In the early morning hours I arrived in Rome, exhausted & hungry! I had caught the only Wizz Air flight from Sofia, Bulgaria which was 6 am This required me to be at the airport between 4 and 4:30 am. It's a good thing I didn't arrive later. The airport was surprisingly packed for that early hour. Two flights were heading out, one to Rome, the other to London. The flight was smooth & the weather nice and warm upon arrival in Rome. I was glad to have the warm temperature as it had been getting cold in Bulgaria. I will still trying to shake off my cold or virus.
I thought I would be all turned around at the airport but that was not the case. For whatever reason it seemed easy to navigate my way around. I stopped at the McDonalds hoping to get a coffee but they appeared not to be open yet. Upon inquiring I was told they didn't open til 9. My watch said almost 10. Guess what, there was another time change! It was a good thing I didn't have a connection to make, I probably would of missed it!
I found the shuttle bus I needed to take. A forty minute ride to the Termini railway station, near my accommodation. The drive was beautiful, lovely pine trees with almost flat tops, the branches didn't start till quite a few feet up the tree. I thought these trees looked so lovely. The bus journey took us through a lot of farm land. At one point there were so many greenhouses, vineyards and horse farms.
I arrived, checked in, then armed with a map off I went to see the sights. Reception had informed me that I would be able to enter the Vatican Museum today for free. I just had to get there by noon as that was the last time for ticket sales. I could either take the subway or walk which would take about 40, 50 minutes. As it was such a sunny day I opted to walk thinking I would less likely get lost, not the case!
Along the way was a church, Santa Maria Maggiore which I stopped to look at. There was a service taking place and I decided to stay for it. It was lovely! Here is a photo of inside & ceiling of this church.
Then I carried on hoping to get to the Vatican shortly. I ended up making a wrong turn taking me to...........towards the Colosseum.
Coming around the corner I was amazed at the size of the structures. Seeing the columns of ruins, wide open expanse of pedestrian walkway was something. There were so many tourists around, taking in all the sights of ruins around the Piazza & Ford Romano.
Spanish Steps
Trevi Fountain
Castel St Angelo
Some views from castle
Vatican area
I loved Rome as soon as I arrived, enjoyed the 40 minute ride from the airport.
My next destination was Cinque Terre, Italy. The 5 lands, normally you could walk from village to village. However in late October, Venezza had heavy rains & mudslides. The town had to be evacuated. Then in November, Monterosse, experienced heavy rains too. Some walkways in between the villages have had mountain areas slide down.
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