2) Outside the Basilica. 3) Inside the Basilica. 4) One of the worship rooms inside

Soon after we headed to get the metro to go to Vatican City, an independent state towards the outskirts of Rome. The large walls bounding the city could be seen from quite far away and the familiar dome really stood out. We followed a tourist group hoping to get inside, before realizing we'd come to the exit for the museum.I told Ian it must be around the next corner.. so we kept walking - big mistake! The more and more we walked the fewer tourists (or any people for that matter) there were. Each corner we hoped to find an entrance but it was either another corner or another hill!  We kept walking, and walking, and walking and walking (it really was a lot of walking) for what must of been an hour, thinking
 a) where are the rest of the tourists?
  and b) there must be another entrance!
                                                 
After walking in the midday sun for over an hour we finally reached the entrance, realizing we'd walked around the whole of the outside walls of Vatican City! By the time we arrived inside, although very impressed with the view of St Peter's square (which I kept calling St Mark's ha ha) all we really wanted was to sit down!

L-R 1) The back of Vatican city - where the long walk began! 2) Inside the walls of Vatican City. 3) A view of St Peters square. 4) Inside St Peter's Basilica

We went into St Peter's Basilica, the church located in Vatican City. Vatican City is a very religious place and people come from all over the world to the Pope's services (unfortunately he wasn't in when we was there, on a serious note we did wonder where he lives?). The Basilica is huge and filled with beautifully carved statues and shrines. Every piece of floor and wall is covered in paintings and statues to the tiniest minute detail. After having a look around, we walked around St Peter's square and noticed that the city itself was very Stepford-wives esque (i.e very clean,spotless and apart from the 1000's of tourists not very lived in). We didn't fancy going into the museums, partly because we were on a budget and partly because we were so tired from walking. We was going to go up to the Sistine Chapel.. but we forgot..!

We headed back to the metro station, half annoyed because our feet were killing, half quite proud of ourselves for walking around the whole of Vatican city. We got the metro to where the Trevi Fountain was.. except it was nowhere near the metro stop. We managed to follow the map, Ian got us lost and we walked around in a circle (twice) but eventually he got us there (and coped with me moaning about my poor feet!). It was heaving with tourists taking photographs, eating ice cream and throwing cents into the fountain. We only had a ten cents so threw that in and hoped for the best ha ha. But then Ian spotted a one cent on the floor so we threw that in (surely that's extra luck?!). Guys with Polaroid cameras kept offering to take our photo in front of the fountain but (after the Roman incident) we were wise to them now and firmly told them to (ahem) go away! 

The Trevi Fountain

L-R 1) Standing on the Spanish Steps. 2) At the Trevi fountain. 3) A photo together. 4) A view of the church from the bottom of the Spanish steps.



On the map we could see that the famous Spanish steps were close by and so followed the path down the beautiful Italian back streets to get there. NB there are a lot of high class designer shops en-route so don't take too much money out if you think you may be tempted! We were surprised by the number of tourists and locals sat and crowded around the steps, chatting, taking photographs and admiring the scenery. We took a walk up and went inside the church at the top, looking out over an amazing view of the tops of the buildings over Rome.

A view from the bottom of the Spanish Steps

A view from the top of the Spanish Steps

For dinner that evening we'd planned to run down to the mcdonalds near the Termini (classy.. and very Italian!) but we were starving and didn't fancy getting dressed up. Also despite it only being a four day trip we was on a 'travelers' budget rather than a holiday 'going out' kind of budget so didn't mind the cheap food options. But on the way we passed a nice looking restaurant called Twin bar, opposite the Termini. They did pizza and pasta and had some good deals so we went in and were surprised when the outdoor eating area was actually really nice. It was fairly quiet, with candles on the tables and a projector set up playing a music video quietly. I had spaghetti and Ian had pizza, we had chips and some real Italian garlic bread too (so good!) and we was really impressed. It came to just over 20 euros so for an evening meal out, with drinks too so we was really happy (and satisfied we'd had local Italian cuisine).

After, we took a walk to the Coliseum as we really wanted to see it at night. It was so pretty all lit up and there were much fewer tourists so it was really quiet. We had a walk around, took some photos and made the most of the gorgeous warm weather (avoiding men dressed as Roman gladiators of course!).

Things we learned...

• Take a cardigan/shawl - this is essential if its hot and your wearing summery clothes. Many of the churches/cathedrals will insist that your shoulders are covered and that your skirt/shorts/dress covers your knees. Some places have big blanket-like things that you can wrap around you whilst you go inside, but many don't!
• Watch out for beggars - unfortunately Rome still has a lot of poverty and beggars are often seen near tourist attractions and metro stations. Some will ask you for money and some will simply lie on the floor holding out a cup for donations. Some can be a distressing sight and although there's not much you can do, it's better to be prepared to see them.
• The Chinese community - have lots of shops and restaurants  in the Central station district near the termini and we found that a huge majority speak very little English so if you engage with them be prepared to do a lot of hand signals!
• Zebra crossings - don't always mean that traffic will stop like back in the UK. Most cars and mopeds just do what they want and whilst some will stop and allow you to cross, a lot of the time you have to force them to stop by starting to cross. 
• Men trying to sell roses and photographs - crowd the tourist areas, especially the Trevi fountain. Many will try to offer you a rose for free, before turning to your unsuspecting partner and demanding money. Make your 'no' firm and they will leave you alone. 
• Avoid buying souvenirs near the attractions - stallholders crowd the main tourist attractions, offering the same gifts for up to 3x the price that they are away from the tourist areas.