Si's Year Out! (Plus Europe! Plus Morocco!): Roma!

After a great time in Tuscany it was time to visit the capital, the historical city of Rome! Fortunately for us (and our wallets) there was a camping place right in the city so we rocked up, rented a tent and hit the swimming pool.

The first of the many sights on our list was the Colosseum. Built in 72 AD the colosseum was a spectacular stadium, which seated about 50,000 people and was free to all the citizens of Rome. It wasn't football they were watching, but great battles between Gladiators and even exotic animals!

When we arrived there was a gigantic queue, but after a bit of investigation we realised that we could join a guided tour and skip the queue for only four euros extra. Unfortunately, when we finally got to the front to pay, it turned out that they didn't take cards. The nearest cashpoint was about two miles away. I don't know weather it was the look of sheer dismay on our faces, or if the bloke was feeling generous but he decided to charge us childrens prices. It actually turned out that we didn't even have enough money to afford that, so he just said give us all your money and you can go through!! It was definitely our lucky day!

The Colosseum is an absolutely amazing structure. It used to have three floors, was completely covered in marble (before the local churches commandeered it all!) and had a whole section underneath the first floor (where the fighting took place) that housed the gladiators and animals before the main event. There is even evidence of the first use of a lift to transport the gladiators and animals straight into the arena.

After that we walked up the palatine hill, where the wealthy Romans built their houses, over to the Roman Forum. This area used to be the center of Rome and is covered with ruins of structures such as churches, arches, columns and more. There are still some remaining structures such as the Arco di Tito, built in 81 AD, which is a huge arch made of beautiful carved marble, and Casa delle Vestali, home of the virgens who tended the eternal flame of Rome. After that we visited the former house of Emperor Augustus before finally giving in to the heat and returning home for a BBQ with the couple camping opposite us.

The next day we visited the Pantheon, a huge church built in 89BC!!! It has a huge circle cut out the top and the sun beams through creating an Indianna Jones style sun beam that shoots down to the ground. We then visited the Trevi Fountain, which is probably the most elaborate fountain I've ever seen! We spent the rest of the day seeing some more little monuments before giving in to the heat and heading back.

Our final day in Rome was spent in Vatican City - the smallest country in the world at about 1km squared! We started off at St. Peter's Basilica, built to house the tomb of St. Peter. Apparently its "easily" the biggest Basilica in the world, which was not surprising as it took us about 2 hours to walk around. We also walked through the area where all the popes are buried and saw (amongst others) the tomb of Pope John Paul II. After that we visited the Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel, home to "The Last Judgment" and "Genesis" by Michelangelo. The museum also has lots of treasures gifted from nations all over the world to the Vatican. It very very crowded (think Alton towers in the middle of summer!) but a really amazing place to visit.