Though I've been to Italy several times, I had never been to Rome until Summer 2015. I had the perfect situation to visit, I was dating a Roman I met in Boston who needed to go home to visit family, so I tagged along. We stayed in Rome a few days, then went to Sardinia, then back to Rome before coming home.
It was amazing, mostly because we stayed at his place which was on Via Baccina. I should be used to such things after visiting Europe so frequently, but it still amazes me to be in an apartment that is within walking distance of Roman ruins. Here is the view from "our" street; that is quite literally the arch that people from all over Europe filtered through as they came to the city to do business, etc (you know, like "All roads lead to Rome" style).
It was a fantastic base to set off from to explore the city via moped. I had never been a passenger on a moped before but I knew I couldn't go to Rome and not ride one, especially since I had the once in a lifetime chance of riding with a native Italian who had been driving vespas since he was a kid. I was still terrified but I sucked it up, and it was as fabulous as you probably imagine!
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| Hey guys! |
One day we were speeding along and took a quick stop on the moped, and this was sprawled out in front of us:
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| Rome, dahling. |
I insisted on doing some touristy things, and I'm really glad I did, because there was this awesome "show" at the ruins that I loved. It's basically one of those things where you have headphones that tell pre-recorded stories in your language, and you sit in some stands and look at the ruins. As a narrator explains what each building was, projectors kick in and fill in the missing pieces to show you what everything looked like 2,000 years ago. I highly recommend this!
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| Projections fill in gaps where ruins have faded or crumbled, and add color. |
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| Awesome history lesson |
We also visited the Pantheon, which for some reason I always thought was on a remote hilltop somewhere. It's actually in the middle of the city.
Edit: turns out I got it confused with the
parthenon.
From there we flew to the island of Sardinia (or Sardegna to spell it like the locals), off the west coast of Italy. It's your typical paradise-style beach. The exact town we visited was named Alghero.
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| Pin at Alghero |
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| Beach at Alghero |
The Italian and I aren't together anymore, but we're still friends, and I'm pretty sure I couldn't have had a better trip to Italy thanks to him!
