Rome - Part I

Rome has always intrigue me ever since I got so immensely hooked into the famous computer game 'Caesar III' during my uni days. I recall the countless days and weeks spending pretty much every spare time I can find to play the game. The opportunity came during my stay Ireland that I could visit the open air museum on Roma itself.

Spend a few hours going through the budget airlines( not too budget too in terms of ringgit malaysia) like Aerlingus and Ryanair to search for cheap airfares and cosy accomodation and after some damage on the wallet, I finally got myself a plane to Rome and a 3 star accomodation.

Next is the tremendous work of surfing through the net to look for famous and nice place to visit in Roma while I'm there for 3 days. It's no easy task to plan for travel route with potential food joints bundled in, just in case me and wife is hungry. After a few hours of intense research I have listed potential places to visit in a screenshot below.




Mostly googled out from google map, helps a lot when traveling, have a printout just in case.

The regret of traveling in europe during december is that the continent goes dark around 4.00pm, that limits a lot of good sun light for traveling. We landed in Fumicino airport and took the terravision bus to Termini. The terravision website is of no help either, I ended up on a bus to termini for about 1.5 hours and then taking the metrobus( aka underground rail in Rome) to Lepanto. Another 15 minutes walk and looking at the map, I finally found the Diplomatic Hotel. The hotel is quite cosy and nice for it's price and the proximity with the Vatican City.

Off we went to the Vatican city after unloading the luggage.


St. Peter Basilic Church at rome.


The large oval area outside of the famous cathedral or church.


Nice water fountain at the oval centre.


It's rather dark even at 3.00pm



Right smacked at the centre of the round area lies this obelisk from the Circus of Nero. Not sure if St. Peter was cruxified here.


It's almost Christmas eve, the festive mood.


The layout of St. Peter Basilica Church

Vatican city is a sovereign state in Rome, it has it's own police force, administration and some of the sites in Rome are also controlled by Vatican city. It's the city where the pope lives since I don't know when, well just google Vatican City.


St. Pietro( in italian or latin) not sure, in the evening sun.

The interior is filled with immensely crafted decoration, you get carried away easily, it's so beautiful and serene too. First, I apologize the poor photo quality.


The main hallway of the cathedral, right at the centre lies the Bernini Canopy, Bernini is a famous artiste.


To the right side of the main aisle.


To the left side of the main aisle.


The list of popes that dates back to St. Peter

After immensely wonderful tour, we stopped by via Borgo Pio to have some authentic italian food. The food was rather average, we continued out tour around rome after that. More to come...

Rome - Part II

After the late lunch at Borgio Pio, the sun has set, as me and my wife walks across the nearest bridge towards Vatican city, crossing the river Tiber, I took a magnificent shot of river Tiber at evening.



River Tiber on the evening.


We then walk around the city of Rome. Rome street is small and cobbled, a typical ancient city look and feel. After venturing around, we reached the "Pantheon" or the "Temple of all Gods". The ancient gods are no longer at Pantheon, Rome has undergone the Christian faith ever since. The temple is still very well maintained.


Pantheon at night.


Inside Pantheon, there are lots of pictures about christanity.

Inside Pantheon


Another picture in Pantheon


Top dome of the Pantheon

After visiting the Pantheon, we walked on and search for the Trevi Fountain. The fountain was built during ancient Roman period and was subsequently built in later years to this grandeur. The water supplying the fountain to this very day is sourced from the aqueduct built by the ancient romans.


Night shot of Trevi Fountain.

By now it is already 7pm. A peculiar trait of italian restaurant is that dinner is served after 7pm, you can't find a single restaurant open prior 7pm. So we managed to search for a nice cosy restaurant named L'Archetto. As recommended by a host of online tourist guides, this restaurant is known for good food and appropriate pricing.


L'Archetto small dining table with servlet.


Nice cosy environment with small dining tables.


I asked for the L'Archetto spaghetti


Wife asked for 'Chanel' spaghetti.

The food was served promptly and the portion is quite big and also very tasty. After finishing the delicious dinner, we then begin our journey back to the hotel.


The small cosy restaurant L'Archetto

It was quite a long walk, nevertheless, it was very enjoyable to walk in the streets of rome at night.

Rome - Part III

With a full schedule ahead of us, we woke up early and had a simple cosy breakfast at the hotel. I ordered a 'latte' and headed to the buffet counter for some chilled food. Unknowingly, 'latte' is actually steamed milk sans the coffee. Latte is alwiz known to be coffee with milk in Malaysia.


Our next plan would be the Colosseo or the Colosseum. It would require using the metrebus. Metrebus is the underground train serving from the ancient rome to the newer suburbs. A full day metrebus service only costs euro 4 dollars. It's actually a bargain since some of the famous sites are quite far apart, with the metrebus you can reach your destination is rather short time.


Please be extra careful when using the metrebus, there are a lot of pick pockets in Rome. Yours truly had an encounter with the pick pockets, luckily my pockets are well 'locked', those useless bum had tried and even though caught, they are not really ashamed or scared.



Colosseum during early morning.



Arch of Constantine beside the grand Colosseum.


Stone slab at the Colosseum or originally known as Flavian Amphitheatre.


The Colosseo's history


The visit to Rome is incomplete without visiting the famous stadium, the Colosseo. With euro 15 dollars poorer, I got the opportunity to go into the Colosseo and be part of the famous history. The Colosseo is undergoing restoration work, I'm glad that serious efforts are put in to preserve this magnificent monument.


Colosseo's once beautiful marble slabs can be seen strewn all over Colosseo floor. The stadium is huge and right at the centre lies a maze of corridors where gladiatorial fights once held. The more interesting fact is that the corridors can be flooded to stage naval fight shows, a true testament to roman engineering.



The Colosseo's history.


The only shop in Colosseo, which is a book shop selling the history of Colosseo.


Next to the Colosseo, the arch of Constantine stands proud.

The arch of Constantine which was built by the people to commemorate the victory of Constantine against his predecessor Maxentius. Built at around 312AD, the arch is another magnificent monument.


Inside the Colosseo, one can admire the greatness of the stadium, capable of holding 50,000 people, half of the capacity compared to Bukit Jalil stadium, built around 80AD, the stadium has multiple doors.


Panoramic view of the Colosseo.

Close up view on the arch of Constantine.

Ancient roman roads, part of it.

Outside the Colosseo

Just a few steps away from the Colosseum, lies the ancient administration building for the Roman Republic known as Forum Romanum. The centre of administration has a host of buildings and temple but now all of those buildings lies in rumble.

Forum Romanum

Forum Romanum with arch of Septimius Severus.

Forum Romanum on the far left, Fiori Imperiali

Forum Romanum, overlooking the Curia, which is supposedly initiated by Caesar himself.

Temple of Antonius Pius at Forum Romanum.

It is imensely satisfying to visit the centre of the great ancient roman administration. Most of these pictures were taken on top of the Palantine Hill. The water system at Palantine still working. The Forum Romanum is an open archaelogical site for those who admire the romans.

Rome - Part IV

Another magnificent building during ancient romans era is the hippodrome or also know as circus maximus. Circus maximus is more like a park now.


Circus Maximus circa 2007, just like a park.


Mounted police, reminds me of a character in the arcade game 'Streetfighter', Bison.

On the other end of the road, just a hundred metres from Forum Romanum is the Fiori de Imperiali to Vittorio Emanuele II monument. This monument is built using marble completed in 1935, also known as the typewriter by American soldier liberating Italy in WWII.


Side photo of Vittorio Emanuele II monument


The gardens outside.


Huge, boxy the front facade of the Vittorio Emanuele II monument, undergoing repair and restoration.

After visiting the ancient and historical sites, we decided to go to a more relaxing area, we went to the spagna area. We walked along many nice restaurant and cafes.


Nice transparent cafe, high class too


The road leading away from the Barberini fountain.


Where to go, Hard Rock cafe of course.

The next destination is somewhat 'newer', known as the Spanish Steps. It is also a place where shopping is located with a lot of well known brands.


The shops opposite the Spanish steps


History of the spanish steps.


The stairs of the Spanish steps.

We then drop by the famous Trevi Fountain again. As usual full of people and tourists.


Trevi Fountain.

We had lunch at a nearby restaurant, AL34 at the spanish steps. The restaurant is high class but I was disgusted by the waiters serving. The food was plain but the price wasn't :( After lunch we walked around and shopped for souvenirs. It was a lot of walk :)

I stumbled across the Ferrari shop at the evening while searching for a nice place to eat. I did and managed to find myself an authentic italian pizza shop. For euro 5 dollars, I got myself a tomato pizza and it was nice. The tomato pizza is nice and wife shared with me. Unfortunately, it was raining and I was reluctant to bring out the camera. I should have risked the shot, regret it now :(


The Ferrari shop.

Overall, the trip to Rome is very worthwhile and memorable too. Food is definitely cheaper than Ireland and more places to visit too.