Rome and Cinque Terre

We arrived at the bus to Rome's pick up point early Monday morning, hopeful that we would get a spot on the already full bus. More often than not some people who have booked a seat on the bus do not show up for some reason, and those seats are left free. So we were really hoping that there would be at least two seats free for us. Unfortunately, 5 other people had the same hope. The departure time was looming nearer, and things were looking good. 8 people had not shown up, meaning that all 7 of us could get on the bus! With three minutes to go, we were getting excited. We were going to get on the bus! Then we saw two girls, jogging towards us with their bags. They had already booked, and were running late. They took 2 of the 8 seats left available. This left us in a bit of a predicament. Who would be getting on the bus, and who would be left behind? Well two girls that were travelling together got priority, I am not entirely sure why but they did. 4 seats left. The other people trying to get on the bus were a group of 3 friends. Harrison and I decided to let them take the free seats, as it made more sense for them to get on and have only 1 extra seat, rather than having 2 extra seats if we got on. We had been so close! We watched with feelings of despair and frustration as the bus drove away without us. 

We had to get to Rome that day, as we have booked in the rest of our trip and are unable to make anymore changes, or we would have to take places out. Plus we had already booked that nights accomodation in Rome. So we got googling. We were pretty devastated to find out that a train from Venice to Rome was going to cost us €80 each. This seemed totally unrealistic and we weren't willing to pay that much. We were incredibly fortunate that one of the lovely ladies at reception was able to look online for us and find an Italian coach company that was going to Rome that night, and would only cost us €40 for the both of us. It was a huge relief. The only downside was that the coach only left Venice at 11:30pm, and arrived in Rome at 6am. Therefore we wouldn't be able to make our accomodation, but would still have to pay for that night even though we hadn't been there. We spent the day by the pool, relaxing and napping. 

11:30 came around, and it was time to get on the bus. Luckily a person was willing to move so Harrison and I got a seat together. It wasn't too bad of a bus ride. There were some very loud Italian men making phone calls at 3:30am, but other than that the trip was fairly uneventful. We arrived in Rome at 6:30 and began our journey to the hostel. To get there we had to catch two trains and a bus. Since it was rush hour, we were really packed into that train. It was not fun with our big backpacks! We finally arrived at the hostel at 8:30am. It was hot in Rome. Already by 8:30 it was uncomfortably warm. We were staying at another camping hostel, so we got checked in and headed over to our tent. If we thought outside was hot, the inside of that tent was 10 times hotter. It was like we had our own personal sauna. We grabbed a quick breakfast, and attempted to have a nap before heading out for the day. Unfortunately it was so damn hot in that tent, we didn't get much rest. 

Once we were up and ready we caught the train into the city. We planned to start at the Trevi Fountain and then make our way around to all of the famous sights from there. I had been really excited to see the Trevi Fountain, and toss in my coin. We walked up the narrow winding streets, and came out in the square where the fountain is. We were greeted by scaffolding. They have completely drained the fountain, and are doing work to it.

I was pretty gutted. Not only could you barely see the fountain through the scaffolding, but I wasn't going to be able to toss my coin! With saddened hearts, we moved on to the next sight. We arrived at the Pantheon, and were relived to see that it was not under construction. I was blown away by the Pantheon. I think the Romans were absolutely incredible to be able to build something so spectacular with so little technology and equipment. 

We were quite lucky, and by fluke had shown up at a time when there actually weren't that many people about. We made our way inside the building (it was free, which I was impressed by!) and my admiration for the Romans deepened. The inside of the Pantheon is amazing! 

The artwork and the designs on the walls were just incredible. The dome roof was also absolutely amazing! I was totally awe struck. 

When we had finished admiring the beauties of the Pantheon, we moved onto our next spot which was Piazza Navona. This was a lovely square, with 3 large and beautiful fountains. There were a few artists around the piazza trying to sell their artwork, and a some other vendors here and there selling knick knacks. 

It was a very beautiful square. There was also a lovely church in the piazza that we went inside. As usual, it was beautiful on the inside. We found a little restaurant down one of the winding streets to have lunch in, and had gnocchi and ravioli. It was super delicious.  

Next up was the Colosseum. We had to catch a bus to get there, which again was totally packed. I am starting to see that in Italy, every hour is rush hour on public transport. Fortunately the bus ride wasn't too long. We arrived at the Colosseum, and were once again greeted with scaffolding. 

Has Europe just decided that 2015 is the year to fix up every famous monument they have? It wasn't as disappointing as the Trevi Fountain, as there was only a fairly small area of the building covered with scaffolding. However it did somewhat take away from the beauty of the colosseum. We did not get to go inside the colosseum, as the line was ridiculously long, and it was fairly expensive to get in. We wandered up to palatine's hill, and walked up a path to the top of a hill. We didnt actually go into the paid part of the ruins, but from this path you could see a lot of them anyway. At the top of the hill was a cute little church that we went into. The church and the streets and buildings along this path really made you feel like you had stepped back in time. 

After a very long and hot day, we made our way back to the hostel. The first thing we did when we got back was get in the pool to cool down. It has been really great having pools at our hostels. We had dinner with some friends that we have made through busabout that were also in Rome. It was a really fun night! Harrison and I returned to our tent, to find that it had not cooled down that much. However we were both so exhausted that we flopped into bed and went to sleep.

One of our friends from the bus wanted to go to the Vatican, and we decided to go with her as we wanted to see it too. We got there really early, half and hour before it opened. The line was already about an hour long! And the day had already started to heat up. Luckily we were in the shade for most of the wait. We actually didn't have to wait that long. Once the doors opened, we only waited about an hour, maybe less. We went through security, and we were in! It was uncomfortably warm in the museum, but we made the most of it. We wandered through the museum taking in all of the incredible art. However, like the Louvre, I really found the architecture and the building far more impressive than the artworks.

 At the end of the museum is the Sistine Chapel. We walked in, and were assaulted with colours and paintings. Every inch of wall and roof is covered in painting! We saw the really famous painting, the birth of Christ I believe it's called, and it was a lot smaller than I had originally thought. 

Whilst the chapel and the paintings were incredibly beautiful, I enjoyed the Vatican museum more. 

When we had seen all there was to see at the Vatican, we made our way to St Peters Basilica. We had hoped to get in, but when we arrived we saw that the line wove all the way around the square! It was absolutely ridiculous! I have never seen a line for something that long in my entire life! Not only would the wait have been far over 2 hours, but the line was not in the shade. The temperature had creeped up to 37 degrees, and the sun was showing no mercy to the square. Even just standing there taking photos was a bit much. The heat was overwhelming. So we unfortunately had to give St Peters basilica a miss. 

Our hostel runs a bus service from the hostel to the Vatican, and vice versa. You have to buy a return ticket at the hostel and you can get on any coach that day. The bus service stops from 12:30, and resumes again at 3:30. Since we were done before 12:30, we were able to make the 12:30 bus back to the hostel. Now usually the bus that picks you up and drops you off is a fairly large coach. Enough to fit like 40 or 50 people. However, the 'bus' that showed up to fetch us from the Vatican was a 14 seater van. There were far more than 14 of us waiting for the bus back. But that didn't seen to phase the driver, as he allowed 25 of us to cram into this van. We had to leave people behind. Let me remind you that it was a 37 degree day, and this van had no air con, and there were 25 of us squished into it. I honestly thought I was going to pass out. It was a horrific experience! The drive back to the hostel seemed to last forever. When we finally did make it back, we spent the rest of our day with some friends by the pool. 

The next day was a bus day, and we were making our way to Florence. I was sad to leave the beauty of Rome, but pretty happy to say goodbye to the heat. On the way to Florence we stopped at a small town called Orvieto. It's a really old town on top of a huge hill, and you have to catch a cable car type thing up there. Our guide told us about this cafe up there that serves the best pork sandwich ever. However, it was not normal pork, it was wild boar! Harrison got one and tried it, and said it was really delicious. The cafe owners had the cutest French bulldog called Julius Caesar!

 He was absolutely adorable and we spent most of the stop gushing over him. 

We wandered around the small markets there for a bit, and walked around the old fort, which had an absolutely amazing view. 

Since we had to rearrange our itinery when Harrison was sick and unable to travel on the bus, we were only able to spend one night in Florence. We made the most of it, and went on a walking tour of the city with our bus company so we got to see most of the big sights.

 We also went out to dinner with all the people on the bus that day. We went to an Italian resturant, and were served a four course meal. It was all so delicious. We started with bruschetta, followed by pesto and spicy pasta, then a chicken dish and a beef stew type thing and finally gelato for dessert. It was amazing food! Once we were done with dinner we all moved to the club next door, which has karaoke every night! It was a really fun night of singing, drinking cocktails and meeting new people. 

Today we were on the bus again, heading to Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre consists of 5 villages along the Italian Coast. We are staying in the village called Corniglia, which is the third village along. The villages are all very tiny, there are no more than 2000 locals living at each one. We unintentionally picked the one village that is on top of a massive hill. We arrived at the train station and were completely awe struck by the incredible views of the coast. And then we came across the stairs. To get to the village, you have to climb 400 stairs. 

Let's remember that we had just arrived, so we had our backpacks with us. Not only that but it was about 35 degrees today. I think climbing those stairs with the backpack was possibly one of the worst things I have ever experienced. My legs have not yet forgiven me. But once we reached the top we were greeted with the cutest, most beautiful little town. All brightly coloured buildings and tiny cobbled streets. We couldn't check into our hostel until 3, so we went off to explore the town. We sat down at a cute resturant for lunch, and had pesto bruschetta and pesto pizza. Cinque Terre is famous for their pesto, so you can only imagine how incredible the food was. The best pesto I have ever eaten! 

We finished up with lunch and followed the signs to the beach. We had to go down just as many stairs as we had climbed that morning! But wow, it was worth it. It wasn't really a beach as we know it, white sand and rolling waves, it was just rocks at the bottom of a cliff that you could sit on, and use to get yourself into the water. I have never in my life seen water so blue and so clear. It was like something out of a movie! We also got a really good view of the town up on the hill! 

We hadn't brought our swimmers, as we had planned on just looking around, but the water was so inviting that we got in, in our clothes! It was lovely and warm, and crystal clear. One of the most amazing experiences of my life!

We swam and sat on the rocks until it was time to check in to our hostel. Climbing the stairs back up without a bag was much easier, but still pretty unpleasant. We checked into the hostel and stayed there for the rest of the afternoon. We wandered back into the village and got some more pizza for dinner. We also picked up a little carton of grapes and watermelon. It was the best fruit I have had in a long time! Totally amazing. 

Tomorrow we are going to head into some of the other villages and explore what they have to offer. I am so excited to be in Cinque Terre, it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to!!