Finally I’ve been in Roma, capital of my wonderful Italy and «caput mundi», capital of the world. The trip was pretty cool: I left from Milano on 24th by plane with Marco and Matteo, flying to Ciampino’s airport in about one hour; landing was not perfect, but we arrived safe and sound at about 18:40, on time. Reach Roma from there is pretty simple, you have several choiches and our was the train from Ciampino train station.

Train was ok, the travel is fast, but we had little problems with the map and we arrived in the hotel only at 9pm. The hotel «Antico Acquedotto» was pretty good, situated near the ancient aqueduct, not very expansive, clean and nice: I would suggest you to choose it, it is just 15-20 minutes far from the Termini station. First thing to do in Roma after 5 hours of travel is, of course, going to a nice restaurant for dinner: we had a good pizza and an ice cream and then we went back to the hotel.

Friday: a long walk, San Pietro and meeting with georgian friends

We were in Roma with the map that I had prepared and, strangely, we followed the itineraries almost always. The starting point for the first day was Piazza Venezia.

On our first day we saw many beautiful places: the thousands of churches along the road, the fountains and famous places like the Pantheon, which I didn’t like so much, and the wonderful Piazza Navona, with her three fountains (one ot them, the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi by Bernini, in the center of the square, was unfortunately under restructuring). I liked a lot the painting in the church of Sant’Ignazio; then, after a very good lunch at the restaurant Cuore with Spaghetti all’Amaticiana and Scaloppine, we continued our walk to the Vatican City.

Piazza San Pietro is amazing, the church is so wonderful, everything is majestic; we didn’t enter the Basilica because the queue was neverending, but we were very lucky because there was almost nobody entering the Vatican Museums. I cannot say much about them, I think images may say much more than me; at the end it is possible to see the famous Cappella Sistina: unfortunately it is not allowed to take photos there, but it is not forbidden in other rooms.

In the afternoon we came back to Piazza Navona, where we met our georgian fellow travelers: Ani, Ruso and Nino; I suggest to everyone to avoid saying “let’s meet near the fountain” where you are in Piazza Navona, or you will need hours to meet up! We had a funny walking together, then a dinner near the square (bad memory, I forgot the name of this restaurant too) and a nice evening. I also got a new present from Georgia by Nino: an horn, named ყანწი (khantsi), used to drink wine in georgian parties; well, mine is just a small one, as they told us, in Georgia they use a much bigger one; anyway, my georgian language is becoming better.

Saturday: fontana di Trevi, Piazza di Spagna, Piazza del Popolo, Villa Borghese… and jazz festival

On the second day we were six people from the morning: we met in Piazza Venezia again, about one hour later the time we agreed, just to keep georgian (and italian?) traditions; the weather was hotter than Friday, when a fresh wind was blowing in the air. We followed again our itinerary, with my big surprise, and we went to see firstly one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen: the marvellous Fontana di Trevi. Then we walked to Piazza di Spagna, where you can have a beautiful see of the city by going up on the Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti; again, a fountain makes the square more wonderful.

Next step was Piazza del Popolo, with the twin churches, the obelisk in the middle and guess what? Other four fountains around it; if you like water gushing, Roma is a perfect place to visit. Lunch time made us stop our walking to taste a pizza near the square.

After lunch it was time for some relax: nothing better than going to the gardens around Villa Borghese; me, Ani, Ruso and Nino had a pleasant navigation in the lake with a rowboat: we risked to fall in the water couple of times, but we enjoyed a lot. Then we had some relax all together in the park: the sun was shining and gardens are pretty quite and nice.

The church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini is a place where you must stop and think (but not take photos, it is strictly forbidden): famous for its crypt, it has five rooms where you may see bones from over 4.000 Capuchin friars, fashioned in decorative walls, drawings and figures. In the last room you may see a sign saying: «What you are, we were; what we are, you will be»: agonizing.

While Marco and Matteo went to the mass in Santa Maria Maggiore, another gorgeus church, we stopped in the National Gallery of Ancient Art, at Palazzo Barberini, where you can see some nice and famous paintings. Very beautiful also the church of San Carlo delle Quattro Fontane, situated near a road intersection with a fountain in every corner. For that day we didn’t meet with Marco and Matteo anymore, so we had separate evenings: we attended a jazz festival at Villa Celimontana, a really beautiful place with a big park and very good music.

Sunday: Colosseo, terme di Caracalla, rain and sea

Sunday was really hot: it was unbearable to walk in the sun and we were trying to stay in the shadow most of the time; not so easy and maybe not so useful either. This time we did not completely follow the itinerary: our first step was the most famous symbol of Roma, the awesome Colosseo. I made very beautiful photos there, I liked very much: we didn’t go inside, unhappily, because once again thousands of people had the same idea at the same time. We then decided to visit the Circo Massimo, which is now just a land devoured by the grass, and the terme di Caracalla: this last building is really nice, I should say that ancient romans knew how to have relax. In the past it was a sort of gymnasium where people could have baths in thermal water, swim in different pools and do gymnastics in the big rooms full of decorations on the wall.

Ani’s plan for Sunday was to go to the seaside, but in the afternoon it started to rain: I met with the ladies in Vatican, because they told us there was not so long queue that day. We went there and I was the only one entering the basilica, where I met them: the Basilica di San Pietro is something amazing, so big that you can hardly see the ceiling. Photos’ quality is not so good, but anyway you must see it in real. We couldn’t meet the Pope, however, because he wasn’t in Roma those days: we must go back, indeed.

When we went out the church, Marco and Matteo were disappeared, and the sky was still crying: but nothing can stop a georgian girl from her ideas, and with the words «we can swim under the rain» she persuaded us to go to the beach anyway. And I should say it was a very good idea, because weather became better, hot and sunny. Going to the sea from Roma is pretty fast and cheap: you just need to reach the metro station called Piramide and from there taking a train to Ostia, without needing a different ticket; we stopped in Stella Polare station: the place is not very clean, but neither so bad, a nice sand beach and an always fantastic Mediterranean Sea. Only thing, I needed to swim with my short pants because I didn’t have any swimsuit with me: I think they are still wet now.

It was pretty funny when Ani, Nino and Ruso decided to buy something at the bar near the beach: after some minutes of english talking with the barman they managed to buy everything (good job girls), then when they went to the table I said to the guy, in italian: «I don’t know why they made you mad with english for half an hour, I am italian»; I think he was thinking to kill me (and them?) in that moment. Came back to Roma, we returned in our hotels: I was too sleepy to go out again that evening.

Monday: good bye Roma, see you next time

The last day is always the saddest one: first, because you have to leave and the holiday is over; second because you need to pay the hotel: we needed half an hour to manage it, due to some problems with credit card numbers, deposit and math divisions, but at last we did. I then went to meet Ruso in Vatican City because she was leaving before us, while Ani and Nino were in the museums and I couldn’t meet them: need to visit them soon in their cities.

The rest of the day was not so special: we had lunch in Termini station while we were waiting our train to Ciampino, then we reach the airport and waited for our flight, which was really very good, perfect landing this time, without delay. Returning home after an holiday always makes you sad: but everything was so nice, I enjoyed these days a lot, thanks to all my friends Marco, Matteo, ანი (Ani), რუსო (Ruso) and ნინო (Nino). See you in the next trip!

Here you may see all the photos I made: enjoy!