My girlfriend and I visited Rome in November 2006 and I would highly recommend it. We went for 5 days and I have to admit it was enough, we got to see so much in those 5 days, the sun was shining the sights amazing and the company suberb. We saw so much, my one gripe would be that everything was too tourist orientated. You were hurded into each attration like cattle, everyone pushed and crammed together - which was these are ancient historical landmarks I expected more respect to be given, for people to quietly make their way around each thing. Additionally there are always people trying to get money from you, for photos, gifts, etc, etc.... after a while we learnt to ignore them and continue walking but felt extremely bad.
Additionally, my Girlfriend found it very hard to watch the children begging. When we got on the tube there would be kids as young as 3 sat begging or wandering up and down the train asking for money. There were teenagers begging with their babies and twice while we were sat having coffee saw a man and then a child climb into the bins opposite looking for food. My Girlfriend wanted to give to them all and I completely understand but as I said to her we just didn't have the money to give to everyone who asked, as hard as it was we had to say no.
Ok that is the negatives over and done with - now for all the brilliant and beautiful things I got to see in Rome. I will try and explain each place we saw as best I can....
* Vatican Museum / Vatican The Vatican musuem was wonderful. It is extremely large and take a good 3 hours if not more to view everything. I loved visiting the Vatican, St Peters Basilica and the Vatican Museums mainly because it contains some of the most complete collections of art and antiquities in the world. Every corner in the museum holds historically significance. My personal opinion is that this attraction can not be missed. My only disappointment was the atmosphere in the sistine chapel - the art was as breathtaking as expected but the people are crammed in to capacity and after a lovely walk around the rest of the museum I felt that this let it down a little. Do not get my wrong the painting is wonderful and I recommend seeing it 110% I would have rather waited longer then been pushed and shooved thorough like we were.
Thankyou to neenn for pointing this out, now we did not have any problems getting into the vatican and St Peters, but I was wearing a knee length skirt. But women will sometimes be turned away if their heads are uncovered or they are wear shorts / short skirts. It is worth noting this before you go to avoid disappointment
* Colosseum Outside the Colosseum was unfortunately full of people wanted money for pictures with you and people harassing us to take the tour. The lines were quite big but moved fairly quickly. Visiting this famous Italian attraction is something everyone should do if they are visiting Rome, Walking through the arches into the center of the ancient stadium is a feeling like no other. The Colosseum is extremely impressive both inside and our, and something that you really do need to see in person to truley appreciate it. We visited it in the Morning, the sun was shining but not too hot and the lines were reasonable, we walked past later on during our holiday and the lines was massive. I would like to visit it last thing in the evening, maybe next time I visit Rome!
* Trevi Fountain Although this really is just a fountain in the middle of a busy shoppind area, it is beautiful. We went around midday and although it was busy there was plenty of room to throw a coin in the fountain and take pictures. This is not a day long outing, but we went shopping and saw the Spanish Steps on the same day - and It was a lovely day and both attractions were free to see!
* Spanish Steps The Spanish Steps are simply a set of steps. I will be completely honest these were the least impressive of everything we saw. Just to say you have seen that I would recommend passing them on your way to the Trevi fountain, it is a nice walk between the two, but I would not make a special trip.
* Pantheon We sat outside the Pantheon for a while watching the world go by, the artists at work and drinking coffee and eating cake - Brilliant. The inside is beautiful with tombs, statues and a wonderful marble floor although some of it was cornered off when we went, which was a shame. It is quite small compared to other attractions but still worth a visit.
* Palatine Hill We really enjoyed our walk around the Hill, there are plenty of ancient ruins, statues and landmarks to see. The views were truely spectacular, the gardens fantastic to walk around and everything you see has so much history attached to it.
There's a small museum within the gardens which is very interesting to look around and it's a great place to cool off from the hot sun (as it was baking the day we visited).
I really hope that if any of the Ciao Community are planning a trip to Rome they enjoy it was much as we did.
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