Rome, Italy

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.

Then the Coloseeum came into view.

Spanish Steps

 Trevi Fountain

Pantheon, interior, outside 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.

Sofia, Bulgaria

Needing to activate my last Eurail pass by December 3rd, I took a noon train from Plodiv to Sofia. It was a newer train, very clean and comfortable. The female train conductor was a little confused when I showed her my train pass. Off she went with my pass and returned minutes later satisfied. A few of the passengers gave me strange looks. Did they think I had a fraudulent pass or what? I had a brochure for the Hostel Mostel in Sofia, only a 10 minute walk from the train station. Found my way easily and didn't get lost. Sure nice when this happens.

I met a Eugene from Vancouver BC, a serious man, mid 30's and Tim, a vibrant 39 year old from New York. Eugene had been gone from home for 4 weeks and was ready to go home. He was missing his girlfriend a lot. Tim had been travelling for 4 months and was not ready to go home. Tim entertained us with his travel stories and mishaps. He was so funny!  The next day Eugene and I met at the Court House lion statue for a walking tour.

We had a university student, Mitko, on the left as our tour guide. Mitko was studying history, was very informative and had a great sense of humour!

We went and saw....

Communist Party Head Quarter

Called Bankrupt Balcony, when
bank went under mgr was to jump off here,
it never happened, they just vanished




Opera House







The Mosque



Expensive yellow bricks from Austria, used for

 all govt area roads

Sofia Synogogue

Russian Orthodox Church

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral



Mineral Springs water outlet set up in centre of town. People come & collect the hot water for health benefits.  The tour guide Mitko said a young boy of 8 or so who drank the water he he felt super happy afterwards.

Former typical Communist shopping centre

Check point boxes left from Communist era.

Some interesting advertisement signs

I took a day trip to Rila Monastery with a group. Prior to visiting monastery we headed to a nearby mountain. Here a monk had lived in a cave area with a small church beside.  We all crawled though the opening of this cave. Very narrow, I was sure glad the distance wasn't to long as my closterphobia would start getting the better of me. Phew I was glad to get out to daylight!  Here are some photos......

 

At first I wasn't to sure about Bulgaria, especially with the big difference in language. After spending time in the

 country I ending up enjoying it. The people were friendly, helpful and the food was awesome! The prices were very inexpensive. The window shopping was great, if I had of been heading home I might of shopped till I dropped!

My next destination was Rome, Italy. I would be catching an early morning flight.